Four detained for arms to Iran, Libya (2)

(ANSA) - Naples, January 31 - 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.