Arrests in Germany in European anti-mafia raid

BERLIN: German police have made several arrests as part of a “wide-scale” operation against the Italian ‘Ndrangheta mafia in several European countries, German prosecutors said Wednesday.

Hundreds of German 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.

More than 30 people were arrested as dozens of apartments, houses and offices were raided.

The suspects are accused of money laundering, organised tax evasion, fraud and narcotics trafficking, German authorities said.

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 Thueringia and Rhineland-Palatinate, while two men sought in Saarland were detained in Italy.

Based in Calabria, the region that forms the tip of Italy’s boot, the ‘Ndrangheta is considered one of the world’s most powerful crime syndicates due to its control of most of the cocaine entering Europe.

It has extended its reach across all parts of the world, and it has long surpassed Sicily’s Cosa Nostra as Italy’s biggest mafia organisation.

Its presence in Germany was confirmed in 2007 when six people were killed outside a pizzeria in the town of Duisburg.

The victims were rival clan members killed as part of a long-running feud between families from the town of Calabria’s San Luca, home to the Giorgi family.