Operation Hybris Agrigento 26 precautionary measures criminal association for drug trafficking

At dawn today, the State Police, in the territories of Licata, Gela, Catania and Campobello di Licata, implemented 26 precautionary measures issued by the Judge for preliminary investigations at the Court of Palermo, at the request of the Public Prosecutor of Palermo – District Anti-Mafia Directorate.

The Agrigento Mobile Team conducted a complex and articulated investigative activity, which lasted for over a year and a half, which involved a large part of the province of Agrigento, as well as part of the province of Catania and Catania, allowing the judicial authorities to refer over 40 subjects held responsible, in various capacities, for the crime of criminal association aimed at drug trafficking, as well as for other crimes of different types, but all connected to the various phases of drug marketing and, in some cases, also of weapons.

According to the assessments of the GIP, as many as 25 subjects are recipients of the coercive measure of precautionary custody in prison, of which 14 from Licata, 1 from Canicattì, 6 from Gela, 2 from Catania and 2 from Campania. Furthermore, a woman from Licata was subjected to the measure of the obligation to present herself to the Judicial Police.

The investigative activity was conducted in the Licatese hinterland and in particular in the popular housing agglomeration, traditionally known as the "Bronx".

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Precisely this circumstance made the investigation particularly complex and articulated in its dynamics, also due to the topographical conformation of the aforementioned district, as well as the silence that characterizes the area under investigation.

The investigations were launched against one of the suspects who in October 2020, after just two days, had become the protagonist of two episodes characterized by the use of firearms, one which occurred in Licata, and one in Gela in which the suspect was a victim. It will emerge from the investigations that, with the family of his aggressor from Gela, the alleged head of the Licatese organization will initiate a "pactum sceleris", aimed at the marketing of drugs.

The investigation carried out made it possible to acquire serious indications of guilt on a criminal group dedicated to the marketing of drugs located in the Licata area and which had ramifications for the supply of drugs also in the neighboring provinces of Caltanissetta and Catania. Numerous subjects have been identified as drug users.

Furthermore, the brilliant Judicial Police operation made it possible to acquire serious clues about the role of each participant, overcoming all the witty precautions put in place by today's suspects, aimed at neutralizing the effectiveness of "surprise" interventions by the police, such as the installation of numerous video surveillance systems, the provision of subjects with the task of controlling access to the association's operational base and the systematic, but vain, use of social networks and instant messaging.

The operational structure of the investigated association proved to be particularly effective, and dangerous, as it was capable of making criminal agreements with other subjects, dedicated to the same criminal activities, rooted in the territories of Gela and Catania, opening up other investigative scenarios, on which the Flying Squad he collected serious clues, even with the seizure of significant quantities of cocaine.

The execution saw the involvement of almost 200 policemen of the Agrigento Mobile Squad, with the help of the Caltanissetta Mobile Squad, the personnel of the Scientific Police, the Crime Prevention Department of Palermo, Catania and Siderno, the Mobile Departments of Palermo, the Flight of Palermo, of the police stations of the province as well as of the Canine Anti-drug Units of Palermo.

Operation Hybris Agrigento 26 precautionary measures criminal association for drug trafficking