12 arrests over trafficking of 450 kg of cocaine

(ANSA) - VICENZA, FEB 4 - Italian police on Thursday arrested 12 people after stopping 450 kilogrammes of cocaine entering Italy from South America.
    Police from Vicenza arrested people in the provinces of Vicenza, Reggio Calabria and Trento.
    In the operation, police seized assets worth some 246,000 euros.
    Separately, 11 suspected members of Italy's Nigerian mafia were arrested in Palermo, mainly on drugs charges.
    The Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia, Italy's richest and most powerful organised crime outfit, controls the European cocaine trade.
    Its vast income has enabled it to outstrip its Sicilian cousins in Cosa Nostra and expand to the rest of Italy and the world.
    Italy's third main mafia, the Camorra from Naples, also deals heavily in drugs. (ANSA).