Germany, Italy clamp down on Italian mob with raids, arrests

Police arrested suspects and raided homes early on Wednesday across Germany and Italy in a massive effort to clamp down on members of the Italian ndrangheta organised crime syndicateIn Germany more than 1000 officers searched dozens of homes offices and stores in the states of Bavaria North RhineWestphalia RhinelandPalatinate and Thuringia prosecutors said in a joint statementIn Italy carabinieri police backed by helicopters served arrest warrants on 108 people who were accused among other things of mafia association possession production and trafficking of drugs and weapons and money launderingEuropean authorities have been waging a campaign against the Calabriabased ndrangheta arguably the worlds richest organised crime group in recent yearsThe group has exploited tens of billions of dollars in cocaine revenues over decades to extend its criminal reach across Europe and into several continents as the Sicilian Mafia lost influenceOver 30 suspects who had outstanding warrants were arrested in GermanyAmong other things the suspects are accused of money laundering gang tax evasion commercial gang fraud and narcotics smuggling a statement from the German state office of criminal investigation in North RhineWestphalia saidAlso readBMC Mumbai Police crack down on illegal hookah parlours in Malad WestThe raids are part of a wider joint investigation involving Europol and also included simultaneous measures against the group across Europe the statement saidA press release from carabinieri in Regio Calabria where the ndrangheta is based said arrest warrants were also served in Belgium France Portugal Romania and SpainPress conferences in Italy and Germany were planned for later WednesdayIn Germany the main focus of the operation was in North RhineWestphalia and RhinelandPalatinate with around 500 officers deployed in each stateIn North RhineWestphalia 51 houses apartments offices and business premises were searched and 15 suspects were arrestedIn RhinelandPalatinate police searched 50 premises and arrested 10 suspects The task forces in RhinelandPalatinate were supported by special units of the federal government and other states as well as customs and the tax investigation department German news agency dpa reportedThe state interior minister of RhinelandPalatinate Michael Ebling called the raids an ldquoeffective blowrdquo against organised crimeldquoToday sends out a very clear signal There is no place for organised crime in Europe and there is certainly no place for it here with us in RhinelandPalatinaterdquo he said according to dpaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever