On 3 May 2023, an Action Day as part of an international operation resulted in the arrests of 132 ‘Ndrangheta mafia members, an Italian criminal network devoted to international drug trafficking, international firearms trafficking, and money laundering. The criminal network has massive investments in several countries. Supported by Eurojust and Europol, law enforcement authorities in Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Romania, Brazil, and Panama involved more than 2770 officers on the ground during the Action Day. They managed to raid multiple locations and seize several companies.

According to the press release by Eurojust and Europol, the international operation was the largest hit against the Italian poly-criminal syndicate to date. It was part of the EMPACT Operational Action 2.3 on ‘Ndrangheta and the Sicilian mafia, the first EMPACT action led by the National Antimafia Directorate (Direzione Nazionale Antimafia) in which Europol and Eurojust are co-leaders.

Eurojust supported the operation by establishing and financing two joint investigation teams, by hosting several coordination meeting and by facilitating the execution of European Investigation Orders. Europol supported the investigations, inter alia, by providing intelligence and cross-match reports and by analysing encrypted communication of the suspects.