Italian police seize contraband of cocaine concealed in coffee beans
- 20 Jul 2020
Gulf Today Report
Last year, Italy seized almost 650kg (1,400lb) of cocaine in the northwestern port of Livorno, more than double the entire amount seized there in 2018.
The street value of the cocaine found, which was discovered on Jan.5 stuffed into 23 large duffel bags, was 130 million euros ($148.59 million).
The drugs were in a container of coffee beans that was destined to be delivered to a Madrid-based company in the port of Barcelona. The shipment left from Honduras and was transferred to another cargo ship in Costa Rica before crossing the Atlantic, police said.
Now, in what appears to be a repeat of the crime, a parcel of Colombian coffee was found to have cocaine packed individually into hundreds of coffee beans. The quantity however was much smaller. Italian police busted the drug smuggling bid.
According to a report in a section of the media, the smugglers were found to be attempting to transport 150g of cocaine in the coffee beans. The package was seized when it was delivered to a tobacco shop in Florence.
Switched-on airport officials started suspecting the package when they noticed it was addressed to “Santino D'Antonio” — the name of a mafia boss in the “John Wick” movie franchise.
Smugglers are using all kinds of methods to peddle their banned goods. In India, automatic iron presses, hand-held drilling machines and Covid protective suits are used to smuggle drugs and gold into the country.
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In Kerala, a gang of gold smugglers peddling gold paste was unearthed at the Kannur Airport, which used to conceal the precious metal in paste form in clothes, mostly jackets and jeans.
Smuggling gold in "paste form" is a new way adopted by the crime syndicates to clear X-ray machines installed at various international airports and seaports in India, a Customs Commissioner said.
According to him, smugglers first convert gold into powder and then produce its compound in paste form. Around 700gms of gold can be retrieved from 1kg of paste through a chemical procedure. The smuggled gold in pure form is later sold in the market.
