Catania police arrested a 30-year-old man from the city after finding drugs and drug-packaging material in a garage he had rented.[1][2][3][4] Officers of the Flying Squad and the dog unit of the general prevention and public rescue office were patrolling near via Pietra dell’Ova when the drug dogs Briska, Rex and Ares signalled insistently at a garage.[1][2][4] The 30-year-old arrived within minutes and opened the lock-up, and officers searched it.[5]

The dogs led their handlers to a sack in a corner of the garage holding 214 grams of hashish and 96 grams of marijuana.[1][2][4] Officers also recovered a pair of scissors still soaked in the drug and seized the drugs.[1] Corriere Etneo, which identified the place as via Pietra dell’Ova, reported that the man had taken the lock-up on rent as an unsuspected base for storing the drug and preparing single doses for the local market.[5]

The man was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs for sale (detenzione di sostanze stupefacenti ai fini di spaccio).[6][4] After the duty prosecutor was informed, he was held in the police headquarters security cells pending a fast-track (direttissima) hearing.[5] The judge validated the arrest and ordered him to report to the judicial police for his area as a precautionary measure.[1][2][4] The accounts came from a Catania police statement published by the Sicilian outlets, which repeat the presumption of innocence until a final conviction.[5] RagusaH24 describes the find as the work of State Police officers in Catania during a territory-control service aimed at curbing drug dealing.[6]