Police said the 18 suspects are aged between 15 and 21 and are foreign or Italian of north African origin.
Italian police have raided the homes of 15 young men and three boys who are suspected of involvement in a series of sexual assaults during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Milan.
Nine women have so far reported that they were assaulted during celebrations in front of Milan’s Cathedral on Piazza del Duomo.
The case has prompted comparisons with the mass sexual attacks and muggings that took place in the German city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve in 2015-16.
