They hide rifles in oil barrels: the Russian Federation "shadow fleet" supplies weapons to the Italian mafia - the media

According to sources, illegal weapons can be ordered and received in the short term, but part should be stored in warehouses as a strategic reserve, and clans cannot sell it. Journalists noted that the shadow practice of "controlled storage" instead of a simple market in recent decades has become widespread among Italian organized crime. Europol analyzes describe how the mafia stores weapons and moves it to order.

According to the authors of the material, in Catania, Sicily, according to the authors of the material, there is a link between the Italian mafia and Putin. A few days after the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, in March 2022, the Italian police seized an armed arsenal in the area of ​​San Crisistophoro, associated with the Nizza group of Santapaala-Ellono Clan.

It had nine units of weapons, about nine hundred ammunition and two AK-47 Soviet production in perfect condition. According to the source of journalists, there are large hiding places in Katania, which are constantly replenished with new goods. The storage centers of Russian weapons are located in San Galani and Librino. Not old Soviet machines, but special forces rifles, assault rifles and even sniper rifles of 2010-2020, are not received through seaports.

However, there are no serial numbers on the weapons. According to journalists, these rifles come from the Tula Armed Plant, and it can leave production anonymously on government order. In the analysis of 2023, Europol confirmed that "new, unmarked" weapons in the market testifies to the "complicity of the parasted state in the feeding of illegal trade".

The authors of the material conclude that the part of the Russian weapon, which falls into the Italian mafia, is used or resold, and the other part is stored in controlled warehouses in case of needs that go beyond the mafia and relate to geopolitics. Journalists point out that Sicily reported suspicious joints of ships in the weeks when new cargo tests were spreading among the mafia in Katania.

Weapons from the Russian Federation can arrive in Italy on the ships of the Russian so -called "shadow fleet", which is used to transport oil to bypass sanctions. The cargo is likely to be hidden in oil, fuel or lubricants. This method not only masks weapons from control, but also prevents its oxidation.

On the eastern border, the gateway for smuggling is the area of ​​Freuli-Venice-Julius, where law enforcement officers have repeatedly intercepted hidden in the cars and trucks of Yugoslav and Soviet weapons. "Here weapons are stored only a few hours, partly because there are many servicemen in these parts, and the observations are reinforced. But as a backup option, there are many components of drones and other items that go to the east by criminal channels.

I think it is trade," Insider told reporters. We will remind, on September 4, Focus wrote that the Russian concern "Kalashnikov" released the first series of the newest machines of AM-17 for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It is positioned as a replacement of the AKS-74U compact machine developed in 1979.