Operation Rebus – Over 52 kilos of drugs seized in Italy
A river of drugs ready to invade the market squares of the capital has been intercepted on several occasions at the “Leonardo Da Vinci” airport of Fiumicino by the Financiers of the Provincial Command of Rome who, together with the staff of the Customs and Monopolies Agency , seized over 52 kilograms of drugs, including cocaine and heroin, arresting 18 people.
To come across the network of controls set up, as part of the operation renamed “Rebus”, at the airport in Rome, casual “couriers” who used the most imaginative expedients to hide the drug they were trying to introduce in Italy. A Dominican citizen, from Spain, had hidden over 3 kilos of pure cocaine in bottles containing apparently cosmetics intended, according to him, for hair care, while the owner of a beauty salon of Pakistani origin, declared himself a high fashion hairdresser, he had hidden 6 kilos of heroin in his luggage.
To pass the checks unscathed, an Italian from Sao Paulo in Brazil had seen fit to modify the package that contained a hydro-cleaner to accommodate about 3 kilos of cocaine inside; another compatriot had made a double bottom in his hold luggage to hide more than 10 kilos of heroin. On the other hand, 6 “ovulators” identified by the Fiamme Gialle of the Fiumicino Group together with the staff of the Anti-Fraud Surveillance Service of the aforementioned Agency, including a Nigerian from Uganda who, led to the “GB Grassi” hospital in Ostia and subjected to radiographic examination, he was found to have swallowed 49 eggs containing over a kilogram of heroin, one of which was extracted following a delicate surgery.
The large quantity of drugs seized, given its degree of purity, would have made it possible to obtain over a million doses, earning revenues of around 18 million euros for criminal organizations. The operation is part of the broader device to combat illicit trafficking developed by the Guardia di Finanza of Rome in the airports and ports of access to the capital.
