Italian mafia fugitive arrested in Colombia for drug trafficking

A fugitive member of the Camorra mafia due to serve almost 19 years in prison for drug trafficking has been arrested in Colombia, Italian police said on Friday.

Luigi Belvedere had been on the run since December 2020 and was on the Italian interior ministry's list of dangerous fugitives, a statement said, adding he was apprehended in the city of Medellin.

In announcing his arrest, police distributed a picture of Belvedere posing by the grave of the notorious late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

The statement said investigators got wind of his presence in Colombia thanks to information "from a well-known messaging service", which was intercepted with the help of EU police agency EUROPOL.

The mobster has been convicted in absentia with a final guilty ruling for importing cocaine and acting as an intermediary between the Casalesi clan of the Camorra and Colombian drug cartels, police said.

The Camorra, based in Naples and surrounding areas, is one of Italy's main mafia groups. It is made up of a myriad of family-based clans, unlike the more pyramidal structure of the Sicilian mafia, and its main businesses are drug trafficking, counterfeiting and money laundering.