Italian police strikes down international drug trafficking ring

Italian police has struck down a drug-trafficking ring, arresting 71 people accused of importing narcotics into Italy through the Balkans, local reports said on Monday. Police seized more than 200 kilograms of Afghan heroin and 500 kilograms of marijuana, which were headed for criminal groups based in central and southern Italy. Security forces in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Slovenia and Croatia also took part in the probe that led to the international operation, which was reportedly still in progress. According to Italian prosecutors, the probe was developed in the context of a European project to combat criminality in the Balkans, also with the support of Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency that handles criminal intelligence. The investigations reportedly began in 2009 following the arrest of an Italian courier who was intercepted by police with half a kilogram of heroin. The courier was found to be linked to a branched structure devoted to trafficking in large quantities of heroin via the Balkans.