Antonio Strangio, 32, wanted for the production and trafficking of drugs, was arrested at Bali airport on February 2 after being on the run since 2016, police said.

He had fled to Australia, where he has citizenship and could not be extradited. But he remained under surveillance and was arrested after landing in Bali.

His detention was only made public on Wednesday, but occurred the same day as convicted killer Edgardo Greco was arrested in France.

Greco, 63, was another suspected member of the 'Ndrangheta who had been on the run since 2006.

"The 'Ndrangheta has nowhere to hide, neither in Italy nor abroad," Vittorio Rizzi, central director of Italy's criminal police, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The police operation was conducted under the auspices of Interpol's Cooperation against 'Ndrangheta (I-CAN) project, which involves 13 countries.

To date, 43 fugitives have been arrested under the project that began in 2020 and is due to come to an end later this year, Rizzi said.

The 'Ndrangheta is considered Italy's most powerful mafia group, operating worldwide and with strong ties to the trade in cocaine bound for Europe from South America.

Rizzi said that three years ago it remained "substantially unknown by police forces all over the world, perceived almost as a folklore phenomenon".

He said Italian police worked constantly to persuade those forces that in fact, it was "a powerful criminal organisation which silently infiltrates and chokes the economy".

Hailing the latest arrest, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said international cooperation was "indispensable for combating crime which operates globally".