Italian police raid of neo-fascist militants finds air-to-air missile [Updated]

Enlarge / Hmm, what's this doing there? (credit: Italian General Investigations and Special Operations Division (DIGOS))

A neo-Nazi group in northern Italy had sent members to allegedly fight alongside Russia-backed separatists in the Donbass region of Ukraine. Apparently, the group brought some things back from their adventures-including a French-made air-to-air missile that somehow found its way from Qatar into the home of a neo-fascist extremist.

The missile and an assortment of other weapons were discovered in the latest of a series of raids by Italian federal police from the General Investigations and Special Operations Division (DIGOS). The raids are part of an ongoing investigation into the Forza Nuova political party and Rebel Firm extremist groups that had fought in the Donbass region.

Other raids had turned up pro-Nazi and pro-fascist propaganda and relics alongside caches of knives and other illegal weapons-including brass knuckles, and a baseball bat inscribed with the words "Dux Mussolini" (Leader Mussolini) and a portrait of Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The groups were also being investigated under Italy's anti-fascist laws, following pro-fascist comments by Forza Nuova's leader in Turin, Luigi Cortese. But in a raid today in the province of Pavia, south of Milan, police discovered a collection of modern automatic weapons-including nine assault rifles, a submachine gun, seven pistols, silencers, bayonets, and other military weapons.

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