Eight arrested as Carabinieri dismantle Piedmont indoor cannabis network
Carabinieri of Bra on 13 October 2026 announced operation Oro verde: eight Albanian nationals arrested, five others reported, and more than 340 kg of cannabis seized from indoor greenhouses in four Piedmont towns, plus 200 g of hashish, with a retail value they put at about €500,000.
🇮🇹 Sanfrè, Castellinaldo, Bene Vagienna and Ceres, Piedmont · Italy
Carabinieri of the Bra company, in Cuneo province, dismantled a network of indoor cannabis
greenhouses in Sanfrè, Castellinaldo and Bene Vagienna in the Cuneese and in Ceres in the Lanzo
valleys of Turin province.[1][2][3]They announced the results on 13 October 2026 as operation Oro
verde.[1]
Eight Albanian nationals were arrested — five in the act and three under custody orders — and five
other people were reported while remaining at liberty.[1][2][3]The investigation, begun in January
2026 under the Asti prosecutor’s office, had mapped what the Carabinieri called a specialised indoor
cultivation group that also sold advice on grow setups to other crews.[1][3]
Searches recovered more than 340 kg of cannabis, as flowering plants ready to cut and as dried
marijuana packed in heat-sealed bags, plus 200 grams of hashish and large sums of cash the force
treated as proceeds.[1][2][3]The Carabinieri put the retail value of the drugs at about €500,000.[1][3]The suspects were also accused of aggravated theft of electricity through an illegal bypass of
the E-Distribuzione meter that powered the lamps and fans.[1][3]
Photos and video
Two Carabinieri officers among flowering cannabis plants under grow lights in a Cuneo-province indoor room.Photo details
Carabinieri arrested eight people at dawn on 6 November in a blitz against hashish and cocaine dealing run from the woods of the provinces of Milan, Como and Varese, ordered by Milan's anti-mafia directorate. Six were found in a flat in Limido Comasco, searched with the GIS special unit, and weapons including a Kalashnikov, drugs, ammunition and cash were seized.
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.
