Police across Europe make 150 raids in anti-mafia swoop

By : Guardian Nigeria

Date: 3 May 2023 1:23pm WAT

A police officer and a police dog search though material in a garage in Hagen, western Germany, on May 3, 2023 as part of a "wide-scale" operation against the notorious Italian 'Ndrangheta mafia across Europe. - In Germany, hundreds of officers carried out raids in five parts of the country, regional prosecutors said in a statement, adding that operations also took place in Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. (Photo by Alex Talash / AFP)

Police in eight European countries raided 150 addresses Wednesday in a vast, coordinated swoop targeting the notorious Italian ‘Ndrangheta mafia, Belgian prosecutors said Wednesday.

“It is likely the biggest operation ever carried out in Europe against the Calabrese mafia,” a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office, Eric van Duyse, told a news conference.

He said 1,400 police officers in Italy were involved in the raids, revising down a figure of 3,000 prosecutors had given earlier in a statement.

He said also that more than 1,000 police officers in Germany took part.

Van Duyse said the European raids were triggered from a Belgian prosecutors’ investigation opened five years ago “under the greatest secrecy”.

The EU countries where the raids took place were Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia and Romania, prosecutors said.

In Belgium, there were 25 police raids, and 13 people were arrested, including at least six who were wanted under European arrest warrants issued by Italy.