Italy impounds Mafia drug submarine

ROME, March 28 (UPI) -- The head of Italy's anti-Mafia operations says a submarine a gangster group was building in Colombia to transport drugs has been impounded.

Speaking after returning from Colombia, Piero Grasso said the Calabrian Mafia had been dealing in such vast quantities of the drugs it could afford to build a submarine to transport it, reports ANSA news agency.

Grasso said the submarine would have helped the gang hide the consignment from coastal radar systems.

The Calabrian Mafia, also known as the "Ndrangheta," which specializes in drug smuggling from South America, is now believed to be more powerful and more dangerous than Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, the report said. The mob is estimated to generate an annual turnover of about $42 billion.