Italian finance police seize 15 t of Portuguese clams, arrest mafia-linked trader

The Guardia di Finanza in Ferrara seized more than 15 tonnes of clams harvested from heavily polluted coastal areas of Portugal and fraudulently marketed as Italian product from the Venetian lagoon. The clams were introduced into the Italian market with falsified health certificates and misleading documentation that concealed their true origin.

The investigation, coordinated with the Ferrara prosecutor’s office and Eurojust, also placed a man already convicted of mafia‑related offences under house arrest for alleged money‑laundering and failure to report asset changes. Authorities uncovered a network that used encrypted messaging, fake company registrations and a relay of transport vehicles to move the clams, exploiting shortages caused by the blue‑crab crisis in the Comacchio and Goro regions.