Assets worth 3 mn euros seized from Puglia SCU clan

(ANSA) - Lecce, November 18 - Finance police on Tuesday seized assets worth three million euros belonging to alleged members of the southern Puglia region's Sacra Corona Unite (SCU) crime syndicate.
    The seizure included properties, companies and bank accounts belonging to presumed affiliates of the Padovano clan operating in the southern Salento area, particularly in and around the seaside town of Gallipoli where it is dominant. The investigation into the Padovano clan is an offshoot of two separate probes between 2008 and 2010 that led to the dismantling of one of the fiercest mafia organisations operating in the province of Lecce.
    Separately on Tuesday, police in Lecce arrested 35 people for suspected mafia crimes, extortion, illegal weapons possession and drugs-related crimes in connection with a series of attacks on local businesses between January and September this year.
    Most of the suspects are believed to be affiliated to the SCU.