New details are being learned about an international operation developed on Tuesday, which extended to several countries such as Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Austria against an Albanian criminal organization that led to the arrest of 17 people.
As reported by the Italian media , referring to police sources, one of the arrested, considered a dangerous trafficker, was caught by the Ravenna police in Faenza.
It is about a 42-year-old Albanian. Two more people have been arrested in Tuscany. 11 of those arrested were arrested in Belgium, 3 in Italy and 3 others in other European countries where checks were carried out with the aim of extradition to Belgium.
According to the investigations, the members of the organization are related to each other and all come from Vlora.
It is about a kind of Albanian mafia, as the Italian media say, that deals with everything related to cocaine, from import to cutting, to recycling and finally to arms trafficking.
Among the actions attributed to the organization, there are also violent episodes linked to criminals described by Belgian prosecutors as particularly dangerous and determined.
The names of the suspects are not at all unknown to the law enforcement agencies. In 2014, the ringleaders had already been sentenced to 10 to 12 years in prison, while others with minor roles had received sentences of 3 to 7 years. But even so they were not discouraged and on the contrary continued their criminal path.
Searches within the operation led to the seizure of 100 kg of cocaine and amphetamine-type drugs, firearms, chemicals, bulletproof vests and 265,000 euros in cash.
The group of traffickers investigated by Antwerp Police in Belgium were specialized in the distribution of large quantities of drugs that were then transported to different countries in vehicles equipped with hidden spaces. The investigation by the judicial police concerns an organization known to be active in the importation of cocaine from South America and the laundering of money from cocaine trafficking.
In Belgium, 12 searches were carried out in Antwerp, Schoten and Sint-Niklaas. They were carried out in cooperation between the federal judicial police and the local police in Antwerp.