Two tonnes of cocaine were located in the sea during an aerial patrol, with police suspecting the waterproof packages were left for a criminal organisation to send to the mainland.
A “record” haul of cocaine has been found floating off Italy’s east coast during a routine aerial patrol by police.
Guardia di Finanza officers from the Financial Police spotted a consignment of 70 waterproof bags drifting in the sea near the island of Sicily on Monday.
Footage showed a team of police arriving by boat to collect the white packages, which had been carefully connected with a net to ensure it stayed together.
A signalling light device was also attached, likely to make the load easier to spot for whoever was due to pick it up.
The packages were later weighed, with police revealing a total of two tonnes of cocaine had been seized in what it believes is a record.
The amount has a street value worth €400 million or AUD$652 million.
Police suspect the drugs were going to be sold on Italy’s mainland, which would have “yielded very high earnings” for gangs.
“The identification and subsequent seizure of this quantity of drugs, one of the largest ever carried out in the national territory, likely prevented the drug from being recovered by criminals for subsequent illegal sale,” a statement read.
Officers believe the drug was dumped in the sea for a cargo ship to be picked up.
Police said there was about 1,600 bricks of drugs.
The load was spotted by a navy surveillance plane conducting a routine survey.
Officers were continuing to conduct searches of the area for any further packages.
Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini praised police for the “extraordinary operation”.
“Congratulations to the Guardia di Finanza for this extraordinary operation: (I am) against all drugs and for life, no matter what,” he tweeted.
At this stage it is not known which gang was involved in the syndicate.
However, it is not the largest discovery of cocaine found in the ocean. Earlier this year in February more than three tonnes of the drugs were seized by New Zealand authorities.
A record-breaking 3,200 kilograms were intercepted by law enforcement floating in the Pacific Ocean in what police said was the largest discovery “by quite some margin”.
A total of 81 bales of cocaine were drifting in international waters tied together by nets, in a similar fashion to the packages found in Italy.
Greg Williams, the Director of the National Organised Crime Group in NZ, said there was enough cocaine to supply the country for three decades.
But he did not believe the final destination was NZ.
“New Zealand is not a cocaine market. We are tiny compared to Australia,” he said.
Source: Sky News
