A record 13.4 tonnes of cocaine were
seized in Italy last year, according to the annual report from
the Central Directorate for Antidrug Services (DCSA) released
Friday.
The cocaine haul was 62.2% higher than 2019, when the rise on
2018 was even higher, 127.8%, the report said.
The DCSA said they would try to establish if last year's rise
could have been influenced by the "stop and go" effect of COVID
lockdowns.
Some 78.7% of seizures were made at borders, 98.1% of them at
maritime borders.
The bulk of the big catches were in January and February, when
3,330 kg was seized in the port of Livorno, 338 kg in La Spezia
and 1,128 kg at Gioia Tauro, the report said.
This was before the COVID lockdown.
Seizures also picked up again in October-December, including
2,862 kg in four separate operations, three at Gioa Tauro where
the Calabrian 'Nrrangheta mafia operates and one at Ancona.
'Ndrangheta, which controls the European cocaine trade and has
its major import point at Gioia Tauro, is Italy's richest and
most powerful mafia having supplanted Cosa Nostra of Sicily.
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