Italy cracksdown on "religious" coccaine ring

Police in Italy have arrested 33 people on Wednesday accused of being part of a cocaine trafficking ring from South America.

The group is said to have used a Catholic convent in the city of Milan to distribute narcotics throughout the country.

Jose Cervantes, a Peruvian working as a doorman for the convent, had allegedly organised the drug smuggling operations through couriers disguised as religious pilgrims, who hid stashes of cocaine in prayer books among other things.

Authorities said the nuns at the convent had no clue about the illegal operations.

Al Jazeera's Claudio Lavanga reports.

[May 13, 2010]