Potenza. The Neapolitan Camorra manages drug trafficking operations by outsourcing them to a group of Nigerian asylum seekers: this is the disturbing background information uncovered by the Potenza Carabinieri in an investigation coordinated by the Basilicata District Anti-Mafia Directorate. The Potenza prosecutor's office describes an "alarming synergy." This morning, in Operation "Level," 13 Nigerian citizens were arrested—asylum seekers hosted in reception centers in the Potenza area—accused of organizing a "frantic trafficking operation" of heroin, hashish, and marijuana—purchased in Naples—in Potenza's historic center. The Carabinieri also executed eight residence bans in the Basilicata capital, against both Italians and Nigerians. The operation, dubbed "Level," involved 120 Carabinieri officers and a helicopter from the Pontecagnano-Faiano (Salerno) unit of the Carabinieri. The investigation, coordinated by the Potenza District Anti-Mafia Directorate, began in October 2017. The Carabinieri established that the clan's leader was a Nigerian citizen, Samuel Dumkwu, who, thanks to his "position of supremacy," ensured "a constant supply of narcotics to the Potenza drug dealing center," where the drugs were then sold. According to the prosecution, he acted with "typically entrepreneurial criteria," evident from the "precise division of tasks assigned to his fellow countrymen." The drugs were purchased in Naples, confirming "the alarming synergy between foreign criminals and those operating in the Naples area." The drug dealing took place in Potenza's historic center, which the clan controlled with a "monopolistic" control.
-Overall, the Carabinieri executed 13 precautionary custody orders in prison and 8 residence bans. Those arrested are Nigerian citizens seeking asylum, hosted in extraordinary assistance centers in the province of Potenza, while the residence ban affected both Nigerians and Italians. The investigations were started in 2007 and would have brought to light a "frantic" heroin and cocaine dealing activity in the historic center of the Lucanian capital by those arrested. One of those arrested, Samuel Dumkwu, would have played a key role in the organization. The drugs sold were collected in Naples, thanks to contacts between Neapolitan and foreign criminals, and placed in Potenza. The organization dismantled by the Carabinieri had strict rules regarding the division of tasks and the assignment of hierarchies. 120 soldiers from the provincial command of the Arma di Potenza participated in the execution of the measures.
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