Italy.
The information provided by a grandmother, hoping to save her grandson from drugs, helped police dismantle a network of drug traffickers in Calabria, southern Italy, authorities said on Wednesday.
During the operation, eighteen people accused of drug trafficking and linked to the Calabrian mafia clan Muto were arrested.
The so-called “Muto clan” is one of the many families that are part of ‘Ndrangheta, the dreaded Calabrian mafia, considered one of the strongest in the world and whose main activity is cocaine trafficking.
“Grandma spoke to the police to ask them to save her nephew,” Colonel Piero Sutera, the police chief, told reporters. Carabinieri from Cosenza, in Calabria.
The criminal group was also involved in extorting businessmen working in the tourism sector.
“Many people have suffered from the arrogance of those criminals who demanded money” with threats, said the anti-mafia prosecutor. Nicola Gratteri, quoted by newspaper Southern Gazette.
Gratteri, the prosecutor in the ongoing lawsuit against ‘Ndrangheta With more than 300 defendants, he said part of the extortion money is being used to support members of the clan who are in prison and their families.