The complaint from a father who was anxious because his twenty-year-old daughter was using drugs led to an operation this morning by the Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Reggio Calabria who arrested 18 people - 9 in prison and 9 under house arrest - in execution of an order from the investigating judge Federica Giovinazzo at the request of the Palmi prosecutor Emanuele Crescenti and the prosecutor Davide Lucisano.
The investigation, called Perseverant, broke up a complex cocaine and marijuana dispatch ring and began in March 2020 after the man's complaint to the Taurianova military.
The Carabinieri found the existence of a thriving drug market based in Taurianova and branches in Rosarno, Platì and Gerocarne, where the drug suppliers were based.
The dealing did not stop even during the Covid pandemic.
To reduce the risk of controls, the suspects had started delivering the doses by bicycle, directly to the buyers' homes, after the "orders" were placed online via messaging applications.
According to investigators, the suspects had a turnover of over one million euros.
During the investigations, 9 suspects were arrested for committing a crime.
In fact, in July 2020, the police found an Indian hemp plantation set up in a bunker hidden under an agricultural shed.
There, three meters below the ground, the suspects had set up hydroponic systems, complete with heating, ventilation and UV lamp lighting systems, intended for the management of various Indian hemp crops, differentiated by their toxic potential.
The narcotic, once processed in doses, would have brought the suspects profits of no less than 200 thousand euros.
Finally, the investigation by the Palmi Prosecutor's Office also shed light on the mistreatment that the wife and daughter of one of the arrested men had to suffer in silence for years.
Unable to report, forced to live in seclusion, humiliated daily and beaten several times, the two women have now been rescued by the police.
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