European authorities launch crackdown on Italian mob

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities are conducting coordinated raids in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands in a crackdown on the Italian mafia.

German federal police said in a statement Wednesday that there had been multiple arrests in the early morning raids on premises linked to the 'ndrangheta, a southern Italy-based organized crime group.

In Germany the focus was on the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders the Netherlands and Belgium, and Bavaria to the south.

Police say the operation is being coordinated by Eurojust, a European unit established to fight cross-border organized crime

Further details were not immediately available but a news conference was scheduled for later in the day in The Hague.