Caltanissetta, “Ika Rima” operation: Nigerian criminal gang active in the historic center defeated
Caltanissetta, defeated, with today's IKA RIMA operation conducted by the Carabinieri and coordinated by the DDA of the Nissena Prosecutor's Office, a Nigerian criminal organization, based in the historic center of Caltanissetta.
The organization, called “IKA RIMA”, dedicated to drug trafficking, appears to be an articulation of the historic cultist organization called "EIYE", rooted in Nigerian culture, present in Italy and Europe and currently mainly dedicated to drug trafficking and the control of prostitution.
The investigations began at the end of 2019, when the Carabinieri noticed the presence of a large community of Nigerian citizens in the city in the places of nightlife in Nisse. After over a year of intense and difficult investigative activity, carried out exclusively with traditional methods, stalking, telephone and video interceptions, the DDA of the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Caltanissetta and the Carabinieri of the Investigative Unit have reconstructed the mechanism with which they were conveyed in the city large quantities of cocaine and hashish to be placed on the Nisseno market. In particular, Nigerian couriers, using buses and trains, carried the narcotic substances and in some cases the Carabinieri flagrantly arrested individuals who were transporting ovules full of narcotics, hidden inside their bodies.
The investigations
There are 18 arrested people, 16 of Nigerian nationality from a well-defined geographical area, the city of Agbor located in southern Nigeria, and 2 Italian citizens, accused for various reasons of belonging to an association formally called "IKARIMA".
The confraternity called "the Supreme EYE confraternity" was born in the university of Ibadan, in the state of Oyo (Nigeria), following an internal split within the Black Axe, assuming its current name, but is also known as the National Association of Air Lords. Founded with the intention of promoting African development and culture as opposed to imperial colonialist policy, like the other brotherhoods it soon abandoned university campuses and its initial social purposes to transform itself, since the 70s/80s, into a secret organization and criminal. With the migratory flows they began to settle abroad and proselytize, replicating the rites, customs and hierarchical structures of the brotherhoods.
During the investigations, the presence of a large group of Nigerian citizens was ascertained, who used to meet every Sunday in the homes of the various members of the group, apparently for community meetings, but as was later ascertained, for participate in the meetings of a structured criminal association with well-defined rules for the participation of participants, chaired by a leader called "CHAIRMAN", and aimed at agreeing on the strategies for the supply and subsequent distribution of narcotic substances in the city.
During the investigations, a green "ledger" was seized, traditionally distinctive of the Eiye brotherhood, containing both the codification of the group's rules, including the various phases of the rituals to be followed for the celebration of the meetings - which included for example the ritual chanting of the name of the group "IKA RIMA", and the organizational chart of the association, with the indication of the payments of the individual membership fees paid by the individual members, and the dates of participation in the individual meetings.
The Couriers
The couriers were recruited from within the Nigerian community, with particular reference to the tribal ethnic group of the city of origin, which became an employment office for the organization. The couriers were almost always very young, some with no criminal record. Each courier received compensation commensurate with the load transported. The connection with the environments of the Nigerian mafia was also ascertained which, in Italy, already has various branches in Turin, Rome, Palermo and Catania. The investigations made it possible to verify that Caltanissetta was the landing place for drug shipments arriving from Naples, Palermo and Catania, also, as has already been said, through intracorporeal ovulators, which mainly transported, at the risk of their own lives, ova cocaine and heroin, weighing a total of 100 grams, vacuum-packed in layers of cellophane, hidden in the intestine before departure, with the aim of evading police checks.
The kidnappings
In the "IKARIMA" investigation, as a follow-up activity, which took place from October 2019 to December 2020, 37 people were arrested in flagrante delicto and 23 kg seized. of marijuana, 11 kg. of hashish, 1 kg. of cocaine, 200 gr. of heroin and 526 marijuana plants, cash for a total of 12.000,00 euros.
The seized narcotic, placed on the clandestine market, would have yielded around a million euros in profit. Communications with buyers took place almost exclusively with messages on mobile phones.
During the investigations coordinated by the DDA of Caltanissetta, the Carabinieri personnel ascertained that the brotherhood found logistical support from some compatriots living in the historic center of Caltanissetta, where the presence of a high number of non-EU citizens of different ethnic groups is attested, some of whom settled there after a period of forced stay in the CARA premises in Pian del Lago. During the investigations, no links or conflicts with subjects belonging to organized crime in Nisse emerged, and instead ample autonomy of movement and control of the drug trafficking in the historic center of the city by the Nigerian community.
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