The 'Hermano' drug operation carried out by the Carabinieri of the Reggio Calabria Provincial Command under the coordination of the Reggio anti-mafia county directorate started at dawn and led to the arrest of 19 people, several Albanians among them. 

The Caribbean enforced the custody order issued by the investigating judge at the request of the DDA. At the center of the investigation are several entities residing in Taurianova, in the area of ??Gioia Tauro. The operation also affected the provinces of Milan, Parma, Verona and Vicenza. 

The suspects are accused of being part of an articulated criminal organization, capable of managing a thriving drug trafficking. 

According to the carabinieri investigative findings, coordinated by prosecutor Giovanni Bombardieri, the drugs were bought in South America and, passing through the Spanish Channel, then arrived in Italy where they were resold in various northern cities. 

19 people arrested, seven in prison and 12 under house arrest were in contact with Peruvian narcotics. 

Among those arrested is Carmelo Bonfiglio, 42, considered one of the promoters and organizers of the criminal association aimed at drug trafficking. 

According to the investigation, Bonfiglio was in contact with Spanish and Albanian suppliers. But above all with the Peruvians. 

With these latest cocaine producers, in fact, according to the DDA, the detainees would have had a privileged relationship thanks to which they could buy bundles of drugs at competitive prices: 32 thousand euros per kilogram against a market price ranging from 35 to at 40 thousand euros. 

44-year-old Roço Camillò, Diego Giovinazzo (46 years old), Palmiro Cannatà (62 years old), Salvatore Sanò (60 years old), Damiano Veneziano (33 years old) and Antonio Pedullà (36 years old) were also sentenced to prison. 

The judge ordered house arrest for Antonio De Luca 71 years old, Antonio Ranieli (71 years old), Francesco Macrillò (64 years old), Francesco La Cognata (44 years old), Maurizio Sciçhitani (55 years old), Antonio Zangari (53 years old), Gino Carlo Melziade (50 years old), Peruvian Oscar Bruno Bagigalupo Lobaton (47 years old), Donato Melziade (63 years old), Endri Dalipaj (33 years old), Gioaçhino Marco Molé (30 years old) and Ricardo Ierace (34 years old).

There are 56 suspects from the investigation that started in December 2017 after he was arrested during a police check. At the time, in fact, inside a car, carabinieri found 3 kilograms and 400 grams of dried cannabis flowers. Since that abduction, he was first tracked down to Palmiro Cannatà and then to Carmelo Bonfiglio, thus rebuilding the drug supply chain but also outlining the structure of the criminal gang capable of managing marijuana, hashish and cocaine trafficking.

It is learned that the detainees were able to import large groups of drugs to Italy. The cargo was hidden in "secret compartments" inside the vehicles used for transport in major Italian cities, including Milan and Rome.