A huge gun-running operation masterminded by the Sicilian Mafia is being investigated by senior police officers for potential links to "terrorist activity across Europe and beyond".
Anti-Mafia prosecutors in Catania are investigating the possibility that Cosa Nostra is supplying assault weapons to organised crime syndicates from north Africa and firearms into the hands of extremists in western Europe.
Decommissioned guns legally procured from the same Slovak dealer, Afg Security, which supplied the "mass casualty" weapons used by Islamists in the Charlie Hebdo and Paris attacks of January 2015, as well as the failed terrorist attack on a TGV in France last August, appear to have ended up in the hands of the Mafia.
Cosa Nostra members paid £33,000 ($62,000) for 160 deactivated weapons that experts could make lethal in moments. Last month a Catanian couple were arrested over the haul. They belong to the "Ceusi" Mafia clan, a family tied to Catania's dominant Santopaula clan.
The Catanian Mafia in turn works closely with the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, an international criminal network whose mastery of the cocaine market means it has a turnover of £44 billion, greater than McDonald's and Deutsche Bank combined.
Italy's second most wanted Mafia boss, Ernesto Fazzalari of the 'Ndrangheta, was arrested after two decades on the run.
Anti-Mafia prosecutors in Catania have told the Observer that a number of assault rifles due to be flown from Catania to Malta in June last year appear to have been destined for a prominent Egyptian people-smuggler in Alexandria.
Intercepted telephone calls are understood to have documented conversations between members of Cosa Nostra over the transfer of money from Egypt to Sicily, ostensibly for the firearms.
The investigators' principal concern is that the weapons may fall into the hands of extremists. "The Egyptian citizen was previously arrested in Italy for belonging to an organisation dedicated to human trafficking in the Med. We've been investigating possible connections with terrorist organisations," a carabinieri source said.
Organised criminals are increasingly open to trading with extremists, complicating the battle against terrorism.
Renewed smuggling activity around Alexandria has, according to Europol briefings, intensified anxiety that Islamist militants based in the Sinai could also attempt to reach Europe via the Mediterranean.
Investigators believe that some of the 160 AK-47s obtained by the Mafia in Catania may have ended up with Europe's web of black market intermediaries who supply firearms to the criminal underworld.
"We have not found all the weapons yet. The investigation is ongoing but the danger is that they have been distributed by criminal intermediaries and have found their way into the hands of potential terrorists," said a senior specialist with Europol.
Ballistics experts are aware that petty criminals and drug dealers usually require small pistols they can conceal, while terrorists want assault weapons to inflict maximum damage.
British counter-terrorism officials have been perturbed by recent signs of an ever closer relationship between organised criminals and Islamists. At least one London terrorist cell is known to have sourced a firearm, silencer and ammunition through a London criminal contact.
Tarik Hassane, 22, was convicted last April of conspiring to kill on the streets of the capital.
The weapons found in Catania were sold legally by Afg Security but illegally reactivated in Sicily by removing a metal pin hammered into the barrel.
