Naples – In an area of the city that has languished for years in the shadow of degradation and widespread crime, the police yesterday conducted an extraordinary operation to Porta Capuana, momentarily illuminating a square that had become synonymous with abandonment and the domination of non-EU drug dealers.
The Naples Police Headquarters, coordinating staff from the Vicariate-Mercato Police Station, the Carabinieri, and the Guardia di Finanza, has intensified checks in an area where "invisibility"—that mix of institutional neglect and daily chaos—has allowed foreign drug dealers to transform the city's historic gateway into an open drug market.
The operation, part of a broader plan to combat the rampant drug dealing phenomenon, led to the identification of 82 people, including nine with criminal records, and the inspection of 11 vehicles. These modest numbers represent a significant step forward in the fight against a deep-rooted problem: Porta Capuana, once a cultural and commercial hub, is now one of the most "invisible" areas of Naples, far from the tourist spotlight of the waterfront and abandoned, with residents and business owners who have been reporting violence, fights, and urban decay for months.
Recent protests, such as the one in April when a hundred residents demonstrated against the daily exasperation, underscore how the area has become a nocturnal Wild West, with obscene acts, roadblocks, and assaults that discourage even medical assistance.
Just last October, a dawn rape of a passerby brought this "other side" of the city back into the spotlight, prompting local associations to organize anti-racketeering walks and artistic initiatives to combat the chaos.
At the heart of this invisibility is the phenomenon of non-EU drug dealers, who populate the square and surrounding alleys, making it a drug-dealing hub. Operations similar to yesterday's have repeatedly led to seizures of cocaine, heroin, crack, and hashish, often hidden in shacks or illegal dwellings.
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From January to August, the Carabinieri identified over 2.500 people in the area, including 261 illegal immigrants, checking more than 1.200 vehicles and issuing hundreds of fines.
The arrests continue: a 30-year-old Moroccan man was stopped in September with doses ready for sale, a 14-year-old Dominican boy used as a minor courier in August, and cases of assaults on officers by Nigerian drug dealers.
These incidents are not isolated: the square is "increasingly in the hands of non-EU drug dealers," with dawn brawls involving knives and broken bottles that terrorize residents, as documented in an incident in July.
Local sources speak of a "shift change" among foreign drug dealers—Venezuelan, Moroccan, Nigerian—who operate with impunity, exploiting the lack of constant surveillance.
Joint police checks, like yesterday's, are a necessary but insufficient step. Recent raids have led to three drug-related arrests between Porta Capuana and Vicaria, with seizures of over a kilo of narcotics and over €15 in cash.
Yet the degradation persists: ambulances blocked by crowds and illegal merchandise, graffiti and filth requiring immediate action, as proposed by the local Civic Coordination Committee. Residents complain of a lack of police, especially at night, which amplifies the area's invisibility.
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
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