(ANSA) - Reggio Calabria, August 2 - Carabinieri police in Reggio Calabria on Thursday carried out an operation to arrest 45 people accused of mafia association, international drug trafficking, extortion and attempted murder, among others charges, on behalf of two local 'Ndrangheta clans.

The operation, coordinated by the DDA anti-mafia investigative unit, followed a year-long probe that led earlier this month to the arrest of 32 people.

The suspects are alleged members of two Ndrangheta clans in Rosarno identified as Cacciola and Grasso mainly dealing in extortion and drug trafficking, importing cocaine from South America and hashish from Spain and Morocco, investigators said.

The drug was then mainly sold in Lombardy, Piedmont and Sicily, according to police.

Investigators said four women, including a criminologist, had a leading role within the organization.

The women are in particular accused of dispatching messages to affiliates, including detained clan members, and of laundering proceeds of the drug trade.

One of them has been identified as Angela Tibullo, 36, who faces charges including external mafia association, judicial corruption and obstruction of justice.

Carabinieri police believe that the criminologist, thanks to her profession, "was key in the dynamics" of the organization and in "pursuing the illicit interests of a number of Ndrangheta clans", according to investigative sources.

