Salerno - A stolen car receiving and laundering ring was also behind today's major drug raid that led to 39 arrests as part of an investigation coordinated by the Salerno District Anti-Mafia Directorate.
A "second strand" of the investigation, as defined by General Luigi Carbone, provincial commander of the Guardia di Finanza of Salerno, who illustrated the details during a press conference.
“Stolen cars represented a second line of financing for the entire criminal organization,” Carbone explained, emphasizing how vehicle trafficking complemented drug trafficking in sustaining the group's coffers.
The recycling mechanism
According to investigators' reconstruction, the cars were stolen and then "cleaned" through sophisticated tampering with the chassis numbers and replacing the license plates with foreign ones.
A well-tested system that allowed the group to remarket the vehicles or use them for logistical activities related to drug trafficking, thus creating a parallel flow of money.
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General Carbone highlighted how telephone and environmental wiretaps played a decisive role in identifying the money launderers' network, but above all he underlined "the importance of international cooperation."
"Thanks to collaboration with authorities in other European countries," he said, "we were able to verify that many of those license plates corresponded to cars legally circulating abroad, thus confirming the counterfeiting and money laundering mechanism."
A multi-level organization
The investigation revealed a complex criminal organization capable of diversifying its activities to ensure liquidity and economic stability.
Alongside drug trafficking—which remained the group's main activity—receiving stolen cars was an alternative source of funding, useful for covering expenses, supplies, and logistics.
The investigations of the Guardia di Finanza and the DDA They are continuing to identify any links with criminal networks operating outside the region and to reconstruct the economic flows generated by the sale of recycled vehicles.
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