The Financial Guard of the Italian Ministry of Economy seized 4.3 tons of cocaine in the city of Trieste, the newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.

According to law enforcement, the shipment of drugs belonged to a branch of the Colombian drug cartel. Its cost is estimated at 96 million euros. In addition to prohibited substances, guards officers detained 38 members of a criminal group (who turned out to be citizens of Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Holland).

This consignment of cocaine was one of the largest among all those seized in Europe. During the investigation, it was found that the criminals intended to distribute it in the Italian regions of Venice, Lombardy, Lazio and Calabria. The operation to arrest drug traffickers was being prepared for a year together with Colombian law enforcement officers.