Police arrest 10 for smuggling cocaine in Parmesan wheels

 TURIN – As many as 25 kilos of cocaine were found hidden inside five wheels of Grana Padano and Parmesan, leading to the arrest of 10 people, who police have found to be involved in a large drug trafficking operation.

 According to the financial police of Turin, the operation is dedicated to the trafficking of large quantities of narcotics. They have been caught twice before by the financial police since investigations began early last year.

 Today, 10 people were arrested for their alleged involvement in the trafficking and marketing of large quantities of cocaine. They have been put on a pre-trial custody order, issued by the judge of the Court of Turin: seven are in prison and three are under house arrest.

 According to the investigators, the group is made up of Italians and Albanians. The alleged head of the operation is a 37-year-old Albanian who holds a record of crimes related to drug trafficking.

 The investigations, which were launched by Turin's financial police unit, involved stalking via telephone and environmental interceptions. Through this, they were able to gather enough information to discover involvement in the crimes following the first two interceptions, which occurred last year.

 In April, the police seized 100 kilos of cocaine that were hidden inside a camper. According to the police and the DDA, Italy’s Anti-Mafia District Directorate, the drugs could have generated illegal revenues of up to 20 million euros. 

 Shortly after the first seize, the operation began to use hollowed-out wheels of cheese as hiding spots for the drugs. In June, police seized another 25 kilos of cocaine hidden inside five wheels of cheese in a van on its way to Sardinia.

 The drugs were distributed across various Italian regions, including in Lombardy, Veneto, Tuscany, Sicily, and Sardinia. They were stored primarily in Piedmont, in the city of Turin and in the province of Asti, but the organization was supplied with large quantities of cocaine from Holland, in cities Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

jd

 © COPYRIGHT ITALIAN INSIDER
UNAUTHORISED REPRODUCTION FORBIDDEN