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Cocaine smugglers and mafia man sent to jail

A man found guilty of smuggling cocaine from Bolivia to Italy was sentenced to more than ten years in prison in Switzerland.

The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona on Wednesday found the man, an Italian-Argentinean dual national resident in Switzerland, guilty of smuggling at least 206 kilograms of cocaine and of being involved with the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia organisation.

The sentence of ten years and seven months was slightly less than the 12 years demanded by the prosecution.

Three other people involved in the case received lesser sentences. A second Italian-Argentinean was given six and a half years in prison. One Swiss woman was sentenced to four years and eight months, and a second one, the partner of the gang leader, was given eighteen months suspended.

The ring was broken up in January 2007 by the Spanish police. Three of the gang members were arrested at the customs in Brissago on the Swiss-Italian border. The fourth was picked up later at Zurich airport.

The street value of the cocaine was put at about SFr 50 million ($49.3 million).

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