Police seized around 17 seaside resorts and arrested 20 people in southern Italy as they are allegedly connected to organized crime of money laundering with mafia.

Italian prosecutor Nicola Gratteri said two 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate clans are believed to have laundered money through the resorts, according to The Associated Press.

Among those individuals arrested Tuesday include two Spanish businessmen, Irish developer. The raids are part of a lengthy investigation that began in 2008 of a crackdown on the mafia.

The raids on Tuesday were carried out in 60 locations in Calabria, Campania, Sicily and the Lazio region around Rome as well as Britain and Spain, according to Italian news agency Adnkronos.

The mafia was believed to have developed relationships between businesses and "important Spanish entrepreneurs," the news agency said.

Massimo Minni, preliminary investigative judge in the case explained, "This scam is the result of the combination between massive influx of outside capital and, above all, the ability of criminal organizations to govern and 'control' the territory, thus guaranteeing the purchase of land and the development of projects."

BBC identified the Irish developer as Harry Fitzsimmons, which was denied by this legal representative, Dan McGuinness. Italian authorities did name Fitzsimmons as a suspect in the case; however it was not immediately clear if he was arrested.

Sonia Alfano, spokeswoman for the European Anti-Mafia Commission said the arrest could not be carried out as he was currently located in a country where the warrant is not "applicable."

"The problem is that the man cannot be arrested because he is no longer in Italy, he has gone to a country where the arrest warrant against him cannot be enforced,"Aflano said.

"This is a new 'Ndrangheta entrepreneurship, a new way of 'doing Mafia' where there is no shooting or killing, but where affiliation derives only from one matrix: money," the finance police statement said according to the Financial Times.

The seized resorts and vacation homes assets are estimated to be worth at some €450 million, $600 million.