Police arrest nine in 'Ndrangheta bust

(ANSA) - Bologna, July 16 - 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.