Authorities in Italy are investigating a mafia clan accused of trafficking nuclear waste and attempting to make plutonium.
The 'Ndrangheta mafia, which gained notoriety in August for its blood feud killings of six men in Germany, is alleged to have made illegal shipments of radioactive waste to Somalia, as well as seeking the "clandestine production" of other nuclear material.
Two of the Calabrian clan's members are being investigated, along with eight former employees of the state energy research agency Enea.
The eight are suspected of paying the mobsters to take waste off their hands during the 1980s and 1990s. At the time they were based at the agency's centre at Rotondella, a town in Basilicata province, which treats hazardous waste. In other centers, Enea studies nuclear fusion and fission technologies.
The 'Ndrangheta is accused by investigators of building on its origins as a kidnapping gang to become Europe's top cocaine importer, thanks to ties to Colombian cartels. But the nuclear accusation, if true, will take it to another level.
An Enea official who declined to be named denies the accusation, saying: "Enea has always worked within the rules and under strict national and international supervision."
A magistrate, Francesco Basentini, in the city of Potenza began the investigation by leaking a police confession of an ex-member of 'Ndrangheta, detailing his role in the alleged waste-dumping.
An Enea manager is said to have paid the clan to get rid of 600 drums of toxic and radioactive waste from Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, and the US, with Somalia as the destination lined up by the traffickers.
But with only room for 500 drums on a ship waiting at the northern port of Livorno, 100 drums were secretly buried somewhere in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. Clan members avoided burying the waste in neighbouring Calabria, said the ex-member, because of their "love for their home region", and because they already had many kidnap victims hidden in the grottoes there.
Investigators have yet to locate the radioactive drums.
Shipments to Somalia continued into the 1990s, the ex-member told investigators, although he made no mention of attempted plutonium production.
"The 'Ndrangheta has no morals and, if there is money in an activity, it will have no problem getting involved, even nuclear waste," said Nicola Gratteri, the anti-mafia magistrate investigating the shooting in Germany in August of six Italians, which cast the spotlight on the 'Ndrangheta's global trafficking and drug-dealing business worth up to 25bn, a year.
Gratteri warned that Europe's police forces were "unequipped" to take on the mafia, whether the 'Ndrangheta, Naples' Camorra, or Sicily's Cosa Nostra. "The mafias were the first to take advantage of Europe's disappearing frontiers. When I go to Germany I see they have not introduced the crime of mafia association and do not allow wire taps in public places. I'm tired of round tables and conventions; what we need is more courage."
Questions:
1. Which African nation is the radioactive material allegedly being shipped to?
2. An Enea Manager is accused of dumping how many drums of waste?
3. What are the names of other mafia groups mentioned in the story?
Answers:
1. Somalia.
2. 600.
3. The Camorra of Naples and Cosa Nostra of Sicily.
（英语点津 Linda 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from Auckland, New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts, most recently working as a radio journalist for NewstalkZB, New Zealand’s leading news radio network, as a feature writer for Travel Inc, New Nutrition Business (UK) and contributor for Mana Magazine and the Sunday Star Times. Marc is also a passionate arts educator and is involved in various media/theatre projects in his native New Zealand and Singapore where he is currently based. Marc joins the China Daily with support from the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
