ITALIAN police have smashed a Mafia-led operation to smuggle cocaine into Australia, where police say godfathers have now divided up six zones for drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering. 
Such is the Mafia's entrenchment here, authorities say Australia is virtually a state of Italy and the Mob would be impossible to wipe out.
Authorities have uncovered a treasure trove of intelligence related to the fearsome Calabrian-based Ndrangheta group and its operations in Australia, including members' infiltration of key areas to assist in their trade, including transport and politics.
The police operation last week, with raids on more than a dozen homes in Calabria, saw 14 members of clans linked to Ndrangheta arrested (above) and charged with "criminal association linked to international drugs trafficking", namely to Australia and Canada. Eight were refused bail and the remaining six placed under house arrest.
One of those refused bail was a police officer tasked with protection of a port but who allegedly provided guidance on evading controls and security of the port area for the arrival and forwarding of drugs.
The case - the culmination of five years' work by the Central Operational Service of the Italian National Police, a specialist Italian police squad from Calabria, and the district's Anti-Mafia Prosecutor's Office - had already led to arrests in Italy and Australia.
Despite the success of arrests and the uncovering of intelligence on international operations, it may not assist the overall Ndrangheta crime fight in Australia.
Italian police have classed the Mafia in Australia as so entrenched, they believe it would be impossible to stamp out.
"Australia is not a target nation anymore; it's now like a state of Italy from a criminal perspective," a senior Italian officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The -Courier-Mail.
"They are entrenched in their activities, and have been for a long time. They have not got an expansion strategy with your country anymore; it's not expansion it's consolidation."Ndrangheta is a strictly family-based enterprise, affiliation having to be through blood relation."