Gioia Tauro: 248 kilos of cocaine seized in port

At the port of Gioia Tauro in the southern Italian region of Calabria, the authorities have achieved another significant success against international cocaine trafficking. The provincial command of the Guardia di Finanza in Reggio Calabria, together with the local office of the Customs and Monopolies Agency, seized a shipment of particularly pure cocaine with a total weight of 248 kilograms. The drugs were hidden in containers that officially carried harmless cargo such as used vehicles and sacks of sesame seeds. The latest seizure is part of a broad offensive with which the Italian authorities have significantly intensified checks at the port of Gioia Tauro towards the end of the year. The aim of these measures is to identify, among the thousands of containers passing through the port every day, those shipments used by criminal organisations to move narcotics. For years, the port has been considered an important hub for cocaine from overseas that is intended to be distributed from there throughout Europe. The focus of the operation was on two containers arriving from overseas, which were selected on the basis of risk analyses and targeted investigative findings. One container was loaded with used motor vehicles, the other with sacks of sesame. According to investigators, this inconspicuous cargo concealed a highly professional smuggling set-up designed to disguise the drug trade and circumvent official inspections. Before the containers were opened, the officers first subjected them to radiological scanning using the modern X-ray scanners of the customs authority. The image analysis revealed irregularities that did not match the declared goods. Specially trained sniffer dogs of the Guardia di Finanza were then deployed. The dogs reacted at several points, confirming the suspicion that narcotics were hidden in the containers. During the subsequent physical inspection, officers discovered a total of 217 carefully wrapped cocaine packages concealed in cavities and false bottoms of the containers. The total weight of the seized material amounts to 248 kilograms of very high-purity cocaine. According to the investigators, the shipment was intended to pass unnoticed through the tight control network at the port of Gioia Tauro and later be divided into smaller consignments. The authorities emphasise that this seizure represents another key success in the ongoing fight against international drug trafficking via the port of Gioia Tauro. Close cooperation between the Guardia di Finanza and the customs administration prevented this large quantity of cocaine from reaching street markets in various European countries. Investigators estimate that the shipment would have generated revenues of around 40 million euros for the criminal organisations involved. This case is part of a series of seizures that have turned the port of Gioia Tauro into a focal point of European drug enforcement in recent years. According to official figures, approximately 4.8 tonnes of narcotics have already been seized there in the current year, exceeding the total for 2024. The authorities see this as evidence that the intensified checks and improved analytical tools are having a tangible impact. The documents and findings from the operation have been forwarded to the public prosecutor’s office in Palmi. Chief prosecutor Emanuele Crescenti and the on-call prosecutor are responsible for the legal assessment and coordination of further investigative measures. Their focus is on both the masterminds behind the smuggling operation and the logistics structures used to transport the containers to Europe. Investigators assume that the current seizure will provide important clues about international networks that use ports like Gioia Tauro to supply the European cocaine market. As the investigation continues, links to other seized shipments will be examined and possible interfaces to financial and money-laundering structures identified. The authorities have announced that they will maintain stricter controls in the port area and subject container traffic from certain high-risk regions to even closer scrutiny. Their declared goal is to gradually reduce the port’s attractiveness for internationally operating drug networks and to disrupt the existing smuggling routes on a lasting basis.