Cagliari’s Squadra Mobile, the city’s mobile investigative police unit, was working on anti-drug services against the spread of drugs among very young people, with observation by investigators in the Cagliari metropolitan area.[1] During that service, officers focused on a 19-year-old whose behaviour led police to intervene and stop and check him.[1][2] The check found about 70 grams of hashish in his possession, which in light of the circumstances was judged intended for subsequent transfer to third parties.[1][2]

He was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs for dealing, and after the validation hearing he was released.[1][2] A second account of the police activity dates this first Elmas intervention to 9 October, when investigators arrested the 19-year-old with about 70 grams of hashish considered intended for dealing.[3]

That account describes the checks as targeted observation and territorial-control services aimed at youth deviance, the framework in which the Elmas stop occurred.[3]