Council chamber considers extradition requests from members of the notorious Calabrian mafia | Interior

European arrest warrants were issued from Italy for seven suspects. In our country, 62-year-old Lucio Aquino from Maasmechelen and several men from Genk, who are part of the Nirta-Strangio clan, were arrested. The 66-year-old pizza baker Marcello N. from Genk was also arrested. He regularly received well-known people in his restaurant.

Some of the suspects are asking for a postponement, while Lucio Aquino is resisting a surrender through his lawyers. “If the council chamber takes a decision that is negative for us, we will appeal anyway. Then the Antwerp chamber of indictment will consider the case within two weeks. If necessary, we will go to the Court of Cassation. We resist extradition tooth and nail,” says lawyer Jan Keulen, who defends Aquino together with Hugo Vandenberghe.

Authorities in ten countries arrested a total of nearly 150 suspects. Police forces and special units raided several places in Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Romania, Brazil and Panama. In Limburg, investigators from the federal judicial police carried out house searches in Genk, Hasselt, Bilzen, Maasmechelen and Pelt.