20.5 tonnes of hashish seized from cargo ship Jupiter in Cagliari
Italian finance police found 821 packages of hashish weighing 20.5 tonnes hidden in a ballast tank of the Cook Islands-flagged cargo ship Jupiter after escorting it to Cagliari, Sardinia. Ten Syrian crew were arrested in the joint operation with France, Spain and Europol.
Italian finance police boarded the Cook Islands-flagged cargo ship Jupiter at sea on a tip and diverted it to the port of Cagliari in Sardinia, where an 18-day search finally found the drugs.[1]Officers used cranes to move blocks of granite carried as legal cargo before finding 821 packages of hashish weighing 20.5 tonnes in a ballast tank in the bow.[1]
The operation that located the vessel on 26 September 2015 was led by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza and DCSA with France’s OCRTIS-DCPJ and CeCLAD-M, Spain’s Guardia Civil and Europol, and the ship was escorted to Cagliari.[2]Ten Syrian citizens were arrested and six Indian citizens, all crew members, were taken into custody for further investigation.[2]The authorities estimated the street value at 200 million euros.[1]
The ship’s last reported port of call was Vigo in Spain.[1]The captain and the crew members held were all Syrian nationals.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Crew count: maritime press reports nine or ten crew held while the Europol account reports ten Syrian citizens arrested and six Indian citizens taken into custody; the report uses the Europol arrest figure.
Timing: the operation is dated 15 October with the seizure announced on 16 October; the report uses 15 October.
Carabinieri of the Gorizia company found a 37-year-old man smoking a joint on the second floor of the disused Albero alla Transalpina in via Giuseppe Caprin on 10 November 2026 and seized more than two grams of marijuana. The man was taken to the company offices and reported to the Prefecture of Gorizia for possession of drugs for personal use; no arrest was reported.
Guardia di Finanza officers stopped a car in Lario Intelvese and recovered 21.2 grams of hashish thrown away by one of five youths. The youth was reported to the judicial authority for possession for dealing and the drugs were seized.
Carabinieri from the Donori station stopped two unemployed 20-year-olds from Ussana in a car and found a small amount of hashish and a packet of benzodiazepine medicines without a prescription. The pair were reported to the administrative authority and the driver lost his licence; nobody was arrested.
Carabinieri stopped a 35-year-old from Rieti at a checkpoint on State Road 4 Salaria by the disused ex Bosi industrial area in Cittaducale and found about 12 grams of hashish, a precision scale and packaging material in his car and home. He was released pending trial and reported to the prosecutor in Rieti on suspicion of holding drugs for sale.
