Mugnano. An anonymous phone call to the Carabinieri uncovers an insurance scam but above all prevents an apartment fire with consequences that could have been very serious if there had not been the timely intervention of the military.
“That house is going to catch fire soon!” The voice on the other end of the phone adds a few words, and the carabiniere on the other end of the line immediately stands up. He takes note of the address and the hastily spoken sentence: "...for the insurance money."
The officer at the Carabinieri station in Mugnano di Napoli has already figured it out. Someone is planning to set fire to an apartment to collect the insurance money. The call ends, and the sender remains anonymous.
A patrol is dispatched without hesitation. Meanwhile, the Carabinieri contact the owners and ask them to come to the house immediately. Their response, however, is difficult and marked by inexplicable aggression.
At the front door, the owners show up at the same time, and the landlord greets them with insults. Then he makes a gesture that catches the attention of the soldiers: he approaches the electricity meter and turns off the power.
The Carabinieri realized that the phone call was not a prank and decided to evacuate the entire building, which was also inhabited by families with children.
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Wife punches policeman in the face
During the evacuation, the owner lunges at the soldiers and punches one of them in the face. In the chaos, the couple's son climbs to the first floor, climbs over the railing to the second floor, where the apartment is located, forces a window, retrieves some objects and throws them into the adjacent courtyard.
The Carabinieri notice these movements, collect the objects and stop the young man. At this point, the woman gives in and confesses everything: she had planned to set fire to the house to obtain the insurance compensation.
The plan was ingenious. They had connected a twilight timer to an electrical power strip, which would activate a homemade trigger. Near this mechanism, some containers made of polystyrene, a highly flammable material, were ready to feed the flames.
The timer was set to go off at 14:15 PM, releasing an electrical discharge that would start the fire. The fire would then spread from one room to another. The Carabinieri realize they arrived just 15 minutes before the ignition…
The father, mother and son were charged with conspiracy to commit attempted damage by arson, resistance, violence and insult to a public official. The woman will also have to answer to the charge of personal injury.
