Italian police have busted an international drug trafficking ring based in Sicily, and operating between Italy and Argentina, local media reported on Thursday.
Some 12 people overall were arrested in Italian capital, in Tolmezzo of northeast Friuli Venezia Giulia region, and in Sicily’s Palermo and Bagheria, according to Ansa news agency.
The ring was allegedly aimed at specifically providing the Sicilian market with cocaine, according to military police Carabinieri carrying out the operation.
The cocaine was smuggled from Argentine to Italy in common suitcases, and would have been almost entirely destined for nightclubs in the provinces of Palermo and Trapani, police said in a statement.
Some 5kg of cocaine was also seized at the airport of Argentina’s capital Buenos Aire during the operation, according to Ansa.