(ANSA) - Novara, December 6 - Police arrested 13 people in a
crackdown on the Russian mafia in northern Italy on Thursday.
The suspects, including 11 more who were cited, were said
to be involved in organized crime, with charges including
counterfeiting coins and possession of stolen property worth
over one million euros.
Police said the objects, which included gold and silver
bullion, were stashed at the Gran Sasso hotel where several of
the suspects were staying.
The materials would have been used to make fake euro coins,
intended for circulation in Italy, Germany and Switzerland, said
police in the Piedmont city of Nocara, where the sweep was
organized.
"The phenomenon represents a wound that is not only in
Italy but the whole of Europe," said Novara police chief
Maurilio Liore. "We are facing a well-organized mafia, based in
Russia and other countries in Eastern Europe, mainly Georgia but
also Lithuania, Romania, Kosovo and Albania. It is dedicated to
looting houses and villas and stockpiling stolen valuables and
antiquities".
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