Acireale: Marijuana Drying Lab and Weapons Manufacturing Workshop Discovered. 33-Year-Old Arrested

I Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Catania they are putting maximum effort into controlling the territory, giving priority to external projection for the prevention and fight against all forms of widespread illegality.

Particular attention is paid to thefts and crimes against property in general, which, regardless of the extent of the economic damage, often generate strong discomfort not only in those who suffer them, but also in the community, which may perceive a greater vulnerability in the face of similar events.

In this context, i Carabinieri of the Station of Acireale, while investigating some recent incidents of theft in the peripheral areas of the city, they managed to discover that a country house in the hamlet Acese of Pennisi had in fact been used as stolen property storage warehouse.

There is more: inside, the 33 year old owner of the place, already known for having already been involved in other judicial cases, had organized a rudimentary workshop for the alteration of weapons, so as to make them capable of shooting and therefore highly lethal, as well as setting up a room for marijuana drying lab.

As a result of the blitz by the Carabinieri of Acireale, supported by colleagues from the Operational Intervention Company of the 12th “Sicilia” Regiment, the 33 year old was arrested and all the illegal items hidden in the house were seized.

In particular, the Carabinieri, on the trail of the perpetrator of some thefts occurred in the area, they acquired information on a country house, away from the city centre, which, after carrying out the appropriate checks, they decided to enter to personally verify what was hidden inside.

Once inside, the soldiers noticed that, a sheet metal shed it had been in fact used as a workshop and on the workbench, there were some guns, originally with a “ball” operation but modified so that they can fire gunshots and are therefore very dangerous.

One in particular – a drum gun – was sitting on the top of a drill press, just being worked on. Another had already been modified and was, in fact, ready to fire, while a third had not yet been modified.

Moreover, each of the two modifications was complete with the relevant munitions: in fact, following the search of the farmhouse, they were found to be well 59 bullets caliber 9, compatible with one of the modified pistols, and 94 others with the other, like a drum.

In addition to these bullets, well 91 war ammunition, the possession of which is prohibited; 156 ready cartridges and another 132 empty ones, with an envelope of 4 kilos of gunpowder and 5 boxes of primers to package them with.

Furthermore, once inside the farmhouse, in a room used as a kitchen-living room, in a plastic tube with ends closed with caps, the military found 2 rifles complete disassembled as well as rifle parts and a bayonet.

In another room instead, a building had been set up marijuana drying lab: with clotheslines from one side of the room to the other, to hang plants, heaters and fans. The floor full of dried plant residues and in a plastic jar with about 40 grams of inflorescences ready for use.

What surprised the operators themselves, however, was theimpressive quantity of objects, presumably stolen, stored in the various rooms of the building and even in the agricultural land, covered by sheet metal sheds.

Among the objects, about 40 kilos of copper cables; construction tools such as pneumatic hammers and demolition hammers, or gardening tools, such as various brush cutters; an amphora likely of archaeological interest; an entire stock of new and still packaged jeans; more than twenty car wheels complete with rims, of various brands; not to mention paintings, horns, ceramic Moor's heads, and even parts of a Sicilian cart.

Finally, in the ground, the soldiers found 19 land turtles of two different species, still alive, locked in an enclosure without food or water, along with several specimens, now dead.

For this reason, the following also intervened on site: Carabinieri of the CITES Unit of Catania, that they seized the animals, which will be released back into their habitat, and the 33 year old reported owner of the land also for animal abandonment.

The man was therefore arrested and placed at the disposal of the Judicial Authority which validated the provision by ordering the measure of arrest for the crimes of illegal possession of clandestine weapons e weapon alteration, as well as for illegal possession of war munitions e possession for the purpose of dealing narcotic substances.

At the same time, it was reported also for stolen, while the military of the Arma are working to track down the owners of the stolen objects found, to whom the stolen goods will be returned.

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