They used a child as young as nine to deliver doses of drugs to customers or to collect debts accrued by buyers forced to pay them because they were threatened.
This was ascertained by the Carabinieri of Andria (Bat), who arrested two people, a 50-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman (mother of the child), for possession and dealing of drugs, extortion and receiving stolen goods, with the aggravating circumstance of having exploited the minor.
The man was served with the precautionary measure in prison, where he ended up last July because he was caught dealing drugs and because he was in possession of weapons. After his flagrant arrest, the military searched his home, finding and seizing cocaine, cutting and packaging material, two altered pistols without serial number as well as around seventy rounds of ammunition of different calibers.
Since then, the controls based on environmental and telephone interceptions, electronic monitoring and shadowing have continued and it emerged that during the conversations in prison with his partner, the 50-year-old imparted rules and methods for managing the drug dealing which the woman carried out also employing one of the his two children.
According to what was ascertained by the police, at least eight customers gave the little boy money in exchange for doses of drugs. According to the investigators, the child was exploited so as not to arouse suspicion. Now the woman is also in prison.
(Unioneonline/L)