Police arrested six people, including a married couple aged 73 and 70 who had no previous convictions, after finding hashish stored in a cellar and a flat in Sirmione on Lake Garda.[1] Officers of Bologna’s Flying Squad, working with the Brescia Flying Squad and the Desenzano del Garda police station, seized about 420 kg of hashish across the whole operation.[1] Police put the hashish’s market value at about 5 million euros.[1]
The inquiry began in Bologna with two brothers living in Anzola dell’Emilia suspected of dealing hashish.[1] On 6 October officers followed one brother to a meeting with a 21-year-old Moldovan driving a Fiat Talento, who hit police cars while trying to flee before he was stopped.[1] Inside the van, under a false wooden shelf, police found 101.15 kg of hashish, and one of those stopped carried a backpack with banknotes marked as 63,000 euros.[1] A set of keys with a remote control found in the van, and video from surveillance cameras showing the vehicle had earlier entered Sirmione, led officers to an automatic gate that opened the store where the rest was kept.[1] The search of a cellar and a flat in Sirmione turned up a further 305 kg of hashish, and police said the arrested couple had acted as custodians of the store.[1] At the brothers’ home in Anzola dell’Emilia, officers found 5.794 kg of hashish and 5,760 euros in cash.[1]
Police arrested the six people for joint possession of drugs intended for dealing.[2] All six arrested people were taken to prison to await a validation hearing before an investigating judge.[1] The head of Bologna police, Gaetano Bonaccorso, said 700 kg of drugs seized in a short time should prompt reflection on the scale of drug trafficking and dealing.[3]