Get quality reporting directly into your inbox “The suspects were involved in drug trafficking, the use of firearms, as well as extortion and corruption in public tenders,” Europol, which coordinated the operation code-named ‘Ultra’ Police raided more than 60 houses in Sicily and seized 1.5 million euros (US$1.69 million) and some important documentation The operation resulted in “the dismantlement of the Sicilian Mafia Cosa Nostra crime syndicate of Barrafranca,” the statement said The suspect identified and arrested in Germany “was taking advantage of his residence in another country to support and re-organize both the criminal assets of the mafia clan in Sicily and the drug trafficking routes used to fund the criminal organization,” the statement explained led by the Italian Special Operation Department (R.O.S the German Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) and the Landeskriminalamt of Niedersachsen was launched in March 2019 and led to the arrest of 25 suspects It revealed connections of the crime family of Barrafranca with Germany Just a day before, in a separate Europol-coordinated operation, Italian police arrested 12 alleged members of the Italian crime syndicate ‘Ndrangheta including the leader of a‘Ndrangheta family in Calabria suspected of international drug trafficking of cannabis and cocaine More than 200 Italian Carabinieri were deployed across the Piedmont and Turin regions, following “a long and complex investigation carried out by the Italian authorities with the support of Europol and law enforcement authorities from Croatia, France and Germany,” Europol said in a statement Police searched more than 30 houses during the operation code-named ‘Altan,’ and seized a rifle and some narcotics The ‘Altan’ operation started in 2017 targeting the ‘Ndrangheta clan Alvaro “based in the Italian region of Calabria and rooted in several cities across the country,” according to Europol as the Europe’s Central Investigation Office said Europol stressed that the exchange of information with law enforcement authorities from Italy France and Germany was key to crack the case “The success of this operation shows the importance of international cooperation in tackling this organised criminal group which is one of the most powerful criminal networks in the world and controls much of Europe’s cocaine trade bribery and violent acts,” read the statement Support from readers like you helps OCCRP expose organized crime and corruption around the world you’ll be directly supporting investigative journalism as a public good You’ll also gain access to exclusive insights and benefits Italian and German law enforcement agencies arrested 31 suspected members of the ‘Ndrangheta mafia in a joint operation.. Luxembourg’s company registry turns up firms controlled by people with ties to the ’Ndrangheta Targeting an Italian mafia organization operating in Italy This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page St Benedict College Għaxaq Primary has been involved in a Comenius Project entitled ‘Mission: clean earth’ The third project meeting was held last month in Barrafranca Participants presented work by students from all participating schools The focus of the works was on pollution and its implications on everyday life The work done by the students of St Benedict College Għaxaq Primary was collected into a booklet which was presented to the other members during the meeting land and waterpollution and global warming This collection of work was the culmination of a two-month school-wide effort where the subject was integrated across the curriculum Participants also looked at possible ways of reducing the effects of pollution The Maltese delegation collaborated with the other Comenius partners in workshops to analyse compare and contrast the information presented Cultural and social activities were also organised showcasing the activities for this project View it at missioncleanearthmalta.wordpress.com The next and final project meeting will take place in Poland please register for free or log in to your account Young footballers from the Pietà Hotspurs FC youth nursery recently travelled to Sicily for the Calcio Giovanile Citta di Licata tournaments The U-12 Pietà side were eliminated in the quarter-finals against Real Barrafranca 2-1 but the U-9 outfit figured better as they made it to the final where they met another Maltese team The Pietà boys were under the charge of coaches Michael Farrugia and Brian Bartolo please register for free or log in to your account.