34 suspects arrested across Europe for drug trafficking

By Giovanni Legorano

ROME (AA) – Thirty-four people accused of drug trafficking have been arrested on Monday in Italy, Germany, Spain and Belgium, as part of an international investigation.

Authorities also seized assets, such as buildings and companies, worth €3.8 million ($4 million), according to Italy’s Financial Police Guardia di Finanza.

The arrests are the result of a complex investigation launched in 2020, which involved many national law enforcement authorities, including the Guardia di Finanza of Catanzaro, in southern Italy, Frankfurt’s police in Germany, Liege’s Federal Judicial Police in Belgium as well as Europol and Eurojust, Italian authorities said.

Twenty-five of these arrests were ordered by the Italian prosecutor’s office of Catanzaro, while the rest were ordered by the Belgian judicial authorities.

The people are accused of being part of a criminal network managing the illegal trafficking in Italy of heroin, cocaine and hashish, Italian authorities said.