A “large-scale” European police operation is taking place today in several countries, including Portugal, focused on arresting members of the Italian criminal organization, 'Ndrangheta.
Police carried out dozens of arrests and house searches early this morning across Germany, in an operation involving more than 1,000 officers who carried out searches of dozens of homes, offices and shops in the states of Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.
More than 30 suspects who had outstanding arrest warrants were arrested. Two of these fugitives had been on the EU Most Wanted list.
“Among other crimes, the defendants are accused of money laundering, tax evasion, commercial fraud and drug smuggling,” says a statement from the state criminal investigation office of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The raids are part of a broader joint investigation that involved Europol and also included simultaneous actions against the group in Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Romania, Brazil and Panama, involving over 2770 police officers and 132 arrests of members of one of the world’s most powerful criminal networks.
The Bavarian Interior Minister, Joachim Herrmann, classified the operation as a “sensitive blow against the 'Ndrangetha”, a criminal organization based in the Italian region of Calabria (south) and considered the richest and most powerful mafia in Italy, with a growing global presence covering more than 40 countries.
According to the Bavarian judicial police, the German authorities acted within the scope of “Operation Eureka”, coordinated by Europol and Eurojust.
Operation Eureka, launched at European level more than three years ago, is “one of the most important and significant in recent years in the field of organized crime in Italy”, said the Bavarian police.
As part of these investigations, the Italian and Belgian authorities managed to attribute the importation and trafficking of around 25 tons of cocaine to 'Ndrangetha, in the period from October 2019 to January 2022, said the same source.
Financial flows of more than 22 million euros from Calabria to Belgium, the Netherlands and South America have also been identified.
