A 45-year-old mafia boss from Belgium leading an international criminal organisation turned himself in on Tuesday after six months on the run, having landed at the Milan Malpensa Airport from Albania.
The ringleader was involved in drug trafficking and a money laundering scheme, and led an unprecedented VAT carousel (tax evasion scheme exploiting EU tax liberties) through sales of electronic goods for over €1.3 billion, according to the European Public Prosecutors Office (EPPO).
His surrender at the police station also induced a rapid chain of further arrests - in total, 195 individuals are being investigated and over 400 companies are involved. Italian police have frozen 129 bank accounts and seized 192 real estate properties to date.
Several non-EU countries, such as Singapore and Switzerland, were also involved in money laundering. The criminal organisation had been operating with connections to mafia clans around the world, committing fraud worldwide.
The damage to the Italian treasury, according to Milano Today, stands at €600 million, while the illicit profit of the organisation amounts to around €180 million.
The head of the criminal ring, born in Belgium of Sicilian origin, successfully evaded arrest as part of the investigation dubbed 'Moby Dick' in 2024 in Prague, and had been on the run ever since.
