Padua, Polfer agent arrested with cocaine and 40 thousand counterfeit euros

The Padua police arrested a Polfer officer from the Venetian city who was found in possession of 166 grams of pure cocaine still in "stone" and 40 thousand euros in counterfeit banknotes of the denomination of 20 euros. The driver of the car he was traveling in, a 28-year-old from Piove di Sacco in the Padua area, was arrested with him.

The policeman, a 34-year-old, had been under observation by the flying squad for weeks, as he was suspected of being involved in a drug dealing ring. Late yesterday evening, Tuesday 22 September, the police spotted him in a car while he and the 28-year-old were traveling along the A13 motorway coming from Bologna, probably after leaving from the province of Naples where the 34-year-old lived before taking up service in Padua. Having stopped the car, the officers found the package of cocaine in the glove compartment, which once cut would have exceeded half a kilo for retail sale. A trolley was found in the trunk with four parcels containing the fake money inside.

Once at the police station, the two were arrested and taken to the Due Palazzi prison in Padua. The agent has already been placed under precautionary suspension from service. "When a policeman commits a crime he fails to fulfill the foundations of his service assumed with the oath and betrays the citizens who place their trust in us, the institutions, he betrays the same colleagues who are engaged in the institution's many activities on a daily basis, but above all he betrays the memory of the policemen who died in the performance of their duty", declares the police commissioner of Padua Marco Odorisio. "The bad apples - continues Odorisio - must be isolated and removed. This affair has demonstrated how the Padua State Police has the antibodies to identify and combat those within the Administration who commit crimes".