ITALIAN MOB BOSS EXTRADITED TO ROME FROM LEBANON
PR-F with AFP
03/08/2023 at 18:59

He had been wanted for two years by Interpol. The Lebanese authorities have found this member of the Italian mafia, wanted for drug trafficking. He is extradited to Rome to stand trial.
A major drug trafficker subject to an Interpol red notice was handed over by Lebanon to Italian authorities on Thursday and extradited to Rome for trial, a Lebanese judicial source told AFP.

Bartolo Bruzzaniti, alleged member of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia and involved in "international cocaine smuggling operations" between Europe and Africa, was handed over by the Lebanese General Security to an Italian security delegation, which taken by private plane to Rome, the source added. He had been arrested on July 1 in a restaurant in Jounieh, north of Beirut, when his visa in Lebanon had expired.

The 48-year-old man had been wanted since October 2022 by the Italian authorities in connection with a large anti-drug operation involving the seizure of more than four tonnes of cocaine worth around 800 million euros, according to the Italian media.

The fugitive was "wanted by the Italian authorities on the basis of a red notice (from Interpol, editor's note) issued on October 30, 2022" according to the judicial source. "The extradition process is the result of more than two weeks of negotiations between the two countries," she said.

On Tuesday, a Lebanese judge had issued an extradition warrant against him after approval by the Lebanese Minister of Justice.