Olbia raid: 1.5 kg drugs, dark web and Telegram

On the morning of 11 February, the Guardia di Finanza of the Olbia Group carried out a large-scale operation against drug trafficking. The officers succeeded in identifying and dismantling a criminal association of six people from Olbia. All six suspects, including one minor, were arrested. The investigation had emerged from checks carried out in the area, including with the support of sniffer dogs. Subsequently, the financial police conducted a series of searches in several private homes in the municipality of Olbia. Around 1.5 kilograms of drugs were seized. The investigators came across a veritable "supermarket" of drugs: in addition to amphetamine, cocaine, hashish and marijuana, the substance known as Amnesia, which is considered particularly dangerous and can cause permanent damage to the nervous system, especially in young people, was also in circulation. During the police operations, which also included the vehicles of those arrested, two pistols were found – including a modified blank-firing weapon capable of causing injury – as well as two deceptively realistic toy weapons without the required red marking, an electric stun device, various ammunition, homemade explosive devices, balaclavas, batons, knuckledusters, burglary tools and a foreign vehicle registration plate that had been reported lost. The Guardia di Finanza also seized around 65,000 euros in cash in notes of various denominations (20 to 200 euros), a Rolex watch worth over 8,000 euros and two money counting machines. The assets are believed with high probability to stem from drug sales and are in no proportion to the income situation of the six accused, who are mostly young and without permanent employment. In the course of the investigation, it emerged that those arrested had used digital channels for sourcing and distributing the drugs: the so-called dark web and the Telegram messaging service. Both channels are widely used among young people and are considered relatively secure due to their degree of anonymity. The public prosecutor's office in Tempio Pausania ordered the arrested adults to be transferred to Bancali prison; the minor was placed under house arrest. The operation underscores the importance of the work of the Guardia di Finanza of the province of Sassari in cooperation with the public prosecutor's office in Tempio Pausania in combating drug trafficking and investigating criminal structures.