Italian police say they have arrested 38 suspects in a sweep against the ’Ndrangheta syndicate, which has allegedly been involved in murders, extortion and drugs and arms trafficking.

Italian police arrested 14 people across the country in raids against a human trafficking ring that brought in illegal immigrants from Africa then abducted some of them for ransom, officials said today.

Italian police were searching today for a fugitive gunman who shot and killed four people – including a two-and-a-half-year-old girl and a pensioner – in a working-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Milan.

The Italian navy has taken more than 600 would-be immigrants from a freighter adrift off Italy's southern coast.