Italian police arrest suspected mafia boss

Italian police have arrested the suspected head of a mafia organisation in the southeastern region of Apulia, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

Francesco Campana, believed to be the leader of an organisation known as the Sacra Corona Unita, was arrested at a hiding place in the medieval town of Oria, near Brindisi.

Interior minister Roberto Maroni said in a statement the arrest was a hard blow against Sacra Corona Unita, a smaller organisation than the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, L'Ndrangheta in Calabria and the Camorra in Naples.

It is believed to specialise largely in contraband and smuggling from the Balkans and eastern Europe.