German police officers were under “raids against ndrangheta” over the sale of expensive food and equipment.
German and Italian authorities have arrested dozens of suspects, including police officers, in “raids against ndrangheta’s criminal organizations against fraud, including selling expensive food and pizza making equipment.”
‘ndrangheta is considered Italy’s wealthiest and most powerful mafia, and is also heavily involved in drug trafficking, dominating most of the cocaine flowing into Europe.
Hundreds of law enforcement officials conducted around 40 searches in four German states and several parts of Italy as part of a five-year investigation, including cooperation from the International Police Agency Interpol.
Fourteen suspects, including a 46-year-old police officer accused of supporting the gang, have been arrested in western Germany and 20 have been detained in Italy, German police said Tuesday.
They say Eurojust, the European Union’s judicial body that coordinated the attack, said, “is accused of being accused of elaborate fraud with high-value foods such as expensive cheese and olive oil, kitchen equipment for pizza production.
The suspect is also charged with other crimes, including arson, drug trafficking and tax evasion.
According to German prosecutor Joachim Ditrich, a suspect in Stuttgart, Germany, involved a suspect who was raising representatives of a German food company that targeted Italian companies at the time.
They ordered a large amount of food and equipment in the name of a fake company, but they didn’t pay, leading to a loss of hundreds of thousands of euros to the supplier, he said.
The suspects were later said to have put pressure on German cities and surrounding Italian restaurants to buy supplies, and businesses agreed to avoid possible retaliation.
Italian prosecutors said the victim was “an Italian from Calabria, the southern region of the country where ndrangheta is based.”
The arrested police officer is accused of disclosing confidential information to help the suspect.
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