On the run since November 2017, the man had been making and serving pizzas in a Swiss city.
Keystone / Cesare Abbate
Police in Biel, Switzerland, have arrested an Italian mafia fugitive. It is the first arrest made as part of the new Interpol Cooperation Against ’Ndrangheta project (I CAN).
This content was published on
1 minute
Keystone-SDA/sm
Wanted for almost three years for various crimes committed in Italy, the 41-year-old man was working at a pizzeria in Biel in canton Bern, where he was arrested on Saturday morning.
Italian press agency Ansa reports that the operation was carried out under a European arrest warrant issued by the Palmi public prosecutor’s office.
Before fleeing the country, the man from Gioia Tauro had been sentenced to eight years and seven months of jail time for the manufacture, trafficking and possession of drugs as well as threats and various other crimes committed in three Italian towns between 2007 and 2015.
The man had been living with his wife in Biel and was still in touch with his family. He is now awaiting extradition to Italy. He was identified thanks to improved cooperation through I CAN, a global attack strategy on the ’Ndrangheta. Switzerland’s federal offices of justice and police coordinated the operation with help from Bern’s cantonal police.
Launched on June 24, I CAN strengthens the police cooperation between Italy and ten other countries on four continents. The countries besides Switzerland are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, the United States and Uruguay.
More
More
In 2019, Switzerland deported those with Italian mafia or jihadist links
This content was published on
In 2019, Switzerland’s Federal Office of PoliceExternal link (Fedpol) ordered the deportation of four men from Switzerland in order to guarantee the country’s internal and external security, the German-language weekly NZZ am Sonntag External linkreports. In a first for Switzerland, two of these men were expelled because of their alleged membership in the Italian mafia. The other two…
Swiss institute hosted informal talks between Russians, Ukrainians and Americans
This content was published on
The Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP) has hosted 10 meetings between Russian and Ukrainian interlocutors since the start of the war.
Automated driving on Swiss motorways is theoretically possible from March
This content was published on
It will be theoretically possible to hand over the steering wheel to technology but no such system has been submitted for official approval yet.
Heated atmosphere at Swiss rally against AfD politician Alice Weidel
This content was published on
Around 250 people demonstrated "against the right" and the German AfD politician Alice Weidel on Saturday afternoon in Einsiedeln.
This content was published on
The Ethos Foundation recommends that shareholders vote against all compensation-related items at the Annual General Meeting on March 7.
Top Swiss firms close to reaching gender quota in boards
This content was published on
The proportion of women on the boards of directors of the fifty largest listed companies in Switzerland currently stands at 28%.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Italian mob member gets Swiss prison sentence
This content was published on
An Italian man living near the Swiss capital has been handed a prison sentence for his membership in and support of the ’Ndrangheta.
This content was published on
The two suspected mafia members were handed over to the Italian authorities in Chiasso on Thursday. They waived their right to appeal their extradition. The remaining ten of the Thurgau 12 arrested in March 2016 were placed under detention in anticipation of their imminent extradition. This was due to the increased risk of them fleeing…
This content was published on
Francesco Forgione, author of Exporting the Mafia: How the ‘Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra and the Camorra colonised the World (2009) and former head of the Italian parliamentary anti-mafia commission from 2006-08, tells swissinfo.ch that mafia groups – in particular the ‘Ndrangheta – are now comfortably installed in all quarters of the world, trafficking colossal amounts of…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.