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15 May 2020Eight people arrested, twenty searches and nineteen investigated, two premises seized: this is the balance of the 'Mosaic 2' operation that the Digos Counter-Terrorism Section of the Rome Police Headquarters, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor of Naples, carried out today with the operational support of the Digos of Naples, Caserta and Benevento.

The disjointed organization in Operation Mosaic 2 "favored international terrorism and organized crime". So the head of the Digos of Rome, Giampietro Lionetti during a press conference at the police headquarters in Rome. Among the suspects there is also an alleged supporter of Anis Amri, author of the attack in Berlin on 19 December 2016. 

The supply chain of false documents
The suspects are involved in a transnational supply chain dedicated to the production of false documents to encourage illegal immigration. In particular, it emerged that this man, an Algerian citizen, in the course of investigations related to other criminal proceedings, would help Amri to find documents before leaving for Germany. The Algerian had already been arrested last April in Naples as the recipient of a European arrest warrant issued by the French authorities for criminal association aimed at laundering counterfeit banknotes. 

Two plants for phasing seized
  As part of the operation, two plants for the falsification of documents in Naples were discovered and seized this morning, a printing press based in via Carriera Grande, in Porta Capuana, and a shipping agency of Corso Novara, in the Vasto district. They were run by two different associations that allegedly had ties to organized crime. The illicit business, from investigative evidence, would be attested on three different operating levels. Documentary production would be concentrated in the hands of the Russolillo, four brothers of Campania origin who managed the clandestine printing works of Porta Capuana who used the help of real 'lookouts' to evade any control.

The range of documents produced is vast: from identity cards to residence permits, from driving licenses to police reports. The delivery would have taken place thanks to the shipping services insured by the Vasto agency, an area close to the central station of Naples. Through "parallel" accounting, the agency guaranteed favorable treatment to the clients of the offending shipments, allowing the use of cover names. Singular appeal to the name of Apu Nagar, character from the cartoon The Simpsons.   

Amri's alleged supporter was also in direct contact with both the printing house and the shipping center. In addition, the attacker, who caused the death of twelve people by engulfing the crowd in a Berlin Christmas market, a few months before carrying out the massacre had shown a fake Italian identity card during a check. On the document, which was issued by the Municipality of Rome, his name and surname were reported, although with different place and date of birth. Following a search, Amri had subsequently been found in possession of a second identity card, completely similar to the one shown previously, always issued by the Municipality of Rome, with the same serial numbers but with photos and the name of another subject , this Fazi Ur Rehman, born in Rome on February 22, 1988.

At the moment it does not appear that Amri has procured documents through the clandestine print shop in Naples, but it is likely that he made use of another fake control unit attributable to the circuit emerged as part of the Mosaic 2

investigation .     The investigation also led to investigative developments in France, Greece and Spain, Belgium, Germany and Malta. During the investigation some of the documents checked at the couriers were then intercepted abroad by the local police or at some Italian air border stopovers (Ventimiglia and Bologna), in possession of subjects about to leave Italy for other destinations or however, to move between states.