Police on Thursday arrested nine
more people as part of the ongoing Aemilia operation probing the
presence of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia in the
Emilia-Romagna region.
Assets, commercial property and businesses worth a total of
330 million euros were also seized as part of Thursday's bust.
Those arrested are accused of fraudulent money transfers
for mafia activities.
In January, the operation saw 117 arrests connected to
Nicolino Grande Aracri, 'Ndrangheta boss of the Grande Aracri
clan, who was already in prison at the time and was also among
the nine for whom arrest warrants were executed on Thursday.
Of the remaining eight arrested, Alfonso Diletto, Michele
Bolognino and Giovanni Vecchi were sent to jail, while Domenico
Bolognino, Jessica Diletto, Francesco Spagnolo, Patrizia
Patricelli and Ibrahim Ahmed Abdelgawad were placed on house
arrest.
Over 300 carabinieri police from the regions of
Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Calabria and Lazio, as well as
helicopters and dog units, were involved in Thursday's police
raid.
The 'Ndrangheta has in recent years replaced Sicily's Cosa
Nostra as Italy's most powerful mafia because of its dominance
of the international cocaine trade.
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