Italy dismantles drug trafficking group in Naples

By Giovanni Legorano

ROME (AA) - Italy’s police have dismantled a criminal ring in Naples importing cocaine to Europe, national gendarmerie Carabinieri said Tuesday.

In a statement detailing the operation, which led to the arrest of 29 people accused of drug trafficking, police said the suspects imported cocaine to Italy from Spain and the Netherlands.

This, in turn, reached Europe in containers or bags transported on ships and even in submarines from Panama.

“Underwater is 100% safe, but that comes only from Panama,” a suspect told another one in a wiretapped conversation, according to the police.

The rare reference to the use of submarines to smuggle cocaine into Europe echoes recent similar findings by US authorities.

According to previous investigations, cocaine reaches Europe normally on ships carrying goods from South America, hidden in containers carrying bananas or other goods.

In other cases, police seized drugs carried in bags on planes or cars.

Authorities said they seized more than 100 kg of cocaine and vehicles with sophisticated hiding systems, where the cocaine was allegedly stored while being smuggled from one European city to another.

They also seized weapons and ammunition as part of the operation, which took place in the early hours of Tuesday.

The arrested people are both of Italian and Albanian nationality, the police said, adding that an alleged criminal who had been on the run in Dubai was also arrested there as part of the investigation.