**Sixty-nine suspected Georgian mafia members have been arrested in a co-ordinated operation across Europe.**Twenty-four of them were detained in Spain, mainly in Barcelona and Valencia, as part of Operation Java, Spanish police said.
The arrests are the result of a year-long investigation initiated by Spanish police, the Efe news agency reports.
Other arrests took place in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, as well as France and Italy, Efe reported.
Those arrested are suspected members of a Georgian mafia network accused of a whole list of crimes, including money-laundering, extortion, drugs trafficking and possessing weapons, says the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Madrid.
The Spanish operation was carried out by the central drugs and organised crime unit and other regional security forces.
Initial reports suggested those arrested were Russian.