Italian Police Seize $880 Million Of Cocaine ‘Bound for Armenia’

ROME– Police in Italy said on Tuesday that they have seized 2.7 tons of “extremely pure” cocaine destined for Armenia.

In a statement, Italy’s Guardia di Finanza police force said the consignment of drugs worth more than 800 million euros ($880 million) was found in refrigerated banana containers shipped to the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro from Ecuador.

Armenia was the final destination of the shipment, via Georgia’s Black Sea port of Batumi, said the statement.

Calabria is home to the Ndrangheta crime syndicate, which is now widely regarded as Italy’s most powerful mafia organization playing a central role in the drugs trade.

Earlier this month, the Italian police also found in Gioia Tauro 600 kilograms of cocaine which they said was bound for other parts of Italy as well as Croatia, Greece and Georgia.

Armenian law-enforcement authorities did not immediately react to this latest major drug bust. It was not clear whether the authorities will try to investigate the alleged cocaine shipment to Armenia foiled in Italy.