ROME, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Assets worth 520 million euros (550 million U.S. dollars) have been seized during a cross-border operation launched by Italian magistrates in coordination with the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).
The operation targeted hundreds of companies for allegedly evading VAT, authorities said on Thursday.
The probe involved over 200 people and 400 companies in Italy and other European countries, including Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania, Italian police said.
On the request of prosecutors with the EPPO in Milan and Palermo, a court in Milan issued 47 restrictive measures -- including 34 arrest warrants, and nine house-arrest orders -- against suspects believed to be part of an organized criminal network.
The investigation concerned "a complex intra-EU VAT carousel fraud in the electronics/IT trade sector... and also involved 20 foreign (non-Italian) companies," according to Italian police.
It also targeted members of Italian mafia groups in Sicily and Campania who provided financial resources for the fraud, thereby "laundering the proceeds of other criminal activities as well."
Seven people were detained under a European arrest warrant, with four of the suspects believed to be located in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Spain and Bulgaria.
The Milan court also ordered the preventive seizure and freezing of assets, money, and values worth over 520 million euros from both individuals and companies. This included 129 bank accounts, some 192 real estate properties, and 44 luxury cars and boats in Italy alone, the EU's law enforcement agency Europol said.
The operation was run in collaboration with other national police forces from Spain, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, and Croatia. ■
