ROME: Anti-organized crime authorities in Italy announced the bust of an international drug organization and arrested 54 people associated with the powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia syndicate who were attempting to smuggle cocaine into Europe that had an estimated street value of $1.7 billion.
Although ‘Ndrangheta is managed out of the southern Calabria, the 54 individuals who were apprehended were arrested in different parts of the country, according to Italian authorities.
The organization was reportedly plotting to import about eight metric tons, or 17,637 pounds, of cocaine from Colombia into Europe through airports and seaports in Calabria, which sits on the southern tip of the mainland in Italy.
The drug smuggling attempt was intercepted at a plantation in Colombia, near the port of Turbo in the Carribean. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica, referred to the bust as “the largest drug seizure in Italian history of combatting drug trafficking.”
A “test run” of 139 pounds of cocaine was found concealed in a shipment of bananas in the central Italian port of Livorno. The ‘Ndrangheta is extremely active in the drug business, and the group has extensive links to drug traffickers and criminal cartel groups throughout Latin America.
At the end of 2016, the Italian criminal group was linked to a smuggling attempt that failed when police discovered 17 waterproof bags filled with 850 pounds of cocaine worth $84 million floating in the water near Gioia Tauro, located just off the tip of Italy’s boot.
