The Italian financial police (GDF) announced on Tuesday a vast anti-mafia operation in Italy and Switzerland, in which 75 people were arrested and property worth 169 million euros placed in receivership.
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" Seventy-five people were arrested simultaneously in Italy and Switzerland, accused of serious crimes including mafia association, association devoted to international drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption, " said GDF in a statement. She did not specify the geographical distribution of these arrests, but assured that on the Italian side more than 700 police officers participated in this operation.
According to the Swiss prosecution, searches were carried out in the cantons of Aargau, Solothurn, Zug and Ticino, during which weapons and ammunition were seized. The Swiss criminal investigation is targeting six people, a majority of whom reside in Switzerland, and also concerns suspicion of trafficking in counterfeit money and weapons. The Italian police said the operation targeted members of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia.
169 million euros of goods placed in receivership
In total, 158 people are concerned by this investigation and 169 million euros of goods have been placed in receivership, according to the GDF. “ If there is still someone who thinks that 'Ndrangheta is a uniquely Italian problem, this operation shows the opposite, ” commented Nicola Morra, chairman of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission.
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The 'Ndrangheta is reputed to have become the most important Italian mafia, ahead of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra, thanks to the trafficking of cocaine from Latin America. Based on a very family structure, it was born in Calabria, in the extreme south of the Italian peninsula, but it has become influential in the north and in other parts of the world. According to experts, it is the only mafia present on all continents.
