Latest News on Italian police Far-Right sympathisers
Italian police have seized a large cache of deadly weapons, including an air-to-air missile, in raids on neo-Nazi sympathisers.
- Hundreds of machine guns and semi-automatic weapons seized
- An air to air missile potentially to be used by Far-Right extremists to launch attacks in the EU
- As well as the 800 kilogramme Matra missile, the bust in northern Italy uncovered a whole host of sophisticated weapons, including “latest generation” automatic assault rifles and rocket launchers.
- The Digos law enforcement agency, which deals largely with terrorism and organised crime, led the operation from Turin with assistance from police in Forli
Breaking: Italian police seize missiles from far-right to be used in the EU against Muslims
Italian police seized an air-to-air missile, machine guns and rocket launchers during raids sparked by an investigation into far-right extremist groups.
On Monday the police acted and hauled an incredible amount of military arsenal that authorities said was the most retrieved in history and without precedent.
The Far-right in Italy had been stockpiling for coordinated attacks across Europe and leaked information suggests that these extremists parties had planned to launch an attack in coming months targetting minorities and Muslims to fuel the election of Far-right MEP’s.
Police arrested three people, including Fabio Del Bergiolo, 50, a former candidate for the neo-fascist Forza Nuova party, whose home was found to contain a huge stash of arms as well as neo-Nazi propaganda and Hitler memorabilia.
“During the operation, an air-to-air missile in perfect working order and used by the Qatari army was seized,” police said of the 800 kilogramme Matra missile.
They also found automatic assault rifles that they described as “latest generation” among the cache. These are thought to be American made.
The missile, 3.54 meters (more than 11 feet) long was made in France and Del Bergiolo had been hoping to sell its use for around 1 million Euro.
The missile was “without explosive charge, but can be armed by specialized people in the field,” police said.
The other arrests were a Swiss, 42, and an Italian, 51, accused of holding and marketing the missile, which was found by police at a warehouse near the small Rivanazzano Terme airport in the Pavia province.
Police acted on messages that they had intercepted that led them to investigate Del Bergiolo, who had sent photographs of the missile for sale through the Whatsapp messaging service.
They put him under surveillance before raiding his home and finding a stash of weapons including a Scorpion machine gun, 306 firearm parts and 20 bayonets.
His collection included street signs from the Nazi era, including one reading “Adolf-Hitler Platz.”
The Digos law enforcement agency, which deals largely with terrorism and organised crime, led the operation from Turin with assistance from police in Forli, Milan, Novara and Varese.
“We have some idea about what the seized equipment could be used for, but will not speculate,” De Matteis told reporters.
Police have carried out several raids in recent weeks on far-right targets around Turin, with a man arrested earlier this month for advocating hatred towards Muslims and possessing illegal weapons.
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