Venice tax and finance police
on Tuesday arrested four people - three Italians and a Libyan
national - accused of smuggling weapons into Iran and Libya
between 2011 and 2015, in a nationwide operation in Rome,
Naples, Salerno and L'Aquila coordinated by the DDA anti-mafia
police department in Naples.
The suspects are accused of smuggling weapons including
assault rifles, surface-to-air missiles and helicopters into
countries subjected to an embargo without the necessary
authorizations from the government.
A couple from the southern town of San Giorgio a Cremano near
Naples is among the suspects detained for allegedly smuggling
arms to an ISIS-linked group in Libya and to Iran.
The couple, whose identity has not been released yet, are
Italian nationals who converted to Islam and became
"radicalized", according to investigators.
Evidence against them includes a picture portraying the pair
with former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to
investigative sources.
Their son has also been placed under investigation.
The probe is coordinated by prosecutors Catello Maresca and
Luigi Giordano.
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