Italian Police detain more than 40 people in a raid against organized crime

ROME, June 27 (DPA/EP) –

The Italian Police have arrested a total of 43 people in the framework of a large-scale raid against local organized crime structures in the Calabria region, located in the south of the country.

The detainees are suspected of being linked to the well-known Calabrian mafia group ‘Ndrangheta, according to a statement released this Tuesday by the Carabinieri.

Many of those arrested are accused of fraud, extortion, bribery and murder, and have entered prison, while others have been placed under house arrest.

According to Italian media, some former Calabrian politicians were also targeted in the raid on suspicion of organizing elections in collusion with the mafia. Some politicians are still being investigated.

The suspects in Tuesday’s operation were already under the scrutiny of investigators in 2018. Since then, authorities have focused on tracking the assets of those arrested, as well as their political and economic ties.

Attention has focused on the prominent Megna family, said to be part of the ‘Ndrangheta. According to the Canzaro Public Prosecutor’s Office, the family is also involved in alleged criminal activities in Germany and Austria.

Investigators have also discovered that the suspects had carried out fraudulent banking and financial transactions with the support of German hackers. In fact, a possible member of ‘Ndrangheta has been arrested this Tuesday in Germany.

This 62-year-old man had a European arrest warrant, accused by the Italian authorities of belonging to a criminal organization and money laundering. The suspect is now in custody for extradition purposes.

Italian authorities have of late been cracking down on the various organized crime families in the southern Mediterranean country. The ‘Ndrangheta dominate the international drug trade and also benefit from arms trafficking, money laundering and corruption.