The Palermo court has handed down the sentences for the largest anti-drug operation ever recorded in the Mediterranean, where in Porto Empedocle, in Italy, 5 tons of cocaine worth about 1 billion euros were seized in 2023.

Judge Marco Gaeta sentenced the Russian captain of the Plutus, Viktor Dyachenko, and Vincenzo Catalano, the commander of the fishing vessel Ferdinando D’Aragona, to 16 years in prison each. Three crew members were also sentenced: Tunisian Kamel Thamlaoui was sentenced to 14 years in prison, while Albanian Elvis Lleshaj and Tunisian Samj Mejri were each sentenced to 12 years.

The court also imposed fines of 100,000 euros on the two commanders and 80,000 euros on the crew members. Upon completion of the sentence, the captain and crew will be deported from Italy.

The seizure of the drug was made possible by the intervention of the Economic-Financial Police Unit of Palermo. Authorities intercepted the cocaine as it was being transferred from the Palau-flagged vessel Plutus to the trawler Ferdinando D’Aragona. The drug shipment had traveled from Central America, where it reached the Strait of Sicily from Santo Domingo, through the ports of Trinidad and Tobago, Las Palmas in Spain.

The drugs were seized while the ship was trying to continue on its way to Turkey.