In the port of Gioia Tauro the staff of the Guardia di Finanza of Reggio Calabria and the officials of the Customs Agency of Gioia Tauro, under the coordination and direction of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Reggio Calabria - DDA, have placed under seizure 2,734 kilograms of pure cocaine. The operation is the the result of constant intelligence and analysis trade routes from South America to the Black Sea passing through the Calabrian port of call.

Investigators, among the thousands of containers in transit, have identified two from Guayaquil (Ecuador) and destined in Armenia, where they were supposed to arrive through the Georgian port of Batumi. Documentation insights found and cross-checks on the companies involved In the operation they corroborated the investigative hypotheses and the the need to inspect the two refrigerated boxes, over 12 meters long and containing 78 tons of bananas. The Cocaine was detected after long and complex search operations, with the aid of sophisticated scanners in endowment to ADM and the canine units of the Guard of Finance and drug sniffer dog Joel. The amount of drugs seized could have earned the traffickers an income from over 800 million euros.

In the days before the operation, the complex and articulated risk analysis activities and feedback on thousands of containers from the South American continent had allowed to the military of the Guardia di Finanza and officials customs to locate additional shipments of cocaine for a total of 600 kg. The narcotic, in these cases, had been skillfully hidden in six containers in different ways: between the goods, in double bottoms or, again, in the external cavities of the playpen. All containers carried exotic fruits with provenance from Ecuador and, after the transhipment to Gioia Tauro, they should have arrive in different ports, both in Italy and abroad: Croatia, Greece and Georgia.

From January 2021 to today in the port of Gioia Tauro have been Intercepted and seized a total of about 37 tons of cocaine.