French gendarmes and Italian riflemen carried out a large-scale operation on Tuesday against a French criminal gang and the powerful Calabrian mafia, the N'drangheta.

46 people were arrested and major seizures were made, including 700,000 euros in cash and weapons of war.

An operation of the police which has all the finery of a film or a series.

French gendarmes and Italian riflemen carried out a large net on Tuesday on both sides of the border, targeting a French criminal gang with close links to the powerful Calabrian mafia, the N'drangheta.

This joint operation, called "Operation Forever", required two years of investigation.

It made it possible to arrest 46 people but also to seize cocaine, cash and weapons.

A gang of criminals installed on the Côte d'Azur, in direct connection with the mafia

The target of this vast crackdown is a criminal network which supplied drugs to the Calabrian mafia.

This gang of criminals, installed on the Côte d'Azur, had direct links with the N'drangheta, which it very regularly supplied with cocaine.

For this operation, 300 gendarmes and 120 Italian carabineers were mobilized and arrested 46 people.

Fourteen of them were arrested "for possession and trafficking of arms and drugs, manufacture and possession of false identity documents, or aid in the run of a member of the N'drangheta" at the request of the Italian justice.

Thirty-two others suspected of "armed gang association, drug trafficking and theft" at the request of the French justice.

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This operation also led to impressive seizures: 700,000 euros in cash, a kilo of cocaine, watches, luxury cars but also weapons of war.

"A complicated and ruthless world"

Investigators had to track, monitor and listen to these seasoned traffickers with advanced techniques.

"These are people who followed drug trafficking in a very organized, very professional manner. They were used to living under radar, in near clandestinity," said Colonel Lambert, commander of the Marseille gendarmerie research section. .

"They had links with the Calabrian mafia, a complicated and ruthless world. We were not too many gendarmes and carabineers to work," assured the gendarme.

The investigation also led to the identification of a group of Albanians feeding this criminal group with enormous quantities of cocaine.