Caserta, a robbery at a flower shop, chased by the owner, leads to an accident: three injured and two arrested.

Cancello ed Arnone – A breathtaking chase between vans, a car skidding off the road in the middle of the countryside, and a blaze that lit up the evening: this was the dramatic scene that unfolded yesterday afternoon, Sunday, October 12, on Via Armando Diaz, the main thoroughfare of Cancello ed Arnone, a quiet town in the Caserta area known for its extensive agricultural land and small family businesses.

Two Tunisian citizens, a 43-year-old and a 34-year-old, both residing in Giugliano in Campania and with criminal records, were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit robbery after attempting to rob a flower shop. A third accomplice, who fled in the chaos, is now being hunted by law enforcement.

The reconstruction of the events, entrusted to the Carabinieri of the local station and the Operational and Radiomobile Unit of the Casal di Principe Company, begins from a night of shadows and exaggerations.

Around the early hours of the morning, the three criminals—the third has yet to be fully identified—are said to have scaled the entrance gate of the business, a hub for the local floral industry, specializing in dried flowers and decorative arrangements. Moving swiftly and silently, they loaded their Fiat Iveco, which lacked license plates to evade security, with a haul estimated at around €5.000: bundles of dried flowers, ready for sale, representing months of hard work by the owner, a local entrepreneur who has been battling unfair competition and thieves for years.

 They had stolen 5.000 euros in bundles of dried flowers, ready for sale

The plan seemed perfect, but dawn brought a turning point. The company owner, a man in his forties, hardened by provincial life, noticed the raid during his routine rounds.

Without thinking twice, he put his company van into gear and set off in pursuit, transforming Via Armando Diaz – the road that connects the town to the surrounding countryside – into a film set.

The chase, which lasted just a few hundred meters along bends and dirt roads, culminated in tragedy: both vehicles skidded off the road in a rural area, among olive groves and uncultivated land that dot the landscape.

The thieves' van, riddled with sudden fire—perhaps due to a short circuit or mechanical damage—engulfed the scene in orange flames, forcing the two Tunisians to leap from the vehicle in panic. The third accomplice, skilled in chaos, vanished into the fields, leaving his accomplices to their fate.

An impressive deployment was made at the scene of the disaster: the Carabinieri of the Operations Unit, arriving with sirens blaring, stopped the two fugitives as they attempted to escape into the vegetation. The Aversa Fire Department extinguished the flames in less than half an hour, preventing the blaze from spreading to nearby fields, while 118 personnel provided first aid.

The owner, the unwitting hero of the incident, paid dearly for his courage: a fracture to his right forearm forced him to be admitted to the Aversa hospital, where he was kept for observation.

The alleged perpetrators of the theft are faring no better. The 43-year-old, with a fractured right foot, and the 34-year-old, suspected of spinal trauma, were treated at Caserta Hospital and the Pineta Grande Clinic in Castel Volturno, respectively. Neither man's life is in danger, but their injuries will keep them off the streets for a while.

As soon as they are released, by order of the Naples North Public Prosecutor's Office, they will be transferred to the Santa Maria Capua Vetere Prison, charged with the crime of improper robbery—aggravated by complicity and the use of a getaway vehicle. The investigation, coordinated by the major of the Casal di Principe Company, will not end there.

Officers are examining surveillance cameras in the area and interviewing eyewitnesses in search of the third man, described as being in his 30s and with a foreign accent.