Brussels, 3 April 2023 (GNP): Early on Wednesday, European police conducted anti-mafia raids in several different European nations as part of an ongoing crackdown on the vast criminal network of Calabrian Mafia, the Ndrangheta.
The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement: “This morning, a large-scale European operation took place in several countries. It concerns a case opened by the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, in collaboration with the Limburg Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Judicial Police, Eurojust, Europol, and various countries, in particular, Italy”.
Police agencies on the continent have recently conducted intensive surveillance of the mafia’s members and operations before to carrying out these anti-mafia raids.
The suspects have been linked to narcotics trafficking, tax evasion, money laundering, and commercial gang fraud, claimed German police in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The German law enforcement agency, Carabinieri, said in a statement on Wednesday that 108 persons were held by Italian authorities throughout the country as part of a four-pronged investigation into claims of “mafia-type association”.
The anti-mafia raids in Germany, Belgium, France, Portugal, Romania, and Spain came together with arrests made by the Carabinieri Ros and the Provincial Command of Reggio Calabria in Italy, the statement added.
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Public prosecutors from German towns stated in a joint statement on Wednesday that “forces from Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland” were a part of the “large-scale operation” that spanned Europe-wide.
The federal prosecutor claimed the operation covered more than 20 raids across Belgium.
The ‘Ndrangheta is said to be the most potent mafia organization in the nation, which is centered in Calabria in southern Italy.
In January 2021, more than 320 alleged mafia members and their allies were tried in a landmark case when Italian authorities targeted the Calabrian clan. The allegations against them included extortion, drug trafficking, and theft. Later, an Italian court convicted 70 defendants guilty In one of the biggest mafia cases ever held in Italy.
