Italy warns of mafia activities in Austria «kleinezeitung.at
The Italian anti-mafia authority DIA warns of the presence of criminal organizations with connections to ‘Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra in Austria.
6:37 p.m. 07 Apr 2022
These organizations are able to monitor criminal activity in various sectors, the DIA agency warned in a report on Thursday. Money laundering is carried out, among other things, through real estate investments and the reuse of illegal earnings in the betting business, it said.
Weapons smuggled into Udine
Investigations revealed that Camorra clans are smuggling weapons from Austria to Italy via Udine. According to the DIA report presented to the Italian parliament, Austria is an important gateway to Western Europe on the so-called Balkan route, which foreigners use to illegally reach Italy with the help of criminal organizations.
Balkan route
The migrants tracked down in recent years are mainly Pakistanis, Afghans and Syrians, who are often involved in drug-related offences. “On the Balkan route, criminal organizations from the former Soviet Union are trafficking heroin and weapons from Turkey to Europe,” the report said.
An investigation by international anti-mafia authorities from Ancona also revealed that large quantities of drugs originating from Asian countries and brought to Italy were stored on Austrian territory, the report said. An investigation completed in March 2021 found that the Balkan route was also used for international trade or smuggling of petroleum products. These oil products are diverted from refineries in Austria, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Hungary and placed on the market in Italy.
The DIA authority praised the efficient exchange of information with the Austrian investigators within the framework of international cooperation. “The cooperation between the police departments over time has made it possible to carry out important analyzes of the criminal phenomenon,” it said.
Business relocated to Austria
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BK) confirmed the Italian warnings at the request of APA. According to the BK’s assessments, “the trend reported in 2019 and 2020 towards the expansion of Italian mafia organizations into Austria (…) will continue (…) in 2021. The largest mafia organizations Ndrangheta, Camorra and Cosa Nostra feel the pressure of persecution from the national security authorities in Italy and are therefore increasingly relocating their businesses and assets to Austria.”
real estate and companies
In doing so, the mafia organizations apparently use existing legal loopholes that offer them the opportunity to increase assets domestically and to invest in real estate and companies. “Corresponding cash flows were found from Italy to Malta and then to Austria,” said the BK.
Austria is also a “country of retreat for wanted persons from the mafia clans”. Information from the Italian authorities is regularly received, in which the suspicion is expressed that some of the “most sought” people are at least temporarily in Austria, where they are supported by family members, the BK described.
In the course of joint investigations with the Italian authorities, the criminalists found the first “locale” of the Ndrangheta in Austria in 2019, according to the BK. The “Locale” is an autonomous Ndrangheta “cell” responsible for the organization’s criminal activities in a specific area. “This environment was closely monitored and followed up in 2020 and 2021 in cooperation with the local security authorities for successful official actions in the field of drug-related crime,” it said.