'Mafia controlling drugged horses racing on streets'

Mafia bosses are reportedly staging races through Italian streets using horses doped with cocaine.

The Anti-Vivisection League says the animals are made to gallop through Palermo in Sicily.

They claim a mixture of cocaine and vapour rub is placed under their nostrils to act as a stimulant.

According to the Sunday Times police are struggling to prevent the 'sport', which is already reportedly worth £600m a year.

The newspaper says a recent police raid ended with race organisers ramming a patrol car. Officers in helicopters managed to film one horse running down the road.

Ciro Troiano, of the Anti-Vivisection League, said: "It's a gut-wrenching spectacle. The horses are made to gallop on hard surfaces, which is terrible for them. Worse, they are drugged before each race."