Italian police on Tuesday arrested 47
people linked to the Nigerian Mafia in Italy.
Those arrested have been charged with mafia association, human
trafficking, drug trafficking and distribution, and exploiting
prostitution.
The arrests were made in Sicily and in central Italy including
Campania and Lazio.
Police said that in Campania, the Nigerian Mafia was now "on the
same level" as the historic Camorra mafia in the region around
Naples.
In a by-now standard practice, women and girls were trafficked
from Nigeria into sex work on Italian roads by threatening them
with voodoo rites.
Nigerian prostitutes are a common sight on roads leading out of
Italian cities, or on streets in the suburbs of Italian towns.
The Nigerian Mafia has been growing in Italy for several
decades.
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