JOINT OPERATION BETWEEN THE DIA AND THE DUTCH POLICE: LOGISTICS BASE OF THE ‘NDRANGHETA DISCOVERED IN NORTHERN EUROPE, DRUG TRAFFICKER ARRESTED

On September 6th, 2023, in Heerlen, a Dutch city at the border with Belgium, the officers of the Dutch Anti-Mafia team and of the Internal Investigations Department in Son of the Dutch National Police, together with the officers of the Italian Anti- Mafia Investigation Directorate, executed a European investigation order. The decision had been issued by the DDA in Turin, following long-lasting investigations conducted by the DIA Field Office in Turin into a Belgian citizen of Italian origin, SPITALE Pietro, who for years had been having his domicile abroad. He was considered to be a member of a drug trafficking organization and was subject to a detention order issued by the Belgian judicial authority, based on a final conviction of 7 years of imprisonment for international drug trafficking. The investigation and the Action Day were carried out with the fundamental support of EUROJUST and EUROPOL, using the tools provided by the @ON Network, which is financed by the EU (ISF4@ON Project) and of which the Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (DIA) is its “Project Leader.”

The targeted investigation, which gave positive results, stemmed from an in-depth analysis of the encrypted conversations of the SKY ECC phones.  They were carried out by the Italian investigators of the Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate supported by the observations conducted by the Dutch police. In the presence of the Dutch prosecutor, on the basis of the precise indications given by the Italian investigators, the special forces, once having cleaned the area, started a thorough search, also making use of excavators. They found four waterproof barrels, which could withstand humidity. They were buried in the garden of the house, specifically in an area covered with cement, which was used as a henhouse. One of the barrels contained a cutting substance and a packaging machine to make the drug slabs. Moreover, investigators found in the house accounting documents on the criminal groups as well as Italian and Belgian identity documents registered for other people but with the phots of the arrested person.

At the end of the activity, based on a detention order issued by the Belgian judicial authority, SPITALE was arrested.

The order carried out is part of the wide-ranging investigative coordination supported by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Turin, in agreement with the involved foreign Prosecutor’s Offices, concerning ‘‘Ndrangheta type crime groups operating in Italy and at the international level.  This investigation, called “NUDOLS”, is a branch of the operation “PLATINUM DIA”, which already in 2021 allowed to dismantle a criminal group headed by the families in San Luca (RC) and to arrest 33 people. Investigation “NUDOLS” highlighted and documented that the criminal organization under investigation acted as a logistics base in Northern Europe between Belgium and the Dutch city of Heerlen, where   huge quantities of cocaine coming from South America and huge amounts of money and arms were stockpiled and processed.

Turin, 7 September 2023