A “large-scale” European police operation is taking place this Wednesday in several countries, including Portugal, targeting members of the Italian criminal organization ‘Ndrangheta, according to court sources.
Police carried out dozens of arrests and searches of homes across Germany this morning in an operation involving more than 1,000 officers who raided dozens of homes, offices and shops in Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. Prosecutors said in a joint statement.
More than 30 suspects were arrested with outstanding arrest warrants.
“Among other crimes, the defendants are accused of money laundering, tax evasion, commercial fraud and drug smuggling,” the North Rhine-Westphalia State Criminal Investigation Department said in a statement.
The raids are part of a wider joint investigation that involved Europol, as well as simultaneous actions against the group in France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain, the same note adds.
More than 100 arrest warrants will be executed in different countries this Wednesday, according to the German media MDR and FAZ.
Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann described the operation as “a sensitive blow to the ‘Ndrangheta”, a criminal organization based in the Italian region of Calabria (south) and considered the richest and most powerful mafia in Italy with a growing presence. global, covering more than 40 countries.
According to the Bavarian Judicial Police, the German authorities acted as part of Operation Eureka, coordinated by Europol and Eurojust.
Operation Eureka, launched at the European level more than three years ago, is “one of the most important and significant in recent years in the fight against organized crime in Italy,” the Bavarian police stressed.
As part of these investigations, the Italian and Belgian authorities were able to attribute to the ‘Ndrangheta the importation and trafficking of about 25 tons of cocaine between October 2019 and January 2022, the same source said.
More than €22 million in financial flows from Calabria to Belgium, the Netherlands and South America were also identified.