La polizia lo trascinava in ogni luogo dove si parlava di oppio

[theartichoke]

Hi everyone,

The verb "trascinare" is puzzling me here. The context (the police are aware that a certain man is importing and dealing drugs) seems to call for "pedinare" instead: La polizia era informata di tutto, lo sorvegliava, lo trascinava in ogni luogo dove si parlava di oppio e marijuana, ma non era mai riuscita a coglierlo in fallo.

"The police kept him under surveillance and dragged him to every place where there was talk of opium or marijuana"? As in, they kept picking up this known drug dealer and taking him to places where they heard drugs were being dealt? To what end? It sounds like a pretty pointless strategy. Can lo trascinava somehow mean that while the police had him under surveillance, he dragged them (i.e., he "made" them follow him) to all these places? But then shouldn't it be la trascinava?

 

[Mary49]

Hi,
I think that undercover policemen took him to those places, to see if he gave himself away.

 

[alfaalfa]

Ciao

Hi,
I think that undercover policemen took him to those places, to see if he gave himself away.

una interpretazione ardita (anche se l'unica possibile) di una frase oscura, così, avulsa dal contesto. La si poteva scrivere diversamente.

 

[theartichoke]

Hi,
I think that undercover policemen took him to those places, to see if he gave himself away.

Thanks, Mary -- I hadn't thought of that, but I guess it's the only thing that makes sense, unless the police were terribly inept (which might be why they never caught him red-handed? ). I'll just have to translate what's there, then, and let the English reader puzzle it out.