Italy’s record cocaine haul

Italian police have seized two tonnes of cocaine, with a street value of $483 million, floating off the coast of Sicily. The ‘Ndrangheta crime group, based in Calabria, controls Italy's drug trade


ITALY
Naples
Gioia Tauro
Calabria
Palermo
SICILY
Ionian Sea
200km 125 miles

Apr 17, Golfo di Catania: Seventy packages containing 1,600 packets of cocaine recovered


World’s largest drug busts (values adjusted to today’s dollars)

San Francisco, 1991: 480kg of heroin from Thailand seized.
Street value: $11 million

Mexico, 2010: 95 tonnes of marijuana seized at border city of Tijuana. Value: $588 million

UK, 2015: Royal Navy intercepts tugboat carrying 2.9 tonnes of cocaine. Value: $880 million

Panama, 2007: U.S. Coast Guard seizes 18 tonnes of cocaine.
Value: $975 million

Western Australia, 2023: Police seize 2.4 tonnes of cocaine.
Value: $1 billion

Germany, 2022: 16 tonnes of cocaine found in containers in Hamburg port. Value: $3.6 billion

Texas, 1989: More than 13 tonnes of cocaine seized in double bust. 
Value: $3.8 billion
      
California, 1989: 19 tonnes of cocaine seized from Los Angeles warehouse. Value: $4.8 billion
      
Colombia, 1984: 12.7 tonnes of cocaine seized from drug lord Pablo Escobar. Value: $6.4 billion
      
Afghanistan, 2009: U.S. and Afghan forces seize 92 tonnes of opium and poppy seeds
        

Sources: CPI Inflation Calculator, ITV, Money Inc 
Picture: Guardia di Finanza 
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