Police divers discover $1m of cannabis in cave on Italian island

Italian police divers have discovered a stash of drugs hidden inside a sea cave accessible by a submerged tunnel on one of Italy’s popular summer island getaways.

The crescent-shaped island of Ponza, which lies in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the country’s west coast, is favoured by celebrities such as Beyonce, Naomi Campbell, Zoe Kravitz, Pierce Brosnan and Giorgio Armani.

One of its most striking features is a half-moon bay, backed by soaring white cliffs, called Chiaia di Luna.

It is there, in a sea cave accessible by an underwater passageway, that police discovered 40kg of hashish worth around €500,000 ($1 million).

It is believed that the drugs were stashed in the cave to be ready for the summer season, when well-heeled Italians and foreigners descend on the island, which is a part of a scattered archipelago located between Rome and Naples.

The Guardia di Finanza, an Italian police force, released video which shows divers entering the water from a patrol boat and using hand-held sea scooters to propel themselves towards the cave.

Inside they found the large quantity of cannabis packed into 330 bags.

“Once out on the streets the drugs would have been worth an estimated €500,000,” the Guardia di Finanza said in a statement. “This is the biggest ever drug seizure on the island.”

Police believe the drugs would have been discreetly retrieved from time to time by dealers and their accomplices equipped with snorkels and flippers.

The hiding place was well chosen. The once popular beach at Chiaia di Luna has been closed to the public for years because of rock falls and crumbling cliffs.

The drug stash was brought to light after a weeks-long surveillance operation by police, who monitored the dealers’ movements both at sea and on land.

Ponza is characterised by pastel-coloured former fishermen’s houses, small harbours, dazzling white cliffs and turquoise bays.

In ambience it is similar to the better-known island of Capri, further south, but without the tourist hordes.

Expensive restaurants and harbour-front bars draw wealthy Romans and Neapolitans during the summer.

Benito Mussolini was briefly jailed on the island in 1943 after being ousted from power.

The island provided the backdrop to some of the scenes in the Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

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