Carabinieri officers from the Naples Environmental Protection and Energy Safety Group, along with the competent provincial commands, yesterday executed a precautionary seizure order in seven provinces: Salerno, Naples, Bari, Potenza, L'Aquila, Latina, and Frosinone.
Several businessmen are under investigation for criminal conspiracy, organized activities for the illegal trafficking of waste, and aggravated theft of large quantities of ferrous metal, primarily taken from construction sites of the Italian Railway Network. The order was issued by the investigating judge of the Court of Salerno at the request of the local prosecutor's office.
Investigations from 2022, including abroad
The practices, a statement explains, emerged from an investigation by the Salerno Ecological Operations Unit that began in September 2022 and continued for months, with ramifications in several Italian regions and in European and non-European countries.
The investigation stemmed from a Special Unit inspection of a company in Albanella (Salerno) involved in the treatment and recovery of urban and hazardous waste. The investigation used wiretaps, wiretaps, video recordings, and shadowing to reconstruct a system believed to be aimed at illegal disposal.
Two strands: Thailand and the “bubble tour”
The first strand concerns Ricicla Campania srl, with registered office in San Giuseppe Vesuviano (Naples) and operational headquarters in Albanella.
According to investigators, there are serious indications of the illegal management of bulky urban waste, mixed packaging, ferrous scrap, used tire parts, and plastic gaskets, illegally destined for plants in Thailand, without the required documentation or with falsified documents, in violation of national and EU export regulations.
The second strand stems from the ferrous waste that the same company allegedly sold "under the table" to Cermetal srl, linked to a well-known family of local entrepreneurs, through front men.
In one case, the illegal export to Turkey of 5.154.760 kilograms of ferrous scrap, falsely documented as End of Waste, i.e. recycled material, was discovered.
Further investigations have revealed Cermetal, CR Metalli, Rag.Metal, Autoricicla, and Rafecology, accused of illegally managing metal waste through the so-called "bubble transfer": false documentation registered to non-existent companies.
Seizures and eleven summons
The illicit profits were estimated at €3,4 million and were placed under preventive seizure with a view to confiscation, both direct and equivalent. Plants and vehicles belonging to Cermetal, CR Metalli, Rafecology, and Ricicla, deemed instrumental to the crimes, were also seized.
At the end of the operation, the NOE seized 71 bank accounts of the individuals and legal entities involved (the amounts are currently being determined) and eight trucks, in addition to the equipment used for management and transportation. At the same time, eleven individuals were served with summonses to appear for preliminary questioning; the Prosecutor's Office has requested personal precautionary measures against them.
Chronicles of Campania
The new Gomorrah of waste: how the Campania-Puglia axis has become Italy's garbage dump.
There's a stretch of asphalt that bisects Southern Italy, crossing the Apennines and connecting the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic. For months, along that route...
