THE ITALIAN mafia could be behind the killing of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova in Slovakia, says his colleague Tom Nicholson.

Canadian journalist Mr Nicholson, who is based in Slovakia, says that Mr Kuciak told him before his death that he was working on a story about Italian mafia involvement in a fraud linked to EU subsidies in the country’s east.

“I’m not sure what caused Jan’s death, but I bet my life this is so,” he said.