Mafia members moving to Switzerland

According to the results of a criminal investigation, four suspected members thought to belong to some of Italy’s most notorious mafia groups, the Cosa Nostra, Camorra and Sacra Corona Unita, are residing in Switzerland, newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported.

The findings have been revealed as the government confirmed on Wednesday that tackling mafia and other organised crime in Switzerland would be a top priority for the coming years.

Italian mafia outfits, under pressure from the Italian authorities, are thought to be moving parts of their business, particularly their money-laundering operations, to Switzerland, the newspaper reported.

 

The greatest threat is perceived as coming from the increasingly powerful Ndrangheta, from Calabria in southern Italy. According to a report by the European Institute of Political, Economic and Social Studies in Italy, in 2007, the business volume for the Ndrangheta, whose main revenue is earned through drug trafficking, was the equivalent of approximately 2.9 percent of the country’s GDP.

Also on the government's radar are mafia groups coming from southern Europe, whose activities include drug trafficking, human trafficking, theft and robbery.