A new drug trafficking route has been dismantled between Marsala, Sicily, and Tunisia. No less than 670 kilos of hashish were seized by the Italian Financial Guard, Italian media report.
Sicily and Tunisia are separated only by a thin ribbon of sea, a natural border between two continents, but which is increasingly becoming the scene of illicit trafficking defying the law and the vigilance of the authorities.
In recent weeks, a new maritime route has emerged in the waters of the Sicily Canal: a true “sea route” linking the North African coasts to those of the province of Trapani.
Italian law enforcement carried out a vast operation along this marine corridor, used not by fishermen or boaters, but by traffickers ready to sail fast boats loaded with drugs bound for the European market.
Investigations, coordinated by the Palermo Anti-Mafia Directorate, revealed international trafficking exploiting the geographical proximity between Marsala and Tunisia to transport large shipments of narcotics by sea.
A rough night off the coast of Marsala
On the night of October 20, agents of the State Police and the Finance Guard of Trapani, engaged in a joint patrol, noticed a suspicious movement off the coast of Marseille.
According to testimonies collected, an inflatable boat with an outboard motor had left dry land to head out to sea. Radar and surveillance systems tracked the boat to international waters, where it encountered a Tunisian fisherman.
The two boats then came together to transshipment several large packages, wrapped in blue tarpaulins. Despite attempts at concealment, the Italian authorities had already implemented an encirclement maneuver.
A chase began: the pilot of the boat tried to flee and get rid of the load, but the agents managed to recover the packages, containing 160 kilos of hashish packaged in strips.
670 kilos of hashish and five arrests
While the police intercepted the boat in Marsala, the Finance Guard chased the Tunisian fisherman, intercepted a few miles from Tunisian maritime territory. The soldiers managed to board, recovering 11 other packages of drugs thrown into the sea, representing more than 600 kilos of additional hashish.
In total, 670 kilos of drugs were seized – the largest shipment intercepted in Trapani waters in decades.
Five Tunisian nationals were taken into custody for criminal association linked to international drug trafficking. Four of them were placed in pre-trial detention, while the fifth was transferred to the Milo Administrative Detention Center, pending decisions by the Italian justice system.
The two boats were seized to allow investigators to deepen their investigations and reconstruct the networks involved in this new Mediterranean drug trafficking route.
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