According to Italian authorities and a Syrian jihadist rebel group, a drug trafficker from Italy who was among the most wanted criminals in Europe had been detained in Syria and extradited to Italy.
Bruno Carbone, the last significant drug smuggler from the Naples area remaining at large, was apprehended on arrival at Rome’s Ciampino airport on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Neapolitan police.
The 45-year-old Carbone had been evading capture since 2003 when he was given a 20-year prison sentence in Italy for transporting drugs across the border from Spain to Naples and Sicily.
Initially, it was unclear where Carbone was apprehended; Italian media said that he was also captured in the United Arab Emirates, where he had spent the majority of his time on the run.
In March, Carbone was detained “while going through the ‘liberated’ territories with a view to reaching the regions under the authority of (Bashar al-Assad’s) government,” according to Mohammed Sankari, a representative of the jihadist organization in Syria.
After several months of questioning, Carbone was extradited, according to HTS, which also made his mugshot public.