DETAILS/ The crackdown on the drug trafficking organization, how did the Albanian gang function? They recruited young people, provided them with vehicles and temporary shelter

Italian authorities have cracked down on an Albanian drug trafficking organization in the L'Aquila area. As part of this operation, 16 people have been arrested, while 40 others are under investigation.

The investigation into this operation was coordinated by prosecutor Roberta D'Avolio under the direction of district attorney Alberto Sgambati, which began in January 2025.

“We didn't just stop at individual arrests,” explained Major Massimo Canale, commander of the L'Aquila Carabinieri Company.

Step by step, investigators began to reconstruct the mechanism. According to the Prosecution, there were three distinct criminal organizations, but they were connected to each other and, above all, connected to an operational structure in Albania that managed the recruitment, supply of drugs and the continuous circulation of dealers.

The young men were brought to Italy on regular tourist visas. Once there, they received full logistical support: rental cars, cell phones, SIM cards, and temporary housing. The choice to use boys without a criminal record was part of the system itself and the way the criminal gang operated.

"They were young people who had arrived perhaps the day before, with no criminal record," prosecutor D'Avolio explained at a press conference.

The cars used were constantly changed. The telephone lines were very short. The cocaine was hidden in forest areas, in the countryside and on the outskirts of L'Aquila.

According to the Italian Prosecutor's Office, the groups operated mainly in L'Aquila and surrounding municipalities, but also had connections in Tuscany and Veneto.

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