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| Italian media said key organised crime family members were targeted in the raids, such as this one in Cologne (AFP Photo/Christoph Reichwein) |
The Hague
(AFP) - Police arrested dozens of suspected mobsters in Europe and South
America on Wednesday in a huge international swoop targeting Italy's notorious
'Ndrangheta mafia clan, officials said.
Nearly 90
people including high-ranking members of the powerful organised crime syndicate
accused of drug trafficking and money laundering were arrested in coordinated
raids in six countries, EU justice agency Eurojust said.
The
"unprecedented" crackdown on the group based in Calabria, southern
Italy, came just a day after Italian police arrested the new boss of the
separate Sicilian mafia.
Hundreds of
police took part in Wednesday's operation, seizing four tonnes of cocaine, 120
kilos of ecstasy and two million euros (dollars) in cash across Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Suriname.
"Today,
we send a clear message to organised crime groups across Europe," Filippo
Spiezia, vice president of the EU's judicial agency Eurojust, told reporters in
The Hague.
"They
are not the only ones able to operate across borders; so are Europe's judiciary
and law enforcement communities."
He said the
"unprecedented and extraordinary result", the fruit of a two-year operation,
targeted "dangerous members of the 'Ndrangheta family deeply involved in
drug trafficking and money laundering".
Italian
restaurants
The
'Ndrangheta -- which derives its meaning from the Greek word for heroism -- is
made up of numerous village and family-based clans in Calabria, the rural,
mountainous and under-developed "toe" of Italy's boot.
 |
Before
Wednesday's Europe-wide raid, Italian police arrested the new boss
of the
Sicilian Mafia, Settimino Mineo (AFP Photo/Alessandro FUCARINI)
|
Despite
intense police attention and frequent arrests, the organisation has continued
to extend its reach.
It has
surpassed Sicily's Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra in influence thanks
to control of the cocaine trade and is the sole mafia organisation to operate
on all continents, according to anti-mafia prosecutors.
Officials
hailed Wednesday's operation -- dubbed "Operation Pollina" -- as a
serious blow to the group.
In total 41
people were arrested in Italy, 21 in Germany, 14 in Belgium, five in the
Netherlands and two in Luxembourg, with operations still underway, Eurojust
said.
Italian
police said the sweep targeted the 'Ndrangheta and its "projections across
South America".
Italian
anti-mafia prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho said the operations would affect
the 'Ndrangheta's drug trafficking operations around the world, including
Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil.
But he
warned that it was "just a first step", saying the arrests were
"nothing for the 'Ndrangheta, there are thousands of people who should be
arrested and billions that should be seized".
In Germany,
Wednesday's operation focused on restaurants, offices and apartments, mainly in
the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria region.
Dutch
prosecutors said the investigation began after they noticed money laundering at
two Italian restaurants in the southern Netherlands that showed criminal links
with Germany and Calabria, home of the 'Ndrangheta.
 |
Italian
media said key organised crime family members were targeted in the
raids, such
as this one in Cologne (AFP Photo/Christoph Reichwein)
|
Using an
often family-based network spread out around Europe, drugs would come into the
Dutch port of Rotterdam and the Belgian port of Antwerp before being moved
around the continent.
Prosecutor
Fred Westerbeke said they had also probed ice cream parlours, adding that
together with restaurants "the suspicion is that the mafia organisation is
laundering money through these establishments and they are used as a cover for
their criminal organisations".
He also
confirmed that there had been raids in Suriname, a small South American country
that was once a Dutch colony.
Dutch NOS
television said the 'Ndrangheta were mainly active in the Netherlands in drug
smuggling through the country's huge flower export market.
'Decisive
hit'
The Belgian
operations were concentrated on the Limburg area, home to many people of
Italian descent who moved there after World War II to work in coal mines,
Belgian prosecutors said.
The
European police agency Europol said it was a "decisive hit against one of
the most powerful Italian criminal networks in the world".
European
Parliament President Antonio Tajani, who is Italian, sent
"congratulations" to the police forces involved, adding: "Europe
fights 'Ndrangheta criminal groups".
On Tuesday,
Italian police arrested new Cosa Nostra boss Settimino Mineo and dozens of
other suspects in Sicily in a major swoop.
Jeweller
Mineo, 80, was detained with at least 45 others just before he was due to be
appointed official heir to notorious mafia boss Toto Riina, who died in prison
last year.
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