A complex Italian-Albanian criminal association dedicated to the trafficking, including international, of various types of narcotic substances. This is what the Carabinieri discovered in the operation called "Family & Friends" , coordinated by the DDA of the Sardinian capital , which led, in the early hours of this morning, to the execution of 40 arrests divided between Sardinia and various cities on the peninsula between Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Abruzzo.
In particular, 40 restrictive measures were issued, of which 23 were orders for precautionary custody in prison and 17 for house arrest . Among the crimes charged: possession and dealing of narcotic substances and association aimed at drug trafficking.
The gang , which was headed by the 42-year-old Giovanni Portas from Cagliari and had a logistical base in the city of Quartu Sant'Elena, obtained large quantities of drugs, mainly hashish and cocaine, and then took care of their marketing in the provinces of Cagliari and Sassari , making use of a dense network of traffickers and drug dealers who provided for widespread distribution in their respective local markets.
The association was therefore connected to other criminal groups of Spanish and Albanian nationality , the supply channels capable of ensuring supplies through a tested transport system, based on international shipments and the collaboration of unsuspected couriers , recruited from time to time with the maximum confidentiality regarding their identity, which was not revealed even to the recipients, so as to avoid any leak of information, even involuntary, which could lead to their identification during transport.
Also involved is the 52-year-old Paolo Gaviano , who, according to the data acquired so far, controls large sectors of the drug dealing activity throughout the island, making use of some trusted collaborators.
THE INVESTIGATIONS – As established by the Carabinieri, the cocaine was supplied to the association by Albanian clans active in the peninsula , while the hashish , of Iberian origin, arrived in Sardinia through ordinary postal parcels, addressed to non-existent recipients, holders of mobile phone accounts listed on the same packages, as a reference to the arrival, also registered to imaginary Pakistani citizens. Having arrived at the delivery location, the unaware courier called that number and was immediately reached by the real recipient of the package, who introduced himself with the fake name used for the shipment.
The group would also have made use of specialized shops that offered a paid post office/storage service , knowing full well that the managers of these services, not being required to do so, would not have checked the contents of the goods arriving at their exchange point. The central shipping hub is the city of Milan .
SHIPMENTS – The Sardinian traffic representatives were in the habit of going to southern Spain with the aim - based on what has emerged so far - of commissioning and paying in advance for shipments of hashish. One of the several cases that it was possible to reconstruct highlighted how the two couriers, who were traveling by car, had hidden three hundred thousand euros in the spare wheel . The payment would be followed shortly by the shipment of the substance.
The mechanism used for the importation of cocaine was quite similar, which was instead carried out by some Albanians located in various locations across the national territory . According to the circumstantial framework, these people always demanded advance payment for the "goods" and within a month they then sent the cocaine via Italian couriers, generally unsuspecting couples who took the risk of traveling in cars with double occupancy. funds containing the narcotic.
Portas would have managed a large part of the cocaine dealt in Cagliari but also in Sassari, through local subjects, who would be included in the Cagliari organization chart. In several cases the narcotic headed for Sassari was loaded onto cars in the area of the San Michele cemetery.
The return journey to Sassari was made along state road 131 at very high speeds and on behalf of Gabriele Gabresu , now thirty-seven years old, Sassari representative of the Cagliari organization .
In one of the narcotics recoveries carried out, the car traveling at very high speed along the Carlo Felice state road was overtaken at night by a Carabinieri gazelle and stopped in the municipality of Sestu. That car was then dismantled by the Carabinieri but no trace of cocaine was found, despite the military having acquired substantial evidence that the car was acting as a courier. Already at dawn the Carabinieri had searched the meadows and shrubs along the roadside, in the section of the highway concerned, finding a package of hashish. In the following hours and for about a week, groups of people from Sassari in contact with Grabesu, as if they were looking for mushrooms, searched without hope the countryside immediately adjacent to the major road, thus allowing the Carabinieri to obtain further feedback which they could provide to the Cagliari Prosecutor's Office. for the continuation of the investigation.
On another trip to northern Sardinia, the car was carrying a kilogram of cocaine hidden in a cat carrier .
The investigation was carried out in collaboration with the Central Directorate of Anti-Drug Services and Judicial Authorities and Police Forces of other European countries, in particular Spain.
(Unioneonline/vl)
THE INTERVIEW WITH GENERAL LUCA CORBELLOTTI:
