ITALY: MAFIA DRUG-TRAFFICKING SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN MAJOR POLICE SWOOP
Rome, 23 March (AKI) - Police on Thursday arrested dozens of people in several regions of Italy, as well as in Spain and Morocco, and seized over two dozen tonnes of cocaine and 17,000 tonnes of hashish in an international drug trafficking ring involving the Calabrian Mafia ('Ndrangheta) and criminal groups in Latin America and Morocco. Police also confiscated more than 15,000 euros in cash during the operation.
The police swoop, carried out at the request of anti-Mafia magistrates in Calabria, led to the arrest of several members of the Facchinieri and Parrello clans, who face charges of involvement in a drug-trafficking ring.
The operation, carried out in conjunction with Italy's drugs squad, has enabled police to trace the international narco-cash flows, the drug-trafficking routes and the sophisticated money laundering techniques involved. The gang handled the whole trafficking cycle, from the sourcing of large quantities of cocaine and hashish in producer countries, to their smuggling to Italy and distribution in the country.
The cocaine and hashish police seized was destined for Italy aboard motorboats, intercepted off the Canary Islands, and on flights arriving at the Rome's main Fiumicino airport.
"This is another serious blow inflicted on the 'Nrangheta, also at the international level," Italy's interior minister, Giuseppe Pisanu, said in a statement.
The Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta is one Italy's most powerful Mafia organisations, whose criminal activities extend from drugs, arms and human trafficking to money-laundering, extortion and murder.
From its southern base it has developed operational arms in northern Italy, in major European cities and in Australia.
The 'Ndrangheta is more firmly based on blood ties than other Italian crime groups. This has made it less vulnerable to the phenomenon of 'pentiti', or mafia turncoats, which has been fundamental for Italian police in their attempts to break Italian organised crime groups.
The police swoop, carried out at the request of anti-Mafia magistrates in Calabria, led to the arrest of several members of the Facchinieri and Parrello clans, who face charges of involvement in a drug-trafficking ring.
The operation, carried out in conjunction with Italy's drugs squad, has enabled police to trace the international narco-cash flows, the drug-trafficking routes and the sophisticated money laundering techniques involved. The gang handled the whole trafficking cycle, from the sourcing of large quantities of cocaine and hashish in producer countries, to their smuggling to Italy and distribution in the country.
The cocaine and hashish police seized was destined for Italy aboard motorboats, intercepted off the Canary Islands, and on flights arriving at the Rome's main Fiumicino airport.
"This is another serious blow inflicted on the 'Nrangheta, also at the international level," Italy's interior minister, Giuseppe Pisanu, said in a statement.
The Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta is one Italy's most powerful Mafia organisations, whose criminal activities extend from drugs, arms and human trafficking to money-laundering, extortion and murder.
From its southern base it has developed operational arms in northern Italy, in major European cities and in Australia.
The 'Ndrangheta is more firmly based on blood ties than other Italian crime groups. This has made it less vulnerable to the phenomenon of 'pentiti', or mafia turncoats, which has been fundamental for Italian police in their attempts to break Italian organised crime groups.
posted by Marko at 3/23/2006 02:32:00 PM
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