ROME -- 54 ‘Ndrangheta suspects have been arrested in Reggio Calabria, charged with international drug trafficking, illegal possession of weapons and recycling of 250 tons of Lindt chocolate, police say.

  A joint force of the Carabinieri and Police, coordinated by the Reggio Calabria public prosecutor’s office, arrested suspected ‘Ndrangheta members from the Commisso and Aquino/Coluccio families on Monday morning.

  "This is a historic arrest because it has targeted powerful ‘Ndrangheta members, the elites of those families” confirmed Federico Cafiero de Raho, prosecutor of Reggio Calabria, to the press. 

  “However, thanks to this investigation, we have discovered that ‘Ndrangheta business is not only related to drug trafficking and weapons, but also to the selling of Dutch flowers.” continued Raho at the press conference on Monday. “In fact, one of the leading figures of this arrest is the owner of an import-export flower company in Holland, through which ‘Ndrangheta was recycling its money.”

This isn’t surprising for detectives, as "the 'Ndrangheta has great flexibility in adapting to what 'the market offers” said the deputy prosecutor of Rome, Michele Prestipino, “and it also has the ability to foresee what kind of sector will be the most lucrative.”

  Besides Mafia association, drug trafficking and fake registrations of society, “there has also been the recycling of 250 tons of chocolate Lindt subtracted from the company, at a value of €7.5 million.” explained the deputy prosecutor of Reggio Calabria, Nicola Gratteri, outlining the relevance of the investigation in the fight against criminal associations and reassuring, once again, the importance of international cooperation among police forces.