Maniace: Check concluded with arrest, loaded rifle and drugs found

The Carabinieri of the Maniace Station had decided to verify whether a bar in Corso Fondaco, owned by a 54enne of the place, with a criminal record, respected the health and hygiene regulations, therefore, together with the ASP staff of the Adrano and Bronte Section, they reached the commercial establishment starting the investigations, to protect consumers.

The hygienic deficiencies of the premises immediately caught the attention of the specialists of the provincial health company, but also of the Carabinieri who, while inspecting a storage room of the shop, noticed a black plastic bag for waste, placed behind the door of that storage room. Inside, however, it was not the rubbish that had been thrown, but rather a 12-gauge over-and-under shotgun, sawn-off, loaded with 2 rounds of shot, with serial number stamped off.

The unusual discovery prompted the Carabinieri to search the entire structure inch by inch and, in a bag placed on a piece of furniture in the same warehouse, they found another 3 12-gauge cartridges with split ammunition (pellets). Outside the bar, however, inside a bag similar to the one used to hide the rifle, the intuition of the military personnel allowed them to recover almost 100 grams of marijuana.

At that point, the Carabinieri asked for reinforcements from the Nicolosi Dog Unit who, within a short time, reached them with the anti-drug dog KING and, together with them, they also went to the 54-year-old's home, located not far away. The military's intuition was rewarded because KING's infallible nose discovered, in the garage of the house, more marijuana hidden in a glass jar (4 grams), while, on a shelf the investigators recovered 9 cartridges for a 9×34 caliber pistol and one for a 38 caliber pistol.

The man tried to justify the presence of drugs and weapons, saying that he had found the rifle two days earlier in a wood, during a walk with his dog, while the drugs hidden in the garbage bag were not his. Obviously his excuses were of no avail, because not only was he reported for "receiving stolen goods and illegal possession of ammunition" but was also arrested for "illegal possession and carrying of a weapon in a place open to the public", then placed at the disposal of the Judicial Authority who, having validated the actions of the Carabinieri, ordered that he be transferred to the Catania prison in Piazza Lanza.