Mafia's cocaine hidden aboard Costa Concordia cruise ship
The Costa Concordia was used by the Italian Mafia to smuggle a huge shipment of cocaine, investigators have revealed.
Phone and tape recordings revealed that Calabrian criminal organisation 'Ndrangheta had drugs hidden on the huge vessel.
The Independent reports that 'Ndrangheta boss Michele Rossi was heard telling his associate: "The same ship that made us a laughing stock around the world, took the piss out of us, too."
Prosecutors had no doubt that they "were referring to the Costa Concordia and the famous shipwreck of January 13, 2012."
A criminal investigation revealed in newspaper La Repubblica gave details of other ships used to ship drugs, including those owned by MSC and Norwegian Cruise Lines, which travel between Europe, North America and the Caribbean.
According to The Times, the 'Ndrangheta relies on Spanish ports to its cocaine into Europe. Recent arrests show that they use cruise ships to smuggle drugs on board with food or have them carried by couriers posing as passengers.
Authorities have not reported finding drugs on board the ship as they searched for bodies.
The Costa Concordia capsized off the island of Giglio, Italy, in January 2012, killing 32 passengers.
The final victim was recovered from the wreckage nearly three years after the disaster in November 2014.
Russel Rebello's body was returned to his home of India. Salvage workers recovered the body from a cabin on the cruise ship's eighth deck and handed it to authorities to be identified.
They found his badly decomposed body crushed beneath overturned furniture with an identity card including his name and photograph in his trousers.
Related articles
Tuscany seeks 30m euros for Costa Concordia disaster after 'tourism damage'
Costa Concordia: Inside the sunken cruise ship (video)
