Catania: the Carabinieri of the Radiomobile Nucleus surprise and arrest a copper thief.

As part of the Catania Carabinieri territorial control plan, launched both in the city and in the urban outskirts, the Carabinieri of the Catania Provincial Command are continuing to implement targeted and structured services for the prevention and fight against illegality with the primary aim of increasing the level of real and perceived security, as well as countering more widespread criminal phenomena, such as predatory crimes such as theft and robbery.
And it was during the service ordered by the Provincial Command that the Carabinieri of the Catania Radiomobile Unit foiled the theft of the copper caps used to close the pipes of the irrigation system of the public greenery, in the “Librino” neighborhood, arresting a 32-year-old from Catania for aggravated theft.

In particular, it was around 13.30 pm when the crew, who was sailing along the “Gate of Beauty”, a 3 km long work of art, built on a wall that acts as a traffic island between Viale Castagnola and Viale Librino, saw a man who, equipped with a large bag, was climbing up a small hill of ornamental grass, irrigated by a special system.

The circumstance seemed rather bizarre to the Carabinieri, given that in that place there are no pedestrian crossings and not even fruit or vegetables to pick, therefore, the soldiers decided to keep an eye on him and, having parked the military car, without being noticed they climbed the hill from different access points.

When they reached him, the young man was dismantling, using a hammer, the copper caps of the irrigation system, to then put them in his bag. Engrossed in the theft he was committing, the man only noticed their presence when the Carabinieri were already close to him but, perhaps hoping that the patrol had not noticed what he was doing, he threw the hammer uselessly into the vegetation.
Blocked and secured, the man, who was unable to provide any justification for his presence in that place at that time, was searched and in his bag he had 4 copper caps weighing 4kg in total, which he probably thought he would sell.
Caught with his “hands in the cookie jar”, ​​the 32-year-old was arrested and placed at the disposal of the Judicial Authority who validated his arrest, while the stolen copper caps were returned to the Municipality of Catania which, through the office responsible for public services, will have to repair the system.