Caserta – Dawn breaks on an ordinary morning on Via Gasparri, a busy thoroughfare in Caserta, where white courier vans whizz by like worker bees, delivering daily bread to bakeries and supermarkets.
It's here that a 56-year-old from Maddaloni, with a track record as a "regular" at the police station—minor thefts, bar brawls—decides to turn a delivery into a textbook heist.
At 9 a.m. sharp, while a logistics driver is unloading crates of frozen baked goods, leaving the vehicle unattended for an eternity, the man jumps behind the wheel and puts the car in gear. Destination? Who knows, perhaps a fence in the alleys of Maddaloni or a black market for "fresh" goods.
But the plan derails like a seized engine: a patrol from the Caserta Carabinieri Radiomobile Section senses him immediately, his suspicious manner driving a Fiat Ducato that reeks of shady dealings. "Halt! Stop!" the megaphone blasts through the humid October air.
The man doesn't think twice: he swerves, brakes, jumps out and runs away on foot, zigzagging between the grey buildings and the sidewalks cluttered with empty boxes.
It might interest you
A 17-year-old arrested in Caserta for kidnapping and violence in a minors' community.
San Nicola la Strada: Three Drug Dealers Arrested in the Town Hall
Waste emergency in Sant'Arpino: Carabinieri seal off a 10-ton "mountain."
SMCV Prison Trial: A dramatic turn of events: the judge leaves just before sentencing. Lawyers revolt.
Pinned to the ground, panting, his hands pressed to the cold asphalt: resisting a public officer, an addition to the list of crimes already hanging over his neck like a guillotine.
A quick check: the vehicle, with its license plate and tracking, was stolen less than 10 minutes ago, taken from the driver who, stunned, had returned from the bakery empty-handed and with a sinking heart. Inside, a frozen treasure: €3.700 worth of frozen pizzas, croissants, and pastries ready to feed Caserta families for a week.
Returned intact to their rightful owner—a 42-year-old courier. A theft that, if successful, would have meant hours of bureaucracy, delays, and a hole in the end-of-month accounts.
The arrested man, a Maddalonese with downcast eyes and a wrinkled shirt, ends up in a holding cell at the Palace of Justice: a summary hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, on charges of aggravated theft – a work vehicle, a significant value – which could carry up to six years, plus resisting arrest, which adds salt to the wound.
Leave a comment