Raids on the Italian mafia organization Ndrangheta continue.
The suspects, including politicians from the Calabria region of the country, face charges such as mafia association, murder, extortion, fraud, collusion of public contracts, bribery and vote buying, Italian police said in a statement.
In the statement, it was stated that as a result of the raid, 22 people were sent to prison, 12 people were placed under house arrest, 4 people were dismissed and 3 people were banned from travel. A total of 123 people are under investigation, including the former Governor of Calabria.
In the statement, it was also stated that the prosecutors from Stuttgart, Germany, and the German federal police cooperated within the scope of the investigation.
Catanzaro Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, one of Italy’s most well-known mafia opponents, said at a press conference that regional politicians and public administrators were ‘subdued’ by mafia members during the 2014-2020 period.
The Ndrangheta mafia network is known to engage in illegal trade, such as real estate, food, fruit, vegetable and livestock trade, security services and gambling, from the south to the north of Italy.
The Ndrangheta had been dealt a major blow.
Last May, 132 Ndrangheta members were detained as part of the operation carried out by the European Police Service (Europol) in cooperation with law enforcement agencies in Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Romania, Brazil and Panama.
Ndrangheta, which has its roots in the Calabria region of southern Italy, is considered one of the largest criminal networks in the world.