Authorities in Italy have announced two successful organised-crime busts in the last few days, including the seizure of a shipment of cocaine hidden inside coffee beans marked for delivery to the fictional nemesis of a cinematic action hero.

Italian police last week arrested 44 suspected members of what is believed to be the largest ever euro banknotes counterfeiting network, possibly linked to theCamorra criminal syndicate,Europol, which coordinated the operation, said Friday.

Italy has placed Romania’s former chief anti-corruption prosecutor under house arrest on Monday where she will stay until a decision is made about her extradition to Bucharest where she was sentenced to four years in jail for corruption.

The recent record-breaking shipment of amphetamines seized by Italian authorities may not have been manufactured by terrorist group ISIS, as was first believed, but by the Syrian regime itself.

Italian national police announced on Thursday they arrested 31 people, including public officials, members of the military, and businessmen, suspected of corruption and fraud related to procurement contracts of the country’s armed forces.

Italian police in Sicily arrested on Wednesday 45 people believed to be linked to theCosa Nostra mafia, while German police arrested the clan’s deputy leader in the southwestern town of Wolzburg.

Authorities in Italy have seized the largest-ever shipment of amphetamines on record, believed to have been manufactured by one of the world’s most feared international terrorist groups, the Islamic State.

Some of Italy's leading mafia experts fear that the COVID-19 pandemic has only served to strengthen the mafia’s foothold across Italy, according to areport released by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). 

Italian authorities arrested 63 suspected members of the infamous ‘Ndrangheta, including 11 public officials who allegedly have, among other crimes, rigged public tenders worth some 150 million euro (US$167 million), including money coming from EU funds.   

Italy’s health ministry on Friday released a summary of a confidential scientific study conducted for the government that demolishes claims IQOS devices are safer than cigarettes, in the wake of an explosive documentary by OCCRP partner RAI3. 

Following a rash of prison riots, allegedly coordinated by inmates afraid of coronavirus infection, Italian authorities have so far released under house arrest more than 370 prisoners convicted of mafia-related offences, with almost 500 more requests pending review.

Drugs keep flowing despite the global pandemic.

Police in Italy have arrested more than 90 members and associates of the Sicily-based Cosa Nostra syndicate, including a former star of the reality TV show Big Brother.

Authorities in London have frozen more than 1.9 million euros (US$2.05 million) held in bank accounts with alleged links to the Italian mafia.

With most shops, cafes and restaurants closed for over a month, many Italians were left without income but according to media, poor people in the south of the country are getting their food supplies from an alternative source—the mafia. 

Two Italian businessmen accused of fraud have obtained state contracts for the supply of protective equipment to public authorities amid the crisis caused by the spread of COVID-19 in the country, IrpiMedia reported on Thursday. 

It was a glimpse of a glow of a cigarette behind the shutters of an abandoned house that led Italian police to the crime boss they had been tracking for more than a week.

Carabinieri officers patrol outside the town of Castiglione D'Adda, which has been closed by the Italian government due to a coronavirus outbreak, Italy, February 23, 2020. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane.

Investigators in more than 15 countries have seized almost 36 million units of medical drugs in a coordinated sting on European groups trafficking black market and counterfeit medications.  

Italy’s police said Friday that 334 mafia-linked suspects were detained in an early Thursday morning operation that was conducted simultaneously in four countries. Among the suspects are prominent politicians, lawyers, accountants and a police chief.

Italian and French police have broken up a gang responsible for smuggling more than 1,000 illegal migrants into Europe over the past year.