(Wine-Searcher) - Drug-related arrests in the Tuscan town of Montalcino include three winery workers and the general manager of a winery.

A general manager of a Montalcino winery and three Albanian-born winery workers are among eight people arrested at dawn yesterday by police in the province of Siena, in relation to a distribution center for cocaine.

In a press release, the Siena section of the Tuscany regional police stated that an operation, code-named "Montalcino Express", begun in 2013, came to an end yesterday when more than four kilos (nine pounds) of drugs were seized and eight arrests made.

The statement explained that suspicions were raised about three Montalcino wineries when police in the Montalcino and Siena area noticed increased comings and goings by people not obviously connected with wine. The three winery workers provided the cover for the wineries to act as distribution centers for cocaine and marijuana, with the winery owners being – according to the prosecutor – "completely unaware".

The cocaine was brought by couriers from Rome and Milan and then sold, according to the report, to wealthy entrepreneurs and revelers in the neighborhood. Police said that the monthly turnover of drugs was more than €20,000 ($23,000) and that every week around half a kilo of cocaine was sold.

The identity of the winery general manager arrested is given by police using the initials S.M. (with the last name first), born in 1968. It is believed that the winery he works for is American-owned, purchased by a New York business man in the year 2000, but this has not yet been confirmed by police sources.

Five of those arrested including the three winery workers have been detained in prison and the others, including the winery manager remain under house arrest. Further house-to-house searches are continuing and there are a further 15 suspects, said police.

The drug scandal comes at the start of the series of trade and media preview tastings of 2010 Brunello di Montalcino, "Benvenuto Brunello". The tastings take place in New York and San Francisco this week with the main events in the town of Montalcino taking place next month.