Mo, Okt 16th 2023
The head of the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol), Nicoletta della Valle, fears that organised crime will be increasingly armed after the end of the current wars.
In Switzerland, she said, many people do not realise how widespread organised crime is because it operates very discreetly.
“Where do all the weapons go?” asked della Valle in Friday’s “Tagesgespräch” on Radio SRF. She feared that the weapons would end up in the hands of organised crime after the end of the war. There is definitely a relationship between organised crime and terrorism: “We have every reason to be concerned,” said the Fedpol chief.
Della Valle also referred to the infiltration by the Mafia: the Italian Mafia in particular acts very inconspicuously and hardly ever uses obvious violence in Switzerland. If they do, it is perceived by the public as an accident or suicide, for example.
However, there are old cases, such as the extermination of an entire family, which was considered a relationship crime. Later analysis showed that it was a matter of settling accounts between Mafiosi.
You can only see the mafia if you look. At present, it was the grandchildren of Italian organised crime who wanted to make money in Switzerland. They often offer particularly low prices and thus squeeze out the legal economy.
She described the construction industry, gastronomy, or the hotel industry as particularly vulnerable sectors, then there were more and more barbershops, nail studios, or of course private care. “Human trafficking today is much more than just prostitution. Human trafficking always goes where there is money to be made. And that is constantly evolving,” della Valle said.
She did not want to call for denunciation or put whole groups under general suspicion. But as a consumer, one should always ask oneself why a product or service is so cheap: “At whose expense is the cheap price?”, the consumer must ask himself.
©Keystone/SDA
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