132 Ndrangheta mafia members arrested following European investigation

132 members of one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world have been captured through an action carried out by 10 European nations.

Authorities from Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Romania, Brazil, and Panama conducted raids at several sites and seized several organizations on May 3.

Around 2,770 cops participated in the action day.

Several influential ‘Ndrangheta families based primarily in the Italian province of Reggio Calabria town of San Luca served as the criminal organization’s core. Some of these families have engaged in decades-long clan conflicts known as the San Luca feud, which has resulted in numerous mass shootings both domestically and abroad, like the 2007 Duisburg massacre in Germany.

Eurojust and Europol sponsored the operation against the Italian poly-criminal gang “Ndrangheta,”.  A large portion of the cocaine trade in Europe is carried out by the mafia-style organization, along with organized crime, bribery, and violence.

members of the criminal network committed drug trafficking, the trafficking of firearms, the possession of illicit firearms, money laundering, the fake registration of assets, tax fraud, and tax evasion.

The main international drug trafficking activity of the Italian criminal network was from South America to Australia and Europe. Authorities in Europe discovered that the network collaborated with the “Gulf Clan,” a Colombian organized crime organization.

Eurojust set up two collaborative investigating teams to facilitate communication between the judicial authorities involved in the action day, the agency also convened ten coordination sessions and established a coordination center.

The Italian, German, and Belgian authorities asked Eurojust to open three connected cases. Additionally, Eurojust made it easier for European Investigation Orders to be transmitted and carried out.

The EU-funded @ON Network, which is run by the Italian Antimafia Investigation Directorate, has provided support for both the investigation and the actual Action Day.