A 27-year-old man from Olbia was arrested by officers of the Guardia di Finanza, Italy’s finance police, after he collected a parcel sent from Spain.[1][2][3] The Olbia group had been watching postal shipments and waited for the delivery.[1][2] At a pickup point in the centre of Olbia the man, the real recipient, appeared agitated when the officers questioned him.[1][4] He is accused of holding drugs for the purpose of dealing.[1][2][4]

The parcel that drew their attention was addressed to a name that turned out to be invented.[1][2][4] Officers opened it and found 20 vacuum-packed blocks of hashish, cannabis resin, of 100 grams each, two kilograms in all.[5][2][3] The operation also seized a modest quantity of cocaine.[1]

A later search of the man’s home found about 5.5 grams of marijuana and 12 grams of cocaine already divided into doses for sale, plus packaging materials, two precision scales and a cutting agent.[1][2][4] The Guardia di Finanza estimated that the seized drugs, if put on the market, would have brought in about 25,000 euros and made more than 2,000 doses.[5][2][4] He was placed at the disposal of the public prosecutor’s office in Tempio Pausania, and the drugs and the material from the search were seized.[5][2][3]