Italy seizes huge explosives cache

Italian police have seized seven tonnes of the powerful RDX explosives from a container ship believed to be on its way to Syria, according to authorities. Anti-mafia police found the explosives hidden in a shipment of powdered milk at the port of Gioia Tauro in southern Calabria, Italian news agencies reported. Carmelo Casabona, the region's police chief, said investigators are not yet sure of who was in control of the shipment, but it appeared that it originally travelled from Iran.

Also known as T4, RDX is a powerful military grade explosive that has been used in several devastating attacks believed to have been carried out by the Italian mafia in past years. It was most notably used in the assassinations of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the former being blown up with his wife and three bodyguards after a bomb was detonated under a motorway. Casabona said the cargo had "the involvement of international criminal organisations," but ruled out the involvement of local mafia, know as the Ndrangheta, saying the shipment was too large.The cargo was reportedly found on a Liberian-registered ship called the Finland, which is owned by an Italian-Swiss company, MSC.

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Italy arrests 300 in crackdown on crime organization

Italian police launched one of their biggest operations ever against the powerful 'ndrangheta crime syndicate on Tuesday, arresting 300 people including top bosses and seizing millions worth of property in pre-dawn raids. The man believed to be the 'ndrangheta's top boss, Domenico Oppedisano, was picked up in Rosarno, a small coastal town in Calabria, the southern region where the organization is based, police said. Also arrested was the man in charge of the gang's businesses in Milan, where the 'ndrangheta has been making major inroads.

The raids Tuesday involved some 3,000 police across the country. Those arrested faced charges including murder, extortion, arms and drug trafficking and criminal association. Investigators described the operation as one of the biggest blows ever to an organization that is now considered more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the sweep struck at the heart of the 'ndrangheta in both its organization and its finances. The sweep dismantled some of the most powerful families in the organization, Italian news agencies said. It also enabled investigators to shed light on the 'ndrangheta's structure and power hierarchy. The biggest operation was in the Milan region of Lombardy, where 160 people were reportedly arrested. They included businessmen and the director of state medical services in the city of Pavia.

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Terrorism report warns of 'dirty bomb' risks, says Italy's nuclear waste deposits vulnerable

Italy's dumps of nuclear waste and other radioactive material are vulnerable to terrorists and should be kept under strict security, a terrorism report released Monday said. The report by a private Italian foundation looks at the causes of Islamic terrorism and the evolution of al-Qaida and other terror groups since 9/11, with a particular eye to Italy. Analyzing the dangers of an attack with nuclear weapons or radioactive "dirty bombs," the report says the fight for non-proliferation is bound to have a central role in anti-terror efforts and will require stricter co-operation among nations. Italy has a dozen sites where radioactive material is temporarily stocked, according to the report.

These sites, the stocked material and their transfers "are vulnerable to terror attacks" and require measures to protect them from any terror risks. The report did not elaborate on the security measures currently in place. Italy closed nuclear plants after a referendum banned nuclear power in 1987. But the report says that the plants have produced 55,000 cubic meters of waste. There is also 2,000 cubic meters of other radioactive material coming from health and medical products, as well as waste produced by hospitals and chemical and other companies. Another risk, the report said, stems from the fact that there are active nuclear plants in nearby or neighbouring countries. The report called for stricter co-ordination between local officials and the government, as well as between countries.

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Italy expelled Moroccans on suspicion of Pope plot

Two Moroccan students deported from Italy last month were suspected of plotting to assassinate Pope Benedict, an Interior Ministry source said on Friday. Mohamed Hlal, 26, and Ahmed Errahmouni, 22, students at the University for Foreigners in the central Italian city of Perugia, had been under surveillance by anti-terrorist police for months before they were expelled on April 29. During their inquiry, investigators found evidence suggesting the two (suspects) were plotting an attack on the pope."

An interior ministry statement issued at the time of their deportation said they were being expelled under prevention of terrorism laws. Six other foreign students, suspected of contacts with militant Islamic groups, are still under investigation. News magazine Panorama, owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's family, reported on Friday that local anti-terrorist police had tapped Hlal's phone and had raised the alarm when he said he wanted to acquire explosives.

The magazine said police discovered a map of Turin at Errahmouni's house annotated with numbers and circles, ahead of a visit to the northern Italian city by Pope Benedict on May 2 to venerate the Shroud of Turin, which many Catholics believe was Jesus Christ's burial cloth.Panorama described Errahmouni as a computer expert who remained in contact with militant groups over the Internet. It said Perugia had become a centre for travelling imams to preach radical Islam.

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Italy police nab 'paralyzed' Mafia boss on the run

A convicted Mafia boss who got out of jail by faking paralysis and anorexia has been arrested at a restaurant after more than two months on the run, police in Sicily said Tuesday. Officers arrested Carmelo Di Stefano on Monday as he dined at a seaside village near the Sicilian city of Catania, which he had reached at the wheel of a sports car.

Police official Giovanni Signer said when officers asked him why he was not in a wheelchair, Di Stefano answered: "It's a miracle!" Di Stefano was sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder, associating with the Mafia and drug trafficking, police in Catania said in a statement.

He had been allowed to serve the sentence at his wife's home in the northern city of Bologna after being hospitalized twice for anorexia and post-traumatic paraplegia. Di Stefano, 36, escaped house arrest in September. Signer said it was now clear that the boss had faked his condition, using "his willpower" to reach the weight of 84 pounds.

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