Twenty persons were arrested in a case of blackmail and extortion of money and property from minibus drivers conveying parcels to Italy. The operation was performed in Moldova and Italy and involved several hundred Italian carabineers, Moldovan policemen and Security and Information Service officers. It was the first operation of the kind carried out in concert with an EU member state, IPN reports.

According to the General Police Inspectorate, the police started to track the criminal group in 2007.  The members of the Moldovan criminal group established a hierarchical coordination organization in the EU and collected ‘funds’ by extortion. The organization was headed by the thief in law Patron, who named ‘supervisors’ in different countries and regions of the EU. For their part, the ‘supervisors’ coordinated different smaller groups in towns and settlements.

A criminal case over the creation and running of a criminal organization was started in Moldova. In Italy, the illegal activities were classed as affiliation to a mafia-like group. For Italy, this is the first case of the kind within which Moldovan citizens are investigated.