by Alessandra Cardone

ROME, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Over 23 tonnes of drugs were seized in summer months so far in Italy, the country's finance police said on Monday.

Some 587 people were reported to judicial authorities for drug-related illegal activities, and 111 of them were arrested.

The raids concerned cocaine, heroin, hashish, and synthetic drugs, according to the Guardia di Finanza (GdF) police.

A major operation took place in Sicily, where about 20 tonnes of hashish were discovered on board of a Panama-flagged vessel in early August.

The ship was seized in international waters off the coast of Trapani, western Sicily, and the entire crew -- made by eleven citizens from Montenegro -- were arrested, the GdF said.

Another major seizure was carried out at Rome International Fiumicino Airport, where officers discovered over 12,000 ecstasy tablets hidden in five boxes of milk powder, within a luggage belonging to a Maltese woman.

The tablets would have been destined to holiday resorts in the Lazio region surrounding Rome, in central Tuscany, and southern Campania.

On the illegal market, such amount of ecstasy would have been worth over 500,000 euros (569,000 U.S. dollars), the GdF estimated in a statement.

In addition, finance police carried out 2,224 checks at border crossings, ports, and airports across the country, registering some 738 violations.

Undeclared currency and stocks worth over 16 million euros (18.2 million U.S. dollars) were discovered in the luggage of travellers, and about 900,000 euros were seized.

In summer, Italy's finance police usually increase controls on unregulated commercial activities, tax evasion linked to unreported home lettings, drug trafficking, and exploitative recruitment of day laborers.

This year, some 22,271 checks and inspections were overall carried out at the borders, in seaside and mountain holiday resorts, and in art cities across the country since mid-June. (1 euro=1.14 U.S. dollars)