Italian Police have arrested about 73 members of a notorious Nigerian mafia group called Arobaga Vikings or Norsemen Kclub International.
According to Italian newspaper, ANSA, the group leader, 50-year-old Emmanuel Okenwa aka ‘Boogye’, was also arrested in the operation carried out by more than 200 Italian policemen in Turin and Ferrara.
National leaders of the mafia, which deals mainly in prostitution and drug trafficking was arrested. They included Boogye, an AfroBeat DJ, and another called “King of Ferrara”. In all, 31 people were arrested in Ferrara.
Also, 43 were taken into custody in Turin, including several women who allegedly ran prostitution rackets.
Bologna preliminary investigations judge, Gianluca Petragnani Gelosi said the Vikings’ criminal plan was to “violently annihilate” other Nigerian crime outfits and take over their turf.
Also reacting, Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese expressed that the police guard against criminal organizations and their illegal trafficking was high even amid the COVID emergency.
In a related development, the Italian police also cracked down on multinational mafia called Ndrangheta.
The police on Thursday seized 50 million euros in goods and property from three businessmen in Reggio Calabria, linked to the Calabria-based Ndrangheta mafia.
Police said Antonino Scimone, 45, Antonino Mordà, 51, and Pietro Canale, 41, are suspected of close links to noted Calabrian clans.
The three were among 27 people arrested in February 2018 in a major operation against usury and fraud that seized 51 companies, 18 pieces of real estate, and froze accounts worth some 100 million euros.
