Late on the morning of 10 November, Carabinieri officers stopped a car driven by a 50-year-old Italian resident of the province during a routine check on the Via Emilia.[1] The Carabinieri’s Fidenza mobile unit, supported by the operational section, arrested the man after the check led to an anti-drug operation.[2] On the magistrate’s orders he was held in the Fidenza Company security cells.[1] A judge validated the arrest at a fast-track hearing the next morning.[1] The reports stress that he remains only seriously suspected and is presumed innocent pending a final conviction.[1]

Officers said a search of his pouch found two small cellophane wraps holding about half a gram of cocaine and about half a gram of heroin.[3] After his record showed specific prior drug offences, officers extended the search to his home, where he voluntarily handed over a kitchen container holding about half a gram of hashish and said it was all he had.[1] In a cabinet in a passage between the bathroom and kitchen, officers found a metal box containing a hashish slab weighing about 47 grams, two electronic precision scales and a knife with hashish residue still on the blade.[1] They also found a transparent cellophane bag holding three envelopes with 2,200 euros in cash in mixed denominations, whose origin the man could not explain.[1]

The Carabinieri said the man had shown nervousness from the first moments, acting irritated and reluctant to cooperate, which prompted the personal search.[1]