Two Calabrian mafia members to be extradited to Italy

The Calabria-based ‘Ndrangheta has offshoots in several European countries as well as in North and South America Keystone

The Federal Justice Office has authorised the extradition to Italy of two members of the ‘Ndrangheta, a mafia organisation based in Calabria in the south of the country. They had been arrested on March 8 in canton Valais in an operation which captured 15 Calabrian mafiosi living in Switzerland.

The Italian extradition requests are based on a judgement released in October 2014 by a Calabrian court. The two Italian citizens had been sentenced in their absence to nine and six years in prison respectively.

The justice office said in a statement on Wednesday that the conditions for extradition had been fulfilled. The two Italians have 30 days to appeal to the federal criminal court.

The fate of 13 other mafiosi – also arrested on March 8 in cantons Thurgau and Zurich – has not been decided. They are currently free, having had to post bail and give up their passports.

The arrest in March was not without controversy. Italian police showed a video of Italian officers making the arrests, which goes against Swiss law.