• Bundles of cocaine were found floating off Italy's eastern coast
• The seized cocaine haul is worth almost $440 million
• Italy is a key transit route for cocaine trafficking, according to police

According to Italian authorities, a large shipment of cocaine was discovered floating off the eastern coast of the island of Sicily.

Authorities recovered roughly 2 tons of cocaine discovered floating across the Mediterranean during a regular surveillance aircraft on Sunday, according to a statement made on Monday by Italy's Financial Police, Guardia di Finanza.

2 Tons of Cocaine was Found Floating on the Sicily Sea

The cocaine was properly packed in 70 waterproof floating containers that were linked and contained a light signaling system. They further stated that the haul is worth almost $440 million, CNN reported.

"The identification and subsequent seizure of this quantity of drugs, one of the largest ever carried out on national territory, likely prevented the drug from being recovered by criminals for subsequent illegal sale on national territory, which would have yielded very high earnings," according to the statement.

They also claimed to have discovered a blinking tracking device attached to the medicines. The cocaine was discovered during an airborne sweep and is believed to have been abandoned at sea by a cargo ship for later collection and transit to the mainland by a criminal organization. However, officials could not specify which gang, if any, was suspected.

The Cosa Nostra gang has long controlled organized crime on the island of Sicily, as per CBS News. Cosa Nostra, formerly Italy's most powerful mafia organization, has tendrils that spread into the United States and worldwide.

After a 30-year quest, Italian officials apprehended the group's "final godfather," Matteo Messina Denaro, in January. Locals applauded the arrest of the 60-year-old, who claimed that he could fill a cemetery with his victims.

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Cocaine Trafficking in Italy

Nowadays, the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate, located in the rocky highlands of Calabria on the Italian mainland near Sicily, dominates the drug trade in Italy and most of Europe.

According to Italian officials, the 'Ndrangheta's stock-in-trade used to be kidnappings for ransom, but it has now evolved into a highly sophisticated worldwide network with a tight grip on the international drugs trade and control over huge swaths of its land where even police dread to go.

Europol, the pan-European law enforcement organization, has named the 'Ndrangheta as one of the world's "most frightening" organized criminal groups due to its "enormous financial strength" and "immense corruptive influence."

According to one research tank, the 'Ndrangheta is more profitable than McDonald's and Deutsche Bank combined, earning billions each year.

According to investigators, the cocaine bundles were laced together with netting. The plastic covering protected the cocaine from becoming wet without weighing it down and perhaps sinking it.

Per ABC News, experts theorized that a cargo ship abandoned it at sea for another vessel to come along and eventually bring it to shore. As a precaution, police planes flew over the water area to look for more cocaine packages that may have separated from the nets.

Cops seized more than 1,600 packets of cocaine packed in 70 bobbing bundles. Cocaine seizures climbed more than fivefold from 3.6 tons in 2018. Police described Italy as a crucial transit route for cocaine trafficking and a hub for Balkan criminal groups, NDTV reported.

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