A European police security operation led to the arrest of 132 people and the carrying out of raids and seizures in ten countries, including Italy, Germany and France, and Europol, the European law enforcement agency, confirmed that it was “the strongest blow so far to the Italian criminal organization.”
A large European police operation targeting the Calabrian mafia on Wednesday resulted in the arrest of 132 people, the implementation of 150 raids, and the implementation of confiscations in ten countries, including Italy, Germany and France. Europol, the European law enforcement agency, confirmed that it was “the strongest blow so far to the Italian criminal organization”.
The Italian police broadcast a video showing the implementation of an Italian police operation against the “Nerta-Strangio” gang, between the cities of “Sam Luca and Morabito d’Africo” in Calabria.
Other countries involved in this operation, known as “Eureka” in Europe, are Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Romania and Belgium, and in Latin America Brazil and Panama, according to Europol, which coordinated the operations of the police forces involved.
This mafia dominates the cocaine market in Europe, where it also carries out money laundering, corruption and violence. The investigation revealed a large flow of drugs between South America and Europe, an operation run in particular by the San Luca group in Calabria.
The families that run this criminal network have been involved for decades in violence to compete for this lucrative market, culminating with the Duisburg massacre in Germany in 2007.
About 12 people were arrested in Belgium, twenty in Germany and a hundred in Italy, on charges of belonging to the mafia, drug and weapons trafficking, tax evasion and money laundering.
According to the Italian Public Prosecution, companies and real estate worth 25 million euros were confiscated. Within the framework of these investigations, which took place at the European level for more than three years, the Italian and Belgian authorities were able to attribute to the Calabrian mafia the importation and smuggling of approximately 25 tons of cocaine, between October 2019 and January 2022.
