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Security forces in Italy on Monday detained dozens of people across the country in a crackdown on Mafia organisations in a new onslaught against crime, including suspected members of Nigerian Mafia organisation Black Axe.
In the morning, Italian police executed 99 arrest warrants in the southern city of Bari as part of an anti-Mafia operation, news agency ANSA reported.
The suspects were leaders and associates of the Strisciuglio Mafia clan, according to the police.
They face charges including extortion, drug trafficking and Mafia association, among others, ANSA reported.
Police had already staged raids targeting the same clan on similar accusations in March.
The majority of those arrested were to be placed in custody.
Police were set to release further details during a press conference scheduled for 11 a.m. (0900 GMT).
Meanwhile, officers in 14 provinces conducted raids targeting the Nigerian Mafia organisation Black Axe, investigators in the city of L’Aquila, east of Rome, said.
The suspects were accused of drug trafficking, exploitation through prostitution, fraud and money laundering through cryptocurrency.
Italian Mafia investigators have recently conducted several large-scale operations with dozens of detentions.
In January, a massive trial of more than 300 suspected members of the ‘Nrdrangheta Mafia organisation began in the city of Lamezia Terme.
The Black Axe and other Mafia groups run by Africans were said to dominate crime in communities on the eastern part of Rome.
