Italy: Police raid Amazon sites as prosecutors see U.S. platform as 'Trojan horse' for tax-free imports from China, tax probe may spread to other EU states, sources say

Italian police raided two Amazon sites on Monday as part of a growing investigation into alleged customs and tax fraud involving Chinese imports, three sources with direct knowledge of the case said.

Prosecutors suspect the e-commerce giant acted like a "Trojan horse", bringing Chinese goods into Italy without paying sales taxes or customs duties, according to a court document.

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The scheme could have cost the state hundreds of millions of euros and may extend across the European Union, sources said.

Dozens of officers from the Guardia di Finanza and the customs agency seized around 5,000 products at a logistics hub operated by the e-commerce giant in Cividate al Piano, in the northern province of Bergamo, the sources said.

At Amazon’s Italian headquarters in central Milan, police seized IT equipment and identified the manager responsible for the movement of goods within Italy.

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