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Italy: Police seize 2 tons of cocaine floating off Sicily

April 17, 2023

Around 2,000 kilograms of the drug were found wrapped in waterproof packages and dumped in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.

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An Italian police image showing several packages of cocaine bundles floating in the sea
The cocaine bundles were tied with fishermen's netsImage: Italian Financial Police/AP Photo/picture alliance

Italian authorities have seized almost two tons (2,000 kilograms) of cocaine off the coast of Sicily, officials said Monday.

The haul has a street value of about €400 million ($440 million).

The drugs were stored in about 70 waterproof packages and carefully sealed, the Italian Guardia di Finanza said in a statement. The tax and customs authorities called it a "record" seizure.

The bundles were held together by fishermen's nets and equipped with a luminous signaling device, Guardia di Finanza added.

Two police officials fish out the cocaine bundles floating in the sea
Italian police officials fish out the cocaine bundles floating in the seaImage: Italian Financial Police/AP Photo/picture alliance

A maritime surveillance aircraft spotted the packages floating in the waters and alerted the police.

The "peculiar packaging methods and the presence of a luminous device to allow tracking" suggested that the haul was dumped at sea by a cargo ship in order for it to recovered later, the statement said. 

rm/rt (Reuters, AFP)