Police have seized 450kg of cocaine on a Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) container ship, while at the same time investigating a reported suicide on board.
Authorities have said they do not believe the two incidents are connected.
The 8,772-teu MSC Adelaide (built 2013) is docked in Genoa.
Drugs found on board have a street value of $34m.
The body of a Serbian crew member was also later found with his throat cut.
News agency Ansa reported that 400 packets of cocaine were hidden inside a container carrying coffee from Brazil.
Police arrested a 50-year-old port employee.
He was seen taking bags from the container after it was placed in a video surveillance area awaiting inspection.
The body of the 50-year-old seafarer was found the next morning in the engine room.
Police said the death was likely a suicide, but a post-mortem examination will be carried out to determine exactly what happened.
Insight Crime has said the drug trade in Santos, Brazil, is controlled by the Primeiro Comando da Capital gang, which has regional connections for transporting Bolivian drugs through Paraguay and into Brazil, where they are exported in containers.
Security efforts stepped up
Last April, MSC said it would spend tens of millions of dollars each year on extra security enhancement to fight trafficking.
This was in the wake of a $1.3bn seizure on the 9,962-teu MSC Gayane (built 2018) at Philadelphia in the US in 2019.
This involved 20 tonnes of cocaine.
Six crew members were charged over the incident and the vessel was later seized.
MSC had to pay $40m as a security deposit and $10m as a surety bond to have the vessel released.
