Nigerians were among two drug trafficking groups, comprising 27 people, arrested in a pan-European raid in Italy, Albania, and Spain last Wednesday.
Reuters reported that Italy’s Carabinieri police said 20 of the suspects were remanded in custody, while seven were placed under house arrest.
A police statement said that a group led by Nigerians used young Nigerian asylum seekers or refugees to transport marijuana across Italy and Europe.
It stated that a long-distance bus terminal near Rome’s Tiburtina train station was “used as a national and international sorting centre for drug trafficking.”
The couriers were recruited from a migrant reception centre on the outskirts of Rome, which was also used as a depot for drugs.
The second group, led by Albanians, was reported to have been importing marijuana to Italy using fast boats across the Adriatic, then selling it to Nigerian traffickers.
Some of the Albanian suspects were also charged with aggravated extortion against Nigerian buyers who delayed their drug payments.
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