Drug Gang Used Commercial Ships & Chinese Money Brokers, Italian Police Says

Italy police said on Wednesday they had arrested 61 people across four countries and seized 60 million euros ($67.1 million) following an investigation into international drugs trafficking and money laundering.

The case had revealed criminal drugs ties between Albania and Latin America, and once again showed how criminals in Europe are using shadow networks of illicit Chinese money brokers, police said.

Finance police in the northern city of Brescia said 400 officers had carried out the arrests and searches in Italy, Albania, Switzerland and Poland, with the cooperation of local law enforcement and European police body Europol.

The criminal gang was based in Albania and imported cocaine into Europe from South America via commercial shipping routes and then transported it to Italy on trucks, police said.

The cash from the drug sale was handed over to a parallel Chinese syndicate, which allegedly offered a shadow banking service to transfer the illicit capital abroad.

"The drug money flowed, through a Chinese citizen living near Brescia, into a complex money laundering system aimed at monetising false invoices issued by compliant Italian entrepreneurs", the police statement said.

Wednesday's case is just the latest of several operations that over the past two years have uncovered sophisticated shadow banking systems operated by Chinese nationals and used by a wide variety of criminal organisations.

According to the various investigations that have emerged so far, this system is used by drug traffickers both to pay their overseas suppliers and to launder money through the cover of false invoices.

Police said on Wednesday they had started their latest probe in 2020, making use of tools that allowed the contents of encrypted chats to be read, as well as telephone, ambient and telematic wiretaps and surveillance.

In addition to Wednesday's arrests, police said 21 people had already been detained in recent months in the course of the investigation, with 2.5 million euros of cash and 360 kg (794 lb) of drugs, worth approximately 30 million euros, seized.

($1 = 0.8943 euros)

(Reuters - Reporting by Emilio Parodi, editing by Crispian Balmer, William Maclean)