11 arrested as 20 tons of hashish found on ship off Sicily
Italian police intercepted the Panama-flagged survey vessel Remus and found 20 tons of hashish hidden in its fuel tanks. Its 11 Montenegrin crew members were arrested on international drug-trafficking charges.
🇮🇹 international waters in the Strait of Sicily, escorted to Palermo · Italy
The entire 11-person Montenegrin crew of the Panama-flagged survey vessel Remus
was arrested on international drug-trafficking charges.[1]Montenegrin police
said the 11 suspects were taken into custody by Italian police.[2]Italian
police said they seized the vessel in international waters on July 31 and
escorted it to the Sicilian port of Palermo.[1]A later Montenegrin police
account identified the vessel as the Panama-flagged Remus stopped with 11
Montenegrin crew members arrested.[3]
Italian police said they found 20 tons of hashish in the fuel tanks of the ship
after it was stopped and escorted to Sicily.[1]The drugs were packed in 650
sacks and hidden in two tanks.[1]Officers drained the fuel tanks in Palermo
and found the hash wrapped in sealed brown bags.[1]Montenegro’s early
announcement had given a preliminary figure of 2,000 kilograms of suspected
hashish.[2]
The ship had sailed from the Montenegrin port of Zelenika and was suspected of
planning to load hashish in Morocco for smuggling by sea to Libya.[2]Montenegrin drug officers said they had obtained operational information that an
organized criminal group intended to smuggle a large amount of hashish from
Morocco to Libya.[2]Because the route did not pass through Montenegrin
territorial waters, the officers said they exchanged the information with the
DEA, which then planned the joint operation.[2]The international action was
coordinated by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency.[2]Police said
statements were being taken from other crew members and that further
criminal-investigation activities would follow.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The early Vijesti announcement gave two tons and 2,000 kilograms while later Italian-police accounts give 20 tons; the report uses the final 20-ton figure.
The early announcement placed the stop in Italian territorial waters while later accounts say international waters; the report uses international waters per Italian police.
Italian-police accounts date the interception to July 31 while a later Montenegrin account dates the stop to August 2; the report is dated to July 31.
Published market-value estimates differ, including up to 200 million euros and 65 million euros, so no value is recorded.
The early announcement identified suspects only by initials, so full names were not published.
No court outcome was reported; the early announcement said the criminal investigation was ongoing.
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.
