NAN-F-43
Trafficking
Rome, Feb. 16, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Italian police on Thursday confirmed the arrest of 68 suspected members of an international drug trafficking ring made up of mobsters and businessmen.
The police said that the suspects were arrested when they were about smuggling eight tons of cocaine from Colombia to Italy.
“The quantity of drugs involved had a street value of 1.7 billion dollars.
“The cocaine was stashed in a banana plantation near the Colombian port city of Turbo.
“Italian police have seized a trial run of 63 kg of pure cocaine concealed inside boxes of bananas in the Tuscan port city of Livorno,’’ the police said
The ring busted Operation Stammer consisted of ‘Ndrangheta mafia affiliates from the Calabria region in the tip of Italy’s boot and a number of investors.
The police said that those involved includes individuals and companies such as restaurants, hotels, car dealerships, dairies, bars and tobacconists.
Each of the suspects had a specific role, from the middle men to the translators to those hosting the emissaries of the Colombian narcos during their stays in Calabria.
Police also seized eight million euros’ worth of real estate, luxury cars and other assets.
Operation Stammer was carried out in conjunction with Britain’s National Crime Agency and Colombian police.
(dpa/NAN)
OYE/SH
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza