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22 November 2019Maxi seizure of nearly 7 tons of smuggled cigarettes from North Africa, for over one million euros, and 17 arrests. The Guardia di Finanza of Palermo and the air-naval component of the Corps, with the support of the territorial Departments of Trapani and Syracuse, completed a maxi operation that led to the arrest of 17 Italians, Libyans and Egyptians, with the seizure of 8 boats used for the transport of 6.7 tons of foreign processed tobacco produced in Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to 160 thousand euros in cash.

The interventions, carried out at the same time, with the use of numerous air and naval vehicles of the Palermo air and naval Operations Department and of the Messina air and naval group, in coordination with the investigators of the Palermo Economic and Financial Police Unit, concerned the stretches of sea overlooking the coasts of Trapani and Syracuse.

In particular, in the late evening of last Wednesday an ATR 42 aircraft of the Maritime Exploration Group of the Finance Guard of Pratica di Mare (Rome), in reconnaissance service in the Sicilian Channel, documented the anomalous routes of two boats offshore Lampedusa: first they sailed side by side and then head towards the two southern ends of the island, off the coast of Mazara del Vallo and Syracuse. The Palermo Naval Operations Department has therefore deployed several units, also on the basis of the first investigative analyzes of the specialists of the Gico del Nucleo di Economico Finizia di Palermo.

The two boats, each more than 20 meters long, were stationed at the limits of the territorial waters where they were waiting for fast boats, coming from the coast, for the transfer of cigarette cases. The contrast device came into play when the rafts returned to the 12 miles, where they were stopped by the Corps' vessels, which then set off in pursuit of the 'mother ships' they were looking for in the meantime. in vain, to set sail again towards North Africa. All the boats were boarded and brought to shore in the ports of Mazara del Vallo and Siracusa.

The 11 crew members of the two North African boats, of Egyptian and Libyan nationality, and the 6 Italians, buyers of the contraband cigarettes, originating in the provinces of Trapani and Syracuse, are under arrest. Timely investigations carried out by the yellow Flames have also made it possible to ascertain that one of the Trapani arrested, officially unemployed and without income, from last June receives the citizenship income for an amount of one thousand euros a month. A benefit that will be immediately suspended, as required by current regulations.

The approximately 7 tons of cigarettes, destined to supply the Sicilian markets and in particular the square of Palermo, would have yielded over a million euros to the criminal organization. Those arrested were taken to Trapani and Syracuse prisons. With the last operation since the beginning of the year, the Palermo Yellow Flames have seized 20 tons of contraband cigarettes, with the arrest of 46 people.