Massive Italy-US-Colombia drugs op (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, June 30 - On Thursday 33 people were arrested as part of a massive anti-drugs operation conducted by investigators in the southern Italian region of Reggio Calabria, the Colombian police and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
    The probe confirmed "organic links" between Colombian narco-traffickers and the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia, which controls the world's cocaine trade.
    Investigators discovered that drug mules were carrying inside their bodies ovules packed with 500-euro notes.
    They also found that various terrorist groups often guarded the cocaine supplies.
    The operation, in which 11 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of three billion euros was seized, is linked to a probe that identified a dangerous international narcotics-trafficking organisation.
    Franco and Giuseppe Cosimo Monteleone, suspected members of the 'ndrine della Locride clan of the 'Ndrangheta mafia, were allegedly at the helm of this drugs ring.