European anti-mafia raids target over 100 suspects
Police made dozens of arrests across Europe as part of a "wide-scale" operation against the notorious Italian 'Ndrangheta mafia, officials said on Wednesday. In Germany, hundreds of officers carried out raids in five parts of the country, regional prosecutors said in a statement, adding that operations also took place in Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Thirty people were arrested in Germany alone as dozens of apartments, houses and offices were searched. "The suspects are accused, among other things, of money laundering, organised tax evasion, organised fraud and narcotics smuggling," the regional prosecutors said in a joint statement. The 'Ndrangheta is Italy's most powerful and wealthy mafia, controlling the bulk of cocaine flowing into Europe. It operates in more than 40 countries around the world. It has successfully expanded well beyond its traditional domains of drug trafficking and loan sharking, now using shell companies and frontmen to reinvest illegal gains in the legitimate economy. Investigators in Italy's Reggio Calabria on Wednesday identified 108 suspects as part of the case, for alleged crimes including mafia association, international drug trafficking and weapons trafficking. A spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said it had launched the European investigation and had been working on the case for "four, five years", in cooperation with other EU states. Around 20 raids were carried out in Belgium alone. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, police detained 15 suspects, while raiding 51 properties. In the southern state of Bavaria, police were investigating eight people, including four who were arrested. Another 11 suspects were picked up in the states of Thuringia and Rhineland-Palatinate, while two men sought in Saarland were detained in Italy. (AFP)