Colombia: cocaine trafficking to Italy reconstructed and the role of Raffaele Imperiale
November 11, 2023
At least three shipments of Colombian cocaine between 2020 and 2022, totaling 3,455 kilos, were made from Colombia to the Italian port of Gioia Tauro, Calabria, in a relationship between local drug traffickers and mobster Bartolo Bruzzaniti . In a reconstruction of these illicit trafficking, the Colombian independent journalism portal Vorágine underlined that the largest load, 2,226 kilos of cocaine, left the port of Turbo (northwest) hidden in banana crates sent to Italy by an export company local called Banacol which the Colombian media have linked with right-wing politicians and with accusations of links to paramilitary groups.
According to what has emerged, the operation involved members of the 'Ndrangheta, which controls 80% of cocaine trafficking in Europe, and the Camorra on the Italian side. In his account, Vorágine claimed that this shipment was intercepted by the Italian authorities, who managed to access the SkyEcc encrypted instant messaging application with which Bruzzaniti allegedly chatted with Raffaele Imperiale , an alleged member of the Italian Camorra.
The portal stated that the Italian mafiosi, having discovered that they had been intercepted, abandoned the drugs, while the Italian authorities sent two letters to the Colombian Prosecutor's Office, between 2020 and 2022, in which they requested information on the executives of the exporting company of bananas, without however receiving a response from Bogota.