Italian police arrested 24 people yesterday, most of them Chinese, on charges of laundering about €2.7 billion (around $3.33 billion) from tax evasion, counterfeiting, prostitution and stolen goods, according to Reuters.

About 1,000 agents took part in the operation, which stretched from the northern regions of Piedmont and Lombardy, to Tuscany and Lazio in central Italy, and Sicily and Campania in the country's south, the news service said.

A total of 73 companies, 181 buildings, 300 bank accounts and 166 luxury cars were seized, police said.

A financial institution headquartered in San Marino was also involved in the network, which had laundered the money over the last four years, police said.

Relations between the tiny landlocked state and Italy have been strained in recent months by an Italian amnesty aimed at repatriating undeclared money from tax havens. San Marino has accused Italy of imposing an embargo on its banking system and stalling on a treaty it needs to get off a tax haven blacklist.

Meanwhile, as reported towards the end of May, some legal advisors are telling clients worldwide who own super-yachts to take care before entering Italian waters, following the Italian tax police’s seizure of the 63-metre Force Blue owned by businessman Flavio Briatore. (To view this story, click here).