Grillos’ father held on drug and mafia charges

The father of two former assistants of celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has been arrested for conspiring to sell cocaine and hash as a member of the Calabrian mafia, investigators said yesterday.

In a court case that ended last month, sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo were cleared of defrauding Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi of £685,000 (€830,000).

Michele Grillo, 66, was taken into custody on Wednesday after a long investigation into the criminal activities of the Barbaro-Papalia mafia clan, which is based in the small town of Plati, southern Italy.