Italian police on Friday arrested nine Romanian men in connection with 11 robberies of designers goods in warehouses in and around Milan, Italy’s fashion capital, as well as other northern cities.
Police carried out dawn raids in Brianza and the provinces of Milan, Lecco, Bergamo and Piacenza. The gang used “paramilitary” tactics to raid the warehouses and make off with the design articles, police said. They stole cars to ram into premises and lined access roads with burning tyres so as to prevent police from getting to them.
The suspected gang stole one million euros’ worth of clothing and accessories made by the biggest names in Italian fashion, police said. The gang stole 75 cars in the provinces of Milan, Bologna, Florence, Pisa, Udine, Pordenone and Arezzo, police said. The gang kept the stolen goods in a garage at Paderno Dugnano near Milan before fencing them. The probe was opened after a 350,000 euro heist at a high fashion quality control firm at San Daniele del Friuli near Udine last November.
