The officers were all working at the Levante police station in the northern town of Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, which has now been shut entirely.
“Nothing that went on at that police station was lawful,” Piacenza’s prosecutor, Grazia Pradella, said.
In a recorded phone call reported by Italian news agency ANSA, one of the arrested officers boasts about having established “a criminal gang” and acting like the mobsters in the hit TV series Gomorrah.
“I’ve made a criminal gang, guys! In short, we’ve built a pyramid. We stand on top – me you and him – we’re untouchable, okay?,” the officer was recorded saying.
Charges include providing drug supplies to dealers who were not able to operate as “normal” due to the restrictions imposed in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus.
“While the city of Piacenza was counting so many coronavirus deaths, these Carabinieri supplied drugs to the drug dealers who were stuck at home without drugs under anti-COVID rules,’’ Pradella said.
The province of Piacenza has the third-highest official death toll from coronavirus.
The officers are also accused of signing off on declarations that made it appear the drug dealers had been checked by authorities when they travelled during the nationwide lockdown.
They are also accused of mistreating and torturing suspects, a behaviour that Pradella likened to the methods of crime cartels and said date as far back as 2017.
Prosecutors said some of those victims were drug dealers who refused to collaborate with the officers in the alleged local drug trafficking activities.
The misconduct came to light six months ago, when a military officer who had been serving in Piacenza filed an official report.
