Police in Ticino dismantle international drug ring

The Ticino cantonal police worked with authorities in Italy and Spain in an operation that began in 2017 to dismantle the criminal drug network. Keystone / Carlo Reguzzi

A years-long investigation in southern Switzerland has culminated in the seizure of CHF3 million worth of cannabis and hashish and the arrest of several people involved in a criminal network spanning several European countries.

Ticino cantonal police announced on Monday that they had confiscated around 2,000 kg of illegal substances, including cannabis and hashish worth at least CHF3 million ($3.32 million), from a drug ring that extended to Spain, France, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Italy.

Working with Italian and Spanish authorities, the Ticino police uncovered financial transactions amounting to €400,000 (CHF434,000) and CHF215,000, and discovered that several million euros had been laundered.

In Ticino investigators had focused on the northern Tre Valli region, from where the suspects reportedly coordinated certain operations, including acting as intermediaries and distributing drugs.

In all the police arrested five men aged between 28 and 49, three of them Ticino residents. Several others were also arrested in Italy and Spain.

The drug ring had been active since 2014.