Blow to Gulf Clan in Italy: 4.3 tons of cocaine seized, 38 arrested

An operation by Italian security forces seized 4.3 tons of cocaine and arrested 38 people linked to the Gulf Clan, Colombia's largest criminal gang, reported the Guardia de Finanzas on Tuesday.

More than 60 agents of the Italian Guardia di Finanza have been enforcing arrest warrants for 38 people accused of international drug trafficking in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and Colombia, they said in a statement.

The Guardia di Finanza and the Anti-Mafia Directorate of Trieste (northeastern Italy) investigation lasted more than a year. It was made possible through cooperation between the Colombian judiciary and police, the U.S. National Security Agency, and the Spanish National Police.

The investigations made it possible to reconstruct the extensive network of relationships between South American cocaine producers and buyers in Italy and Europe, belonging to well-known criminal organizations active in the Italian regions of Veneto, Lombardy, Lazio, and Calabria.

During the operation, undercover agents infiltrated the criminal organization and simulated managing the trafficking logistics, documenting up to 19 consecutive deliveries over a year, from May 2021 to May 2022.

The agents obtained evidence and identified important mediators of international drug trafficking and many transporters working in Italy and abroad.

"They are all subject to the current restrictive measures," explained the Finance Guard, a special police force that is part of Italy's Armed Forces.

During the operation, 4.3 tons of cocaine were seized, which the criminal network is estimated to have acquired for 96 million euros.

"On the Italian market, however, the retail sale would have more than doubled the final value, reaching a price of at least 240 million euros," said the statement quoted by EFE.

Police also seized vehicles, including a truck and an SUV, valued at over €100,000, as well as €1.85 million in cash.

Dairo Antonio Usuga, alias Otoniel, who until recently was the top leader of the Gulf Clan, was extradited in May to the United States under an indictment by three courts for drug trafficking-related crimes allegedly committed between 2002 and 2021.