Italy probes mafia involvement in sunken ship

ROME, Italy (CNN) - Italian authorities are investigating a sunken ship, possibly containing toxic waste, that may have been downed by the local mafia, a prosecutor told CNN on Wednesday.

Divers found the ship last week just where an informant had said it would be - off the coast of Cetraro, a southern Italian town on the Mediterranean Sea.

The informant referred to the ship as the Cunsky.

The informant said the local mafia, called the 'Ndrangheta, was hired to get rid of the vessel and its cargo, Bruno Giordano, the head prosecutor in the region, told CNN. The informant said he was one of the people who sank the ship, Giordano said.

Police are still trying to find out whether the barrels on the ship actually contained toxic waste as the informant claimed, the prosecutor said.

It is not clear who hired the 'Ndrangheta to get rid of the ship, Giordano said. He speculated that they may have been seeking to avoid paying the high fees necessary to dispose of its cargo properly.