Mafia-link
drug ring busted
From correspondents in Rome
06mar04
This article appeared on www.themercury.news.com.au website on March 06, 2004.
ITALIAN authorities say they
have busted a major drug trafficking ring which had links to the Calabrian
Mafia - the country's most dangerous organised crime syndicate - and also
operated in Belgium and the Netherlands.
They said members of the ring were charged with trafficking in "several
tons of cocaine and heroin".
"We issued 47 arrest
warrants which are being served in several Italian regions," Colonel
Cesare Notacesari, who took part in the operation, said.
The man in charge of the
probe, Francesco Mollace, from the
He added that the ring also
operated in the
"International
co-operation and judicial assistance are a new weapon for a merciless battle
against organised crime, notably economic crime," Mollace said.
Meanwhile, Interior
Minister Giuseppe Pisanu welcomed the arrest in
The 'Ndrangheta plays a key
role in international drug trafficking in collaboration with Colombian drug
cartels. It is also involved in arms and people trafficking, according to the
Italian anti-Mafia commission.
Last month, Italian police
said they had arrested Calabria Mafia boss Giuseppe Morabito along with his
brother-in-law in a dawn raid in the Calabrian
Morabito, 70, had been on
the run for the past 12 years on suspicion of drugs trafficking.
His son and brother were
arrested by
In January, police also
arrested dozens of suspects and recovered some 250 kilogrammes of cocaine as
part of an operation against Colombian drug runners involving police forces in
seven countries.