NEW YORK, JULY 9 – Being a country particularly exposed to the consequences of all forms of trafficking, Italy attaches the greatest importance to the linkages between organized criminal groups and terrorism. “The action of organized groups represents a serious threat, and we commend the efforts produced by the UN system and the international organizations in order to react with a comprehensive and collaborative approach”, an Italian delegate said during a Security Council Open Debate on “Threats to international peace and security: Linkages between international terrorism and organized crime” organized by the Peruvian Presidency.
The delegate highlighted an essential point: “We need more information and more evidence-based research in order to define not ‘if’ those connections exist (we know they do), but ‘how and where’ they are on place and ‘in what forms’ they impact our societies. He then detailed the Italian experience in fighting links between terrorism and criminal groups.
The National Antimafia and Antiterrorism Directorate (DNA), established in 1991, has the mandate to fight organized crime and, in accordance with UNSC res. 2178, to counter terrorism.The DNA has no direct or operational investigative power and is in charge of coordinating the work of all prosecution offices in order to share information, avoid overlapping and provide specific expertise. The positive consequences of this mechanism are: higher specialization of prosecutors; more effective cooperation with law enforcement; closer cooperation at the international level; and better coordinated use of information and evidence.
In the last two years, the DNA collected more than one evidence of existing contacts and, in some cases, operational cooperation between organized criminal groups and persons belonging to terrorist groups in Italy and abroad. Part of these elements refer to financial implications. In some cases, criminal actions were performed as a source of illegal funds then destined to terrorist environment; in different cases, criminal nets were exploited to grant the safe transfer of funds of both legal and illegal provenance to support terrorists’ needs. In this regard, the delegate recalled the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the UNOCT and Guardia di Finanza that will improve our common action against illegal financial flows linked to terrorist networks. (@OnuItalia)
