Dozens of people in Italy and several other European countries have been arrested in a major security operation targeting the Italian criminal gang Nandragita, which oversees the smuggling of cocaine into Europe.
According to Europol, 41 people were arrested in Italy, 21 in Germany, 14 in Belgium, 5 in the Netherlands and two in Luxembourg until this afternoon. A Dutch official also confirmed the arrest of one person in Suriname, the former Dutch colony in South America.
The Eurojust agency, which oversees cooperation between the EU's national judicial bodies, confirmed that the detainees were suspected of involvement in drug trafficking, money laundering, bribery and violence.
Dutch prosecutor Fred Westerbeek said at a press conference in The Hague that the arrests involved a number of high-ranking members of the Ndrangita gang, which controls much of the cocaine smuggling routes in Europe and runs operations from the southern Italian region of Calabria.
He said more than 3,000 kg of cocaine were seized, as well as 140 kg of ecstasy and 2 million euros.
Nderangita has established drug smuggling points across Europe and has "recruited" many officials, legal experts and accountants in various European countries by paying them to facilitate smuggling.The Ndrangita gang is one of Italy's four largest mafia gangs, along with Cosa Nostra in Sicily and Camorra in Naples and Sacra Corona Unita in the south-eastern region of Puglia.
