Caserta, gun in waistband, drugs and counterfeit money: support base dismantled, three arrests

Caserta – The alarm was raised on the evening of September 21st with a call to 112: a passerby had noticed a young man wandering around Piazza Duomo with the outline of a gun clearly tucked into his waistband. When patrols from the Caserta Police Radiomobile Section arrived on the scene, the man had already fled, but a search of the surrounding streets led to a breakthrough within minutes.

At the intersection of Via Vico and Via Roma, the police intercepted two young men, a twenty-year-old and a seventeen-year-old Albanian, one of whom perfectly matched the descriptions. A personal search did not reveal the weapon, but the Carabinieri found a set of keys marked with a room number in their pockets.

When questioned about their accommodation, the two provided misleading information, directing the officers to a hotel in Santa Maria Capua Vetere and declaring that the keys belonged to a specific room.

Immediate on-site investigations contradicted this version: the keys wouldn't open the indicated door. Faced with yet another attempt to divert attention to another room in the same building, the Carabinieri decided to knock directly on the door: the person who opened it was a visibly agitated eighteen-year-old.

A search of the room revealed approximately 3 grams of cocaine divided into five heat-sealed packages, cellophane wrapping material, a precision scale, and €225 in cash.

Subsequent investigations, however, clarified that the headquarters of the first two arrested individuals were not located there, but rather in a second accommodation facility in the center of Caserta. Upon reaching the new address, the Carabinieri conducted a second search, finding the decisive match to the initial alarm: a 6,35 caliber Beretta pistol with an inserted (albeit unloaded) magazine, proven to be of illicit origin, five additional packages containing 3 grams of cocaine, a second scale, and the equipment needed to prepare the doses. Most importantly, counterfeit banknotes with a nominal value of €1.970 were found inside the room, along with another €500 in genuine banknotes and three smartphones.
During the searches, a fourth young man, a nineteen-year-old, arrived on the scene. Upon seeing the officers, he attempted to flee on foot down the street. Chased and apprehended after a short distance, the young man was found to be directly connected to Caserta's room, where he kept documents and personal effects.

The operation concluded with the arrest of the three adults in flagrante delicto: the twenty-year-old and the nineteen-year-old are provisionally charged with possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute, and possession of counterfeit banknotes; the eighteen-year-old faces charges of possession of narcotics with intent to distribute. The seventeen-year-old has been charged at large with the Juvenile Court.

All the material has been seized pending ballistic and fiduciary ballistics assessments, while the suspects' position remains under judicial review and subject to the principle of presumption of innocence until a final conviction.