Italy drug busts: Lucca shop owner charged, Foligno restaurateur sentenced

Carabinieri in Lucca raided a plant and glassware shop in Borgo a Mozzano, seizing 750 g of marijuana and 70 g of hashish along with the store’s ornamental plants. The 30‑year‑old proprietor is to appear before the Lucca public prosecutor on charges of possession of drugs for trafficking.

In Umbria, a court in Perugia sentenced restaurant owner Giampaolo Coresi to 14 years and 10 months in prison and imposed a €127,800 fine for leading an organization that trafficked 65 kg of cocaine – the largest haul ever intercepted in the region. The judgment also found him guilty of association for drug trafficking, while acquitting him of self‑laundering. Investigators uncovered hidden caches of cocaine in the ceiling of his pizzeria, a garage, and a family courtyard, valuing the seizure at roughly €2 million on the wholesale market.