An accomplice, Simona Puccia, was sentenced to three years under house arrest after accepting a plea bargain. In June, the Italian police had arrested the two members of the Mafia clan for weapons smuggling. The Italian investigators revealed that a number of these firearms had been reactivated and sent to Malta via courier services. They also identified links between the suspects and Egyptian organised crime networks involved in migrant smuggling activities. Piacente had apparently been running the ring along with an Egyptian he had met in prison in 2015.

Source: The North Africa Journal October 06, 2016 07:41 UTC