Italian police head off autumn terror drive

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Anne Shutt

October 5, 1982

Naples, Italy

Police broke up an 11-member Red Brigades gang on the eve of an ''autumn offensive'' and uncovered a weapons cache in what they called the sharpest blow against terrorism since US Gen. James Dozier's release.

The weekend operation, kept secret for maximum effectiveness, resulted in the arrest of the leader of the Red Brigades in Naples, Vittorio Bolognesi, police said, adding that 10 other members of the Brigades' Naples branch were arrested and three gang hideouts uncovered, police said.