Palermo, 144 kilograms of drugs found in Guadagna: one arrest made.
#Palermo
The finance police of the provincial command in Palermo have arrested a 30-year-old man from Palermo, caught in the act, and seized over 143 kg of hashish, divided into bricks, and nearly 1 kg of cocaine, with a retail value of over one million euros. In addition to the significant amount of confiscated drugs, banknotes totaling over 17,000 euros were also seized, already divided into bundles.
Specifically, the green berets of the Special Operations Group, a unit of the finance police, noticed a person partially opening the shutter of a storage unit near Via dell’Orsa Maggiore in the Guadagna area. After looking around several times, the person entered the unit in a visibly cautious manner.
The finance police decided to approach the storage unit, immediately detecting a strong smell of narcotics, which prompted them to enter and search the premises. The unit was approximately 20 square meters with a loft area inside. During the operation, large packaging made of cordura fabric, weighing about 30 kg each, containing hashish, were found. Thanks to the timely intervention of the canine unit Elisir, additional bricks of hashish and cocaine were discovered in the same storage unit, hidden inside a backpack placed in a chest of drawers and partially on a shelf.
The search was also extended to the suspect’s residence, where bundles of banknotes, mostly 50-euro bills, were found. Each bundle was rolled up inside a 500-euro bill, totaling over 17,000 euros, presumably proceeds from the drug trafficking.
The storage unit also contained a considerable amount of packaging materials, such as a vacuum sealing machine with corresponding bags and adhesive labels featuring the images of Maradona and Scarface, which were likely intended to be placed on the bricks of hashish before their sale to make them recognizable in the Palermo market.
The sale of only the hashish would have yielded retail profits of over one million euros, to which the approximately 75,000 euros earned from the sale of the cocaine, some of which was found to be extremely pure, would be added.
The man was handed over to the judicial authorities, who ordered his transfer to the Pagliarelli prison, as well as the seizure of the drugs and money.
Further investigations conducted immediately regarding the arrested individual revealed that he had been a recipient of the Basic Income program until July 2023, with the benefit subsequently suspended.
Palermo, scoperti 144 chili di droga alla Guadagna: un arresto
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