Land of Fires crackdown: 800 patrols deployed, 68 reported, and one arrested

Naples – New, significantly intensified patrols in the Land of Fires. The joint force deployed in recent days, at the direction of the prefects of Naples and Caserta, Michele di Bari and Lucia Volpe, has mobilized approximately 800 patrols, involving local police forces, often in conjunction with Army personnel involved in the "Safe Roads – Land of Fires" operation, led by the "Lancieri di Aosta" Regiment.

The operation resulted in a significant number of cases: 68 people were reported to the judicial authorities and one arrest was made. Prevention efforts focused primarily on roadside checks: 3.500 vehicles were inspected, 60 vehicles seized, 27 of which were seized for illegal waste transportation.

Among the vehicles stopped were box trucks, vans, and three-wheeled vehicles operating without the required registration in the National Register of Environmental Managers, transporting various types of waste, both hazardous and non-hazardous. The inspections involved the municipalities of Afragola, Boscoreale, Brusciano, Casoria, Frignano, Giugliano in Campania, Parete, San Marcellino, Volla, and Grazzanise.
Illegal landfills and fires caught red-handed

In Grazzanise, three reports were filed and a 2.000-square-meter plot of land was seized following the discovery of a 150-cubic-meter pile of construction waste, including asbestos cement. Regarding businesses and production sites, 25 seizures were reported out of 31 inspections carried out.

In an agricultural area in the municipality of Giugliano in Campania, soldiers from the Operational Response Company of the 10th Carabinieri Regiment caught a man stoking a plastic waste fire. A similar incident was also reported in the Giugliano area.

Thanks to the use of hidden investigative cameras in the most at-risk areas, eight incidents of waste abandonment were investigated in the municipalities of Boscoreale, Giugliano in Campania, Gricignano di Aversa, Orta di Atella, and San Paolo Belsito.

Illegal shipyards in Posillipo

Further inspections of the shipbuilding industry by the Naples Metropolitan Police led to five seizures, including two illegal shipyards built in tuff caves in Posillipo.
The operation is part of a series of extraordinary inspections that, according to data released by the prefectures, has already led to a significant reduction in waste fires in the area between Naples and Caserta during the summer of 2026.