Italian authorities yesterday announced they had interrupted an international arms trafficking deal that was to have operated between China, Malta, Italy and Libya, and which planned to supply hundreds of thousands of weapons

to Iraqi insurgents, international media reported

yesterday.

The operation was to

have seen an unnamed Maltese company acting

as a middleman between Chinese weapons producers and Libyan buyers, who would, in turn, move the weapons on to Iraqi insurgents, according to coded emails recovered by Italian agents.

In the process of their investigations, which had been carried out over the first months of 2006, the Italian authorities discovered a commission of 500,000 AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles and some 10 million rounds of ammunition that was to have been illegally shipped to Libya and on to Iraq.

The arms trafficking investigation, code-named “Parabellum” after the 9mm Luger handgun, was sketchily detailed yesterday morning by Colonel Rocco Amoroso, commander of the Terni and Perugia Carabinieri, and members of the anti-mafia unit at a news conference, which was first reported by Italian news agency ASCA (Agenzia Stampa Quotidiana Nazionale).

In addition to Malta, China and Libya, the BBC reported the group also had connections in Russia and that wealthy businessmen working in the export sector were among those arrested.

The scope of the group’s exercise, according to Col Amoroso, was to purchase arms and munitions from China and resell them at a “notable profit”.

The middleman between the Chinese supplier and Libyan buyer, carabinieri officials explained yesterday, was to have been a Maltese company that, according to the officials, has already exchanged samples of arms and munitions with the Libyan partners.

The planned arms consignment was uncovered as part of a preceding investigation into a drug trafficking ring undertaken by the carabinieri of Terni, Umbria, in which 12 people were arrested in Italy in 2003.

But Italian investigators later realised they had come across a larger, more diversified international smuggling operation.

The link between the two criminal activities was an unnamed 38-year-old from Terni who was implicated in hashish and cocaine trafficking while working at an import-export company and further lines of investigation are thought to have led the authorities to the arms deal in the making.

The Italian police have arrested a total of 16 individuals as a result of the drug investigation, four of whom were arrested for arms trafficking.

In addition to the 38-year-old from Terni, a 55-year-old businessman and landlord from Massarosa, a 39-year-old military goods dealer from Aulla, and a 63-year-old agriculturalist were also arrested on allegations they were intending to supply arms.

No weapons are reported to have been confiscated during the enquiry and it is thought the consignment was still pending when interrupted.

Further information requested from the Maltese police was not forthcoming at the time of going to print.