Arzano – Tunnel Cleanup: A pistol, some bullets, and stolen license plates were discovered among the rubbish. Approximately 10 tons of rubbish were collected and sorted, and the tunnel cleanup will begin in the coming weeks, albeit with some surprises.
After the summer break, the cleanup of the infamous tunnel at the Arzano roundabout continues. Workers from the company hired by the Commissioner for Illegal Landfills reportedly found among the waste on the descent to hell, among many other items, a weapon (later classified as a blank gun), several bullets, and license plates. It will be difficult for the investigation to identify those who dumped and destroyed items deemed to be the proceeds of criminal activity.
The confiscated blank gun and ammunition
The blank gun and ammunition were seized, although they will ultimately be subjected to the same treatment—that is, they will be shredded, albeit under a different procedure. The story began in October 2019 when the local Roma reporter, armed with his phone and based on reports from residents, descended into hell, filming and photographing the ecological bomb, which is accessed by taking a 150-meter-long slope strewn with waste, attracting the attention of the local police. A powder keg that Arpac itself, after an initial inspection, certified at the time, highlighting the risk of fires with possible combustion explosions.
A landfill hidden from view
But what immediately caught the eye of the first people arriving on the scene after the reporter alerted the local police and Carabinieri was the sheer volume of waste on both sides of the access road, as well as the meticulous way in which the waste was stored, making it almost invisible. Built about thirty years ago to connect the municipalities north of Naples to nearby Piscinola via the metro, for decades it has swallowed and concealed tons and tons of materials of every type and origin.
The dossier and the reports on the omissions
The matter had been brought, through a dossier, to the attention of Prosecutor Gratteri and the Commissioner, General Giuseppe Vadalà, given the ancestral inertia of the Regional and Metropolitan bodies, not without threats and attempts to halt the investigation.
The tragic collapse of 1996
Work on the tunnel was suspended on January 23, 1996, after a gas leak collapsed, killing 11 people, including five workers. Among the victims was an 11-year-old girl.
The Prosecutor's Office's investigation into the cleanup
The investigation, which has just been handed over to the Public Prosecutor's Office, will attempt to shed light on possible omissions regarding the failure to clean up the property, given that the release order signed by the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office in March 2024 and the related property restitution report stated an obligation to clean up the areas in accordance with environmental laws.
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