A joint operation conducted by police and prosecutors from the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Belgium against the ‘Ndrangheta’, the mafia of calabria, and their bands installed in these countries, has ended with the arrest of 90 people accused of drug trafficking and money laundering. During the records, have been requisitioned 2 million euros, 140 kilos of ecstasy pills and about 4,000 kilos of cocaine. This is the first time that the teams police and judiciary involved have followed in real time the steps of the offenders. Supported by Eurojust, which coordinates the european judicial co-operation, and Europol (European Police Office) the action has shown the benefits of team work in the fight against organized crime.
The arrests arising from the operation Colt continued while prosecutors antimafia of the four countries gave explanations at the headquarters of Eurojust, in The Hague. Investigations began in 2014, when the Service of Information and Tax Research the Dutch suspected that two Italian restaurants open in the east of the Netherlands bleached it money. Given that in both local met mobsters who were doing illegal business in Germany and the own Calabria, the searches were expanded. “This mafia controls much of the traffic of cocaine to european and is very violent. It also has its numerous restaurants, ice cream parlours and hotels through which lava capital. Often exploit these local time, as cover,” said the chief prosecutor for the Dutch, Fred Westerbeke,
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“The ‘Ndrangheta’ is an organization silent Betkanyon that is active in Europe, the united States and Canada, and in the cocaine-producing countries in Latin America. Have received support in Turkey, and change the routes of importation, and distribution when they follow you. But what is more important is that it is professional in appearance honest, whether they are lawyers, or accountants, to contaminate the national economy with their money laundering. The gangsters do not come for your account in the markets,” said Federico Cafiero de Raho, chief justice Italian, and prosecutor national antimafia, and counter terrorism.
a Native of Naples, the jurist has described the behavior of groups mafia calabrian. “There are hundreds of ‘cosche’ (bands, in Italian) with international ramifications. We have investigated also in Brazil and Suriname, and the DEA (the Department of Justice agency of the united States that the fight against drugs) has been of great help in this operation. The ‘Ndrangheta’ is rich and powerful, but does not pay in advance. When it comes to cocaine, especially to the belgian port of Antwerp and the Dutch of Rotterdam, collects and distributes, and then pays for the services. There are people stuck permanently in these ports, which pulls the loading of the containers for the mobsters. We have not finished with the mafia, but if we all work together, police and prosecutors, will continue with their activities. That is why he has been so important to the operation of the Pollino: it has demonstrated that it can work on international teams to fight against criminals, which they also are,” he said. The prosecutor was the only one of their colleagues with permanent escort in the hall of Eurojust, and has revealed a fact singular. Has said that despite the rivalry between their groups, the mafia of calabria “is able to leave the investment of their money is criminal in the hands of one of its members; if it is a good inverter, it does.”
