On 13 September 2023, in the provinces of Milan, Bergamo, Cremona, Lecco, Lodi, Mantua, Monza Brianza, Piacenza, Savona, Turin and Varese, Brescia, Cosenza, the soldiers of the Provincial Command of Milan arrested, in execution of an order of application of personal precautionary measure issued by the GIP of the Court of Milan, upon request of the local District Anti-Mafia Directorate in close collaboration with the Public Prosecutor's Office of Monza, 24 people (2 Italians and 16 Albanians, 5 Moroccans and 1 Tunisian), held responsible – for various reasons – of the crimes of criminal association aimed at international trafficking of narcotic substances, aiding and exploitation of prostitution, robbery and extortion.
The provision arises from the results of a detailed investigation activity launched by the Carabinieri of the Milan Investigation Unit in April 2020, following an international letter rogatory following the flagrant arrest - on Swiss territory - of an Italian citizen, caught while He was carrying 6 kilograms of heroin in his car.
The investigations were developed with a complex system of technical activities and in collaboration with the Swiss Judicial Authority. The investigative findings have thus made it possible to reconstruct the structure and operations of two distinct criminal associations, in business with each other, and headed by as many Albanian families, with operational connections in Albania, logistical bases in the province of Milan and ramifications in all of Northern Italy - especially in the provinces of Monza Brianza and Bergamo - as well as in Calabria and Switzerland. The system of import and sale of heroin and cocaine fed a dense network of drug dealing on Italian and Swiss territory on a daily basis, mostly made up of "batteries" of traffickers of North African origin, dedicated to retail dealing in wooded areas and agricultural.
During the investigations, numerous episodes of detention, transport and delivery of drugs were reconstructed in various provinces of Northern Italy (Bergamo, Monza and Brianza, Turin and Verona) and 42 kg of narcotics including heroin, cocaine and hashish and 40 kg of drugs were seized of cutting substance, as well as 2 illegally possessed rifles and the sum of 13.000 euros in cash. An apartment and a warehouse used as drug refineries were also identified, as well as several apartments and garages used for storing drug shipments.
Furthermore, the associates managed in a stable and organized manner a system of exploitation of the prostitution of girls from the East, forced, with threats and violence which also resulted in episodes of robbery and extortion, to also make themselves available on online dating sites, and to prostitute themselves in apartments managed for this purpose by the suspects themselves.
The recipients of the precautionary measures available in Italy were arrested and subjected to precautionary custody in the prisons of Milan - San Vittore, Lodi, Lecco, Bergamo, Mantua, Cremona, Savona, Turin, or to house arrest in the provinces of Bergamo and Milan while they are the seizures of the cash proceeds from drug dealing incidents promptly crystallized during the investigations, amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros, are underway.