Syrian network dismantled: Drug money was converted into gold that was also transported to Kosovo

Italian prosecutors say they have dismantled a Syrian-led ring accused of laundering money from drug trafficking in Italy and France by turning the cash into gold bars. The gold was then transported to various countries, including Kosovo.

Italian police arrested five people in the northern regions of Piedmont and Lombardy and seized 17 million euros, Italian prosecutors said in a statement.

The investigation was carried out by a joint team including Italy's tax police and the French gendarmerie in Marseille, and the efforts were coordinated by Italy's national anti-mafia directorate and the prosecutor's office in Marseille, together with Eurojust and Europol.

Over more than six months, the suspects collected more than 17 million euros in drug proceeds, mainly in France, and transported the money in vehicles to an area near Piedmont in Italy, which borders France, prosecutors said.

"There, in collaboration with three precious metal smelting businesses in Piedmont and Lombardy, the money was converted into gold bars and sheets of the same monetary value," the announcement said.

The gold was then transported to Kosovo, North Macedonia, Turkey and Morocco.

"It is the first time that investigators have managed to reconstruct the flow of drug money, generated abroad, which was then converted into gold - an asset that is more easily transported," the release said.

Prosecutors said they have identified a wide network of Syrian nationals involved in the process.

Italian prosecutors said French gendarmerie had also made arrests of other suspects involved in collecting drug proceeds in France./REL