A man suspected of leading a Sicilian drug ring is to be extradited to Italy after he was arrested by Maltese police in a 2am operation on Tuesday. 

Maximiliano Genova, the 39-year old alleged drug lord from Syracuse, agreed to be extradited to his home country when he appeared in court on Wednesday afternoon. 

Genova is alleged to be at the helm of a large-scale drug operation that controlled and sold anything from cannabis to crack in the Sicilian city, with entire families of men, women and children involved in the illicit operation. 

He was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning in a St Paul’s Bay apartment, in an operation which was coordinated with Italian police. As local law enforcement arrested Genova, Italian carabinieri were arresting 29 others alleged to have formed part of the drug ring. 

Italian police claim that the operation Genova headed was making as much as €25,000 a day.

Wearing jeans and a red rain jacket and with his face mostly covered behind a mask, Genova appeared in court on Wednesday, assisted by an Italian interpreter. 

He confirmed his personal details to the court and replied “I think so” when magistrate Neville Camilleri asked him whether he was the same person as that named in a European Arrest Warrant. 

Genova told the court that he agreed to be extradited to Italy and confirmed that decision after conferring briefly with his lawyer. 

"Rientro in Italia. Confermo. [I will return to Italy, I confirm]" he said.  

His lawyer, legal aid counsel Martin Fenech, told the court that it was not right that his client’s identity had been revealed in the media before he was arraigned in court. 

Genova’s name was first published in Italian news reports about the police operation to smash the Syracuse drug ring. 

Lawyer Meredith Ebejer from the AG’s Office assisted prosecuting Inspector Mark Galea.