Italy's anti-Mafia unit has smashed a Nigerian drug and human-trafficking ring that forced hundreds of women into sex slavery, police announced here Tuesday.
Police arrested 51 Nigerian citizens in Italy and 15 in other European countries including the Netherlands, which the gang used as a transit base and 'training' camp.
The operation, which was carried out with the help of Interpol and Dutch police, also uncovered ''major'' drug traffic into Italy, especially cocaine.
National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Piero Grasso said Italian police had found a log book in a drug lab outside Amsterdam containing the names and cellphone numbers of 300 couriers.
He revealed that the Nigerians held an international drug summit in Turin a few years ago to cement relations with Colombian cocaine lords.
The Nigerian clans now represent ''an enormous danger,'' he said.
Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said ''a powerful international organisation that exploited human beings and in particular minors has been smashed''.
''These are extremely serious crimes that have brought slavery back, feeding off poverty''.
''We must be inflexible with these criminals, and thanks to great police work we are achieving excellent results,'' he said, recalling an October operation that netted 23 Nigerian traffickers and couriers in the United States and various European countries including Germany, France, Spain and the UK.
