By Frank Schneider
Great blow against the mafia in Europe! With searches and arrests, forces from North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland are involved in a large-scale Europe-wide operation on Wednesday morning.
The background is a procedure related to Italian organized crime, which is directed against those responsible and members of the mafia association ‘Ndrangheta.
The accused are accused, among other things, of money laundering, gang tax evasion, commercial gang fraud and drug smuggling.
The procedure is conducted by a joint investigation team involving Europol and Eurojust. There are also other security authorities from Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, who are simultaneously implementing measures in their areas of responsibility.
Police struck in several states
In Bavaria, the Munich I public prosecutor and the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office are investigating eight people. Since this morning, more than 130 emergency services have been searching ten objects, and EU arrest warrants are being executed against four people.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, around 500 emergency services – including the operational group, the special task force and service dog handlers – are searching a total of 51 houses, apartments, offices and business premises. They are executing 15 arrest warrants. Among other things, an ice cream parlor in Siegen is searched.
In addition, searches are being carried out in four properties in Erfurt (Thuringia), where another EU arrest warrant is being executed.
Around 500 police officers in Rhineland-Palatinate are investigating a total of ten arrest warrants and 50 search warrants. They are supported by special units of the federal government and other federal states as well as by customs and tax investigators.
Investigators from the Saarland Department for Organized Crime search the home and business premises of a man (47) in Saarbrücken and the premises he rented in Saarlouis. The man wanted with an arrest warrant was not found there, but was arrested in Italy. Likewise another man (25) from Saarland.