Rome, Aug 11 (IANS/AKI) Police said on Wednesday they impounded assets worth 200 million euros ($245 million) from a businessman in Calabria, Italy suspected of close ties to the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate.
The assets seized from 60-year-old Salvatore Mazzei included 26 companies, 67 buildings, 176 plots of land, 34 vehicles, building equipment and a motorbike, police said.
The operation was carried out by police from the province of Catanzaro on orders of anti-mafia prosecutors in the Calabrian capital.
It followed an environmental probe that began in 2011.
Drug trafficking, extortion and money-laundering rackets have in recent decades made the 'Ndrangheta Italy's wealthiest and most powerful international crime syndicate.
--IANS/AKI
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