Italy confiscated more than 644 kilos of cocaine hidden in bags of coffee inside a boat from Costa Rica. The operation was executed by the Finance Guard in the port of Livorno, located on the west coast of the Tuscany region.
Although the police action was carried out on January 15th, it was announced through an official communiqué released until Wednesday. According to the report, the cargo with coffee beans left Puerto Cortés in Honduras and passed through Moín (in Limón), where it was transferred to a Portuguese flag cargo ship.
The final destination of the shipment was a company located in Madrid (Spain), where it would supposedly arrive from the port of Barcelona. However, everything indicates that this was a fictitious route to continue the journey illegally to Livorno.
Apparently, the ship was abandoned for several days in the Italian port terminal and that raised suspicions. After a detailed inspection, it was possible to find the drug hidden in the bags with coffee beans.
Each of the 582 packages -distributed in 23 bags- found was marked with the legend ‘DG’. The Guardia de Finanza confirmed that this is the largest seizure of cocaine transported by sea carried out in -at least- the last 10 years in Livorno.
Although there were no arrests, the Italian authorities suggest that the Mafia organization N’drangheta -based in the Calabria region- would be behind the shipment with a value in the illicit market of nearly $148 million. This organization is considered to be the largest importer of cocaine to Europe.
As of March 13th, the Italian judiciary will judge a large organization suspected of trafficking cocaine from Costa Rica to Europe in containers loaded with pineapple and cassava. The group is linked to Ponzo Salvatore, the Italian murdered at the end of May 2018 outside the Italian Embassy in Los Yoses.
Salvatore was listed as the owner of the company Tierra Nuestra Latina, a pineapple exporter based in Pital de San Carlos, Alajuela. Apparently, that company was used to send the drug to Europe periodically by sea.
In total, 45 people arrested last October will be prosecuted for their connection with international drug trafficking. Some of them are Marco Cademartori, alleged partner of Tierra Nuestra Latina, and Salvatore’s father. Both were arrested in Sabadell (Catalonia) and are being held in Madrid, Spain.
In addition, at the beginning of December the European police group Eurojust arrested 90 people related to the N’drangheta. The Calabresse organization is cataloged as the most powerful mafia in that country. With tentacles so powerful and firm that they include countries like: Holland, Belgium or Luxembourg.
The cocaine was bought in America by two families linked to the criminal group: the San Luca and the Natile di Careri.