(ANSA) – MILAN, FEB 9 – Italian police on Tuesday arrested 18
people on suspicion of trafficking in illicit waste including
toxic and radioactive substances in northern Italy.
Some 10 people were taken into custody in jail and eight more
were placed under house arrest, police said.
Prosecutors said they had reconstructed the activities of a
mafia waste trafficking gang near Lecco north of Milan allegedly
led by a top member of the Calabria-based ‘Ndrangheta mafia,
Italy’s richest and most powerful crime outfit, Cosimo
Vallelonga.
Those arrested have been charged with mafia association,
conspiracy to traffic illegal waste, tax fraud, money
laundering, usury and extortion.
Lecco police carried out sweeps in Lombardy, Liguria and Emilia
Romagna.
They seized a consignment of radioactive waste, (ANSA).
