A record amount of 5.3 tons of cocaine was seized by Italian authorities on the shores of Palermo, on the island of Sicily, as part of an operation that led to the arrest of 20 individuals.

According to the local authorities’ announcement, 5 of the arrested individuals are crew members of a fishing vessel that was transporting the cargo, as they had received it from a mother ship.

Among them, there is one Italian citizen, two Tunisians, one French, and one Albanian, identified as Elvis Lleshaj, 35 years old.

Meanwhile, the other 15 were from the mother ship, with the flag of the Republic of Palau and which made the delivery of the narcotics outside Italian territorial waters.

The operation was carried out by specialized units of the Guardia di Finanza, in collaboration with the Regional Anti-Mafia Directorate of Palermo.

According to Italian media citing investigative sources, it is suspected that the owner of the record amount of cocaine is a criminal consortium composed of various ethnic groups.

The arrested individuals have been sent to Palermo’s Pagliarelli prison pending trial.