[WATCH] Italian police bust Catania mafia drug ring that trafficked cocaine, marijuana to Malta

Italian police have busted a Catania drug ring that imported cocaine and marijuana from Albania and the Netherlands for trafficking in eastern Sicily and Malta.

The Carabinieri arrested 12 people during an operation codenamed Alter Ego in Catania on Tuesday. Three men were caught red-handed unloading boxes of pasta from a vehicle that were used to disguise 242kg of marijuana.

The group, which is also accused of associating with the mafia, imported the illegal substances from Albania, Netherlands, and the Calabria and Puglia regions in mainland Italy. It sold the cocaine and marijuana in the Syracuse region of Sicily and Malta. No further details were given on the Malta connection.

The Italian police said the criminal gang had links with the Cappello and Bonacorsi mafia clans.