Germany: Dozens arrested in probe of Italian mafia organised crime

Hundreds of people have been arrested across Germany as part of an investigation into the Italian ‘Ndrangheta organised crime gang.

According to German public prosecutors and state police, the crackdown was part of a coordinated investigation involving investigators from Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, as well as Europol and Eurojust.

The suspects are accused of money laundering, criminal tax evasion, fraud and smuggling of drugs, they added.

State police in Bavaria said the arrests were the result of more than three years of an investigation dubbed “Operation Eureka”.

According to the report, Italian and Belgian authorities suspect the crime syndicate transported close to 25 tonnes of cocaine and more than 22 million euros ($24.24 million) from Calabria to Belgium, the Netherlands, and South America between October 2019 and January 2022.

Among those arrested were four people in Bavaria, 15 in North Rhine-Westphalia, and 10 in the southwestern German state of Rhineland Palatinate, and police seized potential evidence at dozens of locations including homes and offices.

Two suspects who were under investigation in the western state of Saarland, were arrested in Italy. Police did not identify them, saying only that one was 47 years old and the other 25.

The ‘Ndrangheta is based in the southern region of Calabria, the toe of Italy’s boot, and has surpassed Cosa Nostra to become the most powerful mafia group in the country and one of the largest crime networks in the world.