ROME (ITALPRESS) – A wide-ranging operation by the State Police, coordinated by the Central Operations Service, aimed at combating juvenile crime ended overnight.
142 juveniles were reported in custody for receiving stolen goods, possession of weapons and offensive instruments and possession of drugs for the purpose of dealing, among them 29 minors. In the course of the operation, 60 adults and 13 juveniles were arrested in flagrante delicto or placed under arrest for crimes against the person, property and drugs.
More than 1,000 police officers were employed in the law enforcement activity and covered the provinces of Alessandria, Ancona, Arezzo, Bari, Bergamo, Biella, Bologna, Caltanissetta, Campobasso, Caserta, Catania, Chieti, Cremona, Fermo, Florence, Forlì Cesena, Frosinone, Genoa, Imperia, L’aquila, Latina, Lecco, Livorno, Lucca, Messina, Milan, Naples, Novara, Oristano, Palermo, Perugia, Pesaro-Urbino, Piacenza, Pisa, Prato, Rome, Reggio Calabria, Reggio Emilia, Rovigo, Teramo, Turin, Treviso, Verbano Cusio Ossola, and Verona. Officers from the Mobile Squads, Crime Prevention Departments and other State Police offices checked, mainly in areas of drug dealing and so-called “movida,” about 13,000 young people, including 3,000 minors. A total of 150 properties were checked, including 2 educational institutions and 23 reception facilities for unaccompanied foreign minors, as well as various places of aggregation such as squares, public gardens, areas near railway stations, shopping centers, and businesses. As a result of the checks, 198 administrative fines of various kinds were also raised, particularly for drug use and serving alcoholic beverages to minors. A total of 2,700 vehicles were checked and more than 90 fines for traffic violations were raised. During the searches, in which numerous items of theft were recovered, including gold necklaces, cell phones and 50.000 euros in cash, 8 pistols were seized, including 2 blanks and 1 modified soft-air gun, a sawed-off shotgun, a silencer and ammunition of different calibers, 15 knives, and various objects likely to offend or suitable for the commission of crimes against persons and property, including an iron club repurposed as a baseball bat, 1 icebreaker, and 1 stinging spray. 2 kilograms of cocaine, 10 kilograms of cannabinoids and quantities of narcotic and psychotropic substances suitable for producing about 350 doses including heroin, shaboo, ecstasy and amphetamines were seized. 600 social profiles praising hatred and physical violence, including against members of the Police Forces, as well as the use of firearms and edged weapons, were identified and will be reported to the relevant judicial authorities for possible blackout. Criminal conducts carried out in groups or individually by young people mainly dedicated to crimes against the person, property or drugs and weapons as well as illicit behaviors that also result in forms of discrimination and hatred have been ascertained. The prevailing conduct, also publicized on the web by the perpetrators themselves, can be traced back to the crimes of attempted murder, injury, brawling, damage, extortion, theft, robbery, drug and psychotropic dealing, and illegal possession of weapons and offensive instruments. In Milan, controls were concentrated in some areas where there is a high number of criminal incidents related to street youth groups. In the Quarto Oggiaro neighborhood, a drug hub run by an Italian youth was dismantled.
Also in Milan, a sawed-off shotgun was seized in the course of activities, among other things. In Bologna, during a control at the community for unaccompanied foreign minors, 3 subjects were arrested following a violent assault against the operators and, following the validation of the measure, the Gip ordered for them the precautionary measure in prison at the IMP. Another 4 young foreigners were remanded in custody because they were suspects in several violent robberies perpetrated in the city center, while an Italian juvenile was arrested in flagrante delicto for attempted robbery and resisting the P.U. In Piacenza, 3 prison custody orders for attempted murder were executed against subjects of Egyptian and Tunisian nationality, who were responsible for the stabbings that occurred in to control the city’s drug markets.
Also in Piacenza, three young men with priors were reported for stealing from elderly people: four bags of coins were seized in their vehicle, to be used as a ruse to distract victims with the technique of “coins dropped on the ground” and to steal their purses and personal belongings.(ITALPRESS).
Photo: Ipa Agency
