Vatican City Diplomatic Car Used for Drug Trafficking

| Thu, 09/18/2014 - 02:30

What car could be safer and absolutely above suspicion, especially if you are carrying something illegal, than a car with a license plate displaying the sign  "Diplomatic Corps of the Vatican City"?

The two Italians who were recently arrested on drug trafficking charges must have thought they would be able to get away with their criminal plan because they were using a Vatican-owned car, entrusted to them by Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejia, librarian emeritus of the Vatican, who had asked them to take the car in for an inspection.  

The two instead drove all the way to Spain, bought a large amount of drugs and headed back to Italy thinking the border police would not bother to stop a Vatican City car. They were wrong: when they got to the France/Italy border, something must have made the police officers suspicious, because they proceeded to inspect the car, finding four kilograms of cocaine and two ounces of cannabis.

The two men, whose identities have not been disclosed, have been placed in custody. They hold no diplomatic passports, which helps exclude any involvement from the Holy See in the drug trafficking operation.

Perhaps the two were inspired by the movie “Treasure of San Gennaro” (Operazione San Gennaro), where the two protagonists, after stealing the Treasure of San Gennaro, escape security at the Naples airport by sneaking into the car of a cardinal. 

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