200 kilos of cocaine and heroin seized and a total of 20 people arrested involved in various capacities in the detention and dealing of cocaine and heroin narcotics
The Teramo State Police arrested eight people in the act of committing a crime during the laborious investigation activity coordinated by the Teramo Public Prosecutor's Office, which add up to the twelve people who ended up in handcuffs in the early hours of today's morning, in execution of the application order of the precautionary measure of the prison issued by the GIP of Teramo, of which 8 traced in the Teramo area (6 Italians and 2 Albanians), 3 in the nearby Ascoli area (all Albanians) and 1 in the Ravenna area (Albanian) which add up to the further subject currently on the run in respect of whom a precautionary custody order had already been issued in prison by the Gip of the Court of Teramo on 25.1.2023.
The investigative activity coordinated by the local Public Prosecutor originated from the police operation, carried out by the Anti-Drug Section of the Mobile Squad of the Teramo Police Headquarters, in Floriano di Campli (TE) on 23.11.2022, during which they were kidnapped against an Albanian, in the circumstance who fled, and still a fugitive, 16 kg of heroin-type narcotic substance and 20 grams of cocaine-type narcotic substance, detained by the same inside a single house, in which he was found also material for the recomposition and packaging of the same.
The immediate investigative activity carried out also with technical activities (environmental and telephone interceptions, observation and stalking services) made it possible to ascertain how the large quantity of narcotic substance seized in Floriano di Campli was largely destined for the market of this province and, in particular, aimed at a widespread retail consumption.
in fact, numerous contacts of the Albanian fugitive with two Teramos, both convicted offenders and later found to be dedicated to the retail sale of narcotic substances such as cocaine and heroin in the city of Teramo, merged. The two Teramos, habitual "customers" of the aforementioned Albanian, each had their own close and trusted collaborator who they used, for drug dealing in the city of Teramo and, in particular, for the "door to door" delivery of the doses of these substances. During the investigative activity, numerous checks were made of the sales carried out by the four Teramos in the city of Teramo and neighboring municipalities with related administrative seizures of drugs against numerous buyers.
The continuation of the investigative activity then made it possible to identify other subjects partly involved in the detention of the aforementioned large quantity of drugs seized in Floriano di Campli from the Albanian fugitive and characterized by an active ingredient such as to be able to obtain around 100.000 doses of heroin.
In fact, it was ascertained that the same was held by the Albanian who fled, in competition with the German residing in nearby Ascoli Piceno and with the help of a "courier" from the Marches, which was also used by the other five Albanian citizens residing in Martinsicuro and Tortoreto (TE) and arrested today in execution of the aforesaid prison precautionary measure.
In fact, the technical investigative activities revealed that the aforementioned five Albanians sometimes operated individually and sometimes in occasional competition with each other (in order to reduce the costs of transporting and custody of the narcotic), procuring narcotic substances both from Northern Europe and from central Italy, making use of the same suppliers and the same courier from the Marches and using the same modus operandi for the custody of the drug as for burial in the Teramo countryside.
The investigative activity therefore made it possible to obtain the 13 precautionary orders but also to carry out 8 arrests in the act with the seizure of large quantities of drugs.
In particular:
- on 20.03.2023, in Livorno, staff of the local Anti-Drug Section of the Teramo Mobile Squad, in collaboration with staff of the similar sections of the Mobile Squads of Ascoli Piceno and Livorno, arrested an Albanian citizen by seizing against him 40 kg of pure cocaine", from which approximately 180.000 single doses were obtainable, delivered to him by the courier from the Marche region, in a nylon envelope with the wording "ACTION". During the investigations, this detail of the brand name on the envelope later turned out to be of extremely important investigative importance, since the large quantity of cocaine found during the entire activity is almost always contained in envelopes of the Dutch non/food discount chain ACTION, whose outlets are numerous in Northern Europe and currently almost non-existent in our national territory.
- on 22.03.2022, an occasional custodian of the suspects was arrested by the Anti-drug section of the Teramo Flying Squad, in flagrante delicto, as he was found in possession, in his home in Mosciano, of 15 kg of cocaine and 5 kg of heroin as well as 10 kg of cutting substance. Also in this case, part of the drug was contained in nylon bags with the word "ACTION".
- on 7.4.2023, two brothers from Ascoli were arrested, in the act of committing a crime, found in possession of a few ounces of cocaine, sold by some of those arrested today;
- on 15.4.2023, in order to interrupt this incessant and continuous activity of illegal deliveries of the aforementioned courier, personnel of the Anti-Drug Section of the Teramo Flying Squad, in collaboration with the similar office of the Ascoli Piceno Flying Squad, arrested the courier from the Marches, while in Colonnella (TE) it was preparing to transport 2,5 kg of cocaine;
- on 29 April 2023 two of the Albanians involved in the illicit and voluminous drug dealing activity were arrested in the act of committing a crime, by personnel of the Anti-drug Section of the Teramo in Colonnella (TE) mobile squad as they were found in possession of a total of 5 KG of cocaine partly held in the car in which they were traveling and partly buried in a rural area of Martinsicuro (TE).
- on 31 March, 1 April 2023 and 19 May in three separate laborious research activities, a total of 110 KG of cocaine were recovered, hidden by the various suspects in 6 different abandoned rural sites, located in the Municipalities of Mosciano Sant'Angelo ( TE), Tortoreto (TE) and Martinsicuro (TE) where the drug had been carefully buried at about one and a half meters deep, in stainless steel drums widely used for the conservation of olive oil and partly contained in the aforementioned envelopes "ACTION".
The further and in-depth investigative investigations also made it possible to ascertain the methods of arrival of the drug in the Province and also to identify the auto transporter of Apulian origin who had taken care of transporting part of the buried and seized drug to our province. The latter too was arrested today in execution of the aforementioned order applying the prison measure.
The aforementioned intense and articulated investigation activity therefore made it possible to carry out the aforementioned arrests and precautionary measures in prison and to seize a total of over 1 million single doses of heavy narcotic substances, for a value of over 10 million euros.
Today's capture activities involved not only the territory of this province but also the neighboring province of Ascoli and that of Ravenna where some of the suspects were traced with the use of 70 operational units of the State Police belonging to the Police Headquarters of Teramo, of Ascoli Piceno, Ravenna and Bari, with the support of the Flight Department of Pescara, the Dog Department of the Ancona Police Headquarters and the Crime Prevention Departments of Pescara and Perugia.