Maghreb Edition

Morocco: Mafia fugitive arrested in TangiersF

Posted On 1 June 2019

Number of times this article was read : 801

Rabat, May 30, 2019 – An Italian mafia fugitive wanted for drug trafficking, murder, extortion and other alleged crimes has been arrested in Morocco, authorities in the North African country said Thursday. Raffaele Vallefuoco, 55, is accused of heading a cell within the Polverino clan of the ruthless Naples-based Camorra organised crime group, the General Directorate of National Security said in a statement. He was detained in Tangiers on Wednesday under an Italian arrest warrant, with help from Interpol, it said.

Another Italian accused of links to the Camorra, 44-year-old Antonio Prinno, was arrested in late March in Marrakesh and is being detained pending extradition, a police source said.

The Camorra is one of Italy’s three main mafia groups, along with Sicily’s Cosa Nostra and the ‘Ndrangheta, based mainly in the Calabria region. Morocco is one of the world’s top producers and exporters of hashish, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

By AFP

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