Naples - Weapons that don't look like weapons. Pistols that write, parlor rifles, pocket bombs that go unnoticed by security.
Arms trafficking in Naples and its province continues to evolve, adapting to the new patterns of crime and youth deviance. A silent but constant transformation, which the Carabinieri of the Naples provincial command observe with growing concern.
The numbers speak for themselves: from January to today, 150 bladed weapons, 319 unauthorized weapons—including clubs, knuckledusters, and nunchucks—and 152 firearms have been seized. These figures, investigators confirm, are already set to rise. This is a sign that the black market, in the city's back alleys and surrounding towns, knows no respite.
The Carabinieri's investigations are moving on multiple fronts. On the one hand, preventative operations in nightlife areas, where youthful deviance and easy access to dangerous items are becoming an explosive mix. On the other, more traditional leads, leading directly to smuggling and organized crime networks.
Weapons often circulate among young adults, but the ties to the Camorra remain evident: the same supply network, the same intermediaries, the same language of power and fear.
And there's no shortage of cases bordering on the unbelievable: weapons disguised as harmless objects, like the 7.65 caliber keychain pistol discovered by the Carabinieri in Villaricca last summer. A tiny device, with two cartridges ready to fire at the push of a button.
The raid in Palma Campania: the discovery of the "killer pens"
The latest operation comes from Palma Campania, where the Carabinieri of the local station have closed in on a 27-year-old already known to law enforcement, resident in the province of Salerno.
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During a house search, officers found a small arsenal: a 4.5-caliber compressed-gas rifle with a 30-round magazine, a blank-firing semi-automatic pistol, five live rounds, and 47 rounds of blank ammunition. This equipment alone would be enough to define the profile of a budding robber.
But the most disturbing discovery was hidden in a red box on the bedside table. Inside, two silver metal pens. At first glance, they were perfectly ordinary: they wrote, they had an ink cartridge, they looked like everyday objects.
In reality, they were fully functional firearms: a .22 caliber pen and a 6,35x16SR. Inside, a spring mechanism capable of firing when the head is pulled, transforming a writing instrument into a deadly weapon.
The profile of the 27-year-old
Alongside the "killer pens," the Carabinieri also found 26,6 grams of cocaine, divided into three packages, and a precision scale. All of this was seized, along with the weapons.
The young man was arrested and taken to prison. He will face charges of illegal possession of weapons and narcotics.
The long shadow of the black market
Behind every seizure, there's a thriving underground market. Weapons are purchased online, modified in garages, or illegally imported from Eastern Europe, where restrictions are less stringent. And in many cases, investigators say, "disguised" weapons—pens, lighters, key rings, trekking poles—represent the new frontier of illicit trafficking.
A phenomenon that combines criminal ingenuity, technological advancement, and a constant desire to dominate. In Naples, as elsewhere, the game is far from over.
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