Albania-Italy trafficking network dismantled; 37 arrested on action day
Italian and Albanian police arrested 37 members of an organised network trafficking drugs from Albania to Italy in a Eurojust-coordinated action day on 30 June 2020. The joint investigation team seized 3.5 tonnes of drugs including marijuana and hashish, worth over 40 million euros with other drugs combined, plus assets in Albania.
🇮🇹 Bari, Italy and Tirana, Albania · Italy
Arrested
37
Agencies
Anti-Mafia Investigation Direction of Bari, Albanian Police +1
Italian and Albanian police arrested 37 members of an organised criminal group trafficking large quantities of drugs from Albania to Italy in simultaneous raids on 30 June 2020, coordinated by Eurojust.[1][2]The operation in Italy was run by the Anti-Mafia Investigation Direction of Bari with the Carabinieri, state police and Guardia di Finanza under the Bari anti-mafia prosecutor, while Albania’s special anti-corruption prosecutor and police concluded their side.[1][2]
The suspects, of Italian and Albanian origin, had smuggled drugs by leisure boat and then overland, mainly into the Bari, Puglia and Basilicata regions.[1][2]The investigation seized3.5 tonnes of drugs, described as marijuana, cocaine and hashish together and estimated with other drugs at over 40 million euros, alongside assets in Albania worth over 4 million euros including factories, businesses, apartments, cars and a boat.[1][2]The joint investigation team behind the case was set up in 2017, and some suspects had already been convicted by an Italian court in 2019.[1][2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
37
Agencies
Anti-Mafia Investigation Direction of Bari; Albanian Police; Eurojust
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State police from the Vigevano station raided an industrial shed at Gambolò on the morning of 26 October 2026, seizing about 53 kg of dried cannabis and arresting three Milan men aged 43, 46 and 53. The shed held LED grow gear; the men were caught loading boxed cannabis into two cars.
State Police searched two farms in the Nuoro area and seized about three tonnes of marijuana and 10,000 drying plants. Three workers were found locked in a shed; five men were reported, one of them also for labour exploitation.
On 20 October 2026 Carabinieri from Asti, searching a wooded shed at Coassolo Torinese during 13 warrants in an Albanian-network inquiry, found 1,206 flowering cannabis plants they valued at over €1 million on the illicit market. They arrested an Albanian caretaker living in Asti and seized the shed and grow kit, which drew 80–100 kWh a day through an illegal grid tap.
