Italian police bust illegal bank that served as global middleman for drug traffickers

Italian police have broken up an illegal banking network used by drug traffickers, through which, according to estimates, several hundred million euros passed over at least three years, the Guardian reports.

The secret bank, whose logistics base was located in Prato, northwest of Florence, had been under the control of a Chinese national since 2021, officials said.

The network acted as a "global intermediary in the service of organized crime, offering secure channels for payment for large drug shipments without physically moving cash and guaranteeing complete anonymity of financial flows," police said in a statement released on Monday.

The network enabled "virtual capital transfers between Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands through a system of intermediaries who retained commissions," and according to police, transferred between 80 and 100 million euros annually for at least three years.

Clients included drug cartels, including Albanian criminal organizations active in Italy, as well as the Italian mafia.

Discreet money transfer systems operated by the Chinese mafia, known as Fei Chien or “flying money,” often serve Italian criminal organizations for payments related to drug trafficking.

This difficult-to-trace system allows a person to pay an intermediary in Italy, who then, through his agent in another part of the world, pays the same amount to the final recipient.

Police said 41 people linked to the network were arrested in Italy and Spain, on charges including conspiracy to commit crimes, drug trafficking, money laundering and aiding illegal immigration.

One branch of the organization operated a "lucrative network for illegal immigration from China," with migrants arriving in Belgrade by plane, after which they were transported or forced to walk across mountainous terrain to the Hungarian border, then onward to the European Union and finally to Italy, police said.

Migrants paid up to 9.500 euros for the trip to Prato, Turin or the province of Verona.

Prato, the center of Italy's textile industry, is home to one of the largest Chinese communities in Europe, and in recent years has become a scene of conflict between rival Chinese mafia groups fighting for control of the clothes hanger and freight transport markets.

The Chinese mafia, which is also involved in illegal betting, prostitution and drug trafficking, helps provide labor for Prato's textile industry, especially the fast fashion sector.

Police investigations have shown that these workers are often exposed to exploitation, working 13 hours a day, seven days a week, for around three euros per hour.