Police dismantle drug-trafficking bank moving €80-100m yearly

Italian law enforcement has shut down a clandestine banking operation in Prato that processed between €80 million and €100 million annually for drug traffickers and other criminal networks, according to the Guardian. The underground bank, whose logs and records were seized, operated as a global broker moving money through intermediaries across multiple continents. The operation underscores the persistence of illicit financial flows through Italy despite intensified regulatory oversight.

The dismantling of the network comes as Italian and European authorities have tightened scrutiny of money-laundering routes through the peninsula. Prato, in Tuscany, has long been flagged in foreign coverage as a hub for underground financial operations serving Chinese manufacturing networks and, increasingly, transnational crime syndicates. The Guardian's reporting suggests the scale of undetected flows may still exceed what regulatory agencies publicly acknowledge.