Cagliari: Record seizure of four tonnes of hemp

In the province of Cagliari, the financial police have achieved a spectacular success against the illegal trade in cannabis products. At the centre of the case is a sole proprietorship that presented itself outwardly as a legitimate agricultural business, but in reality is said to have focused on the production and sale of THC-containing hemp. The case exemplifies how ostensibly legal industrial hemp projects can shift towards the narcotics market – and how investigators use aerial reconnaissance, online research and laboratory analyses to counter this trend. The starting point of the investigation was already unusual: an aerial surveillance unit of the Guardia di Finanza in Elmas discovered a conspicuous, large-scale plantation in the rural area of Assemini. The layout of the fields and the characteristic appearance of the plants suggested cannabis. The information was passed on to ground units of the provincial command, which then began a first analysis of ownership and usage structures. It quickly emerged that the land in question had been leased to a sole proprietorship officially registered under the description “cultivation of plants for the preparation of textile fibres, spices, aromatic and pharmaceutical plants”. On paper, everything appeared to fall within the framework of industrial hemp permitted in Italy. According to the current state of the investigation, however, the company used precisely this facade to build up a far more lucrative line of business. As the inquiry progressed, investigators came across a professionally designed website for the company. Through a dedicated online shop, hemp flowers, oils, resins, pollen products (marketed as “sativa hash”) and other derivatives were openly sold there. The product descriptions clearly targeted end consumers interested in the psychoactive effects of cannabis and thus went far beyond what Italian law allows for industrial hemp. In parallel, officers analysed social media channels linked to the company. There, too, they found recurring advertising messages for cannabis flowers and derived products, notices of discounts and special offers, and a clear positioning in the lifestyle and recreational segment. From the investigators’ perspective, this reinforced the picture that the true core business was not the production of fibres, foodstuffs or cosmetics, but rather the marketing of ready-to-consume cannabis products. On the basis of these findings, the public prosecutor’s office in Cagliari ordered a large-scale search and seizure operation. On 29 October, units of the Guardia di Finanza moved into the site in Assemini as well as related business and storage premises. The volume of seized material was extraordinary: in total, around four tonnes of hemp were confiscated. This included 2,467 plants in the fields, more than 1,400 kilograms of harvested flowers, 42 kilograms of pollen and around twelve litres of cannabis oil. Particularly sensitive was the discovery in a commercial building that served as a fully equipped laboratory. There, officers found packaged flowers, vials of oil, containers of “raw pollen” and resins, as well as all the equipment required for portioning, packaging and labelling. In the investigators’ view, this was no longer an agricultural by-product but a processing facility geared towards serial production and end-customer sales. To clarify the criminal relevance, samples of all products were taken and sent to the chemical laboratory of the Customs and Monopolies Agency. The analyses demonstrated the presence of the psychoactive substance THC in every case, with values of up to 0.79 per cent. These concentrations clearly exceeded the levels tolerated for purely industrial or commercial uses without narcotic intent and supported the suspicion of violations of the law. The legal framework is defined by Italian legislation on hemp, in particular Law 242/2016, which permits industrial hemp cultivation under strict conditions. These provisions were further tightened by the so-called Security Decree, implemented as Law 80/2025. According to the current state of the investigation, the company is suspected of having infringed precisely these rules by marketing hemp products with relevant THC levels as recreational and intoxicating substances. During the inspections, additional irregularities came to light. The officers documented breaches relating to undeclared work, indicating that the business activities were problematic not only under narcotics law but also with regard to labour and tax regulations. These aspects are being examined in separate proceedings but may reinforce the overall picture of a systematically illegal enterprise. The Tribunale del Riesame in Cagliari confirmed the seizure of the entire plantation, stored goods and processed products requested by the public prosecutor’s office. As a result, the large quantities of material will remain secured while investigators evaluate further evidence and examine the company’s economic links. The suspect continues to benefit from the presumption of innocence until a court has reached a final verdict. The operation once again underscores the role of the Guardia di Finanza as a specialised economic and financial police force. By combining aerial surveillance, digital research, traditional investigative work and laboratory analysis, the officers were able to uncover a suspected illegal cannabis operation of considerable scale. The case is likely to serve as a reference in the Cagliari region for dealing with seemingly legal hemp projects that in reality are aimed at the narcotics market.