Trieste: 5 people arrested during border controls

The State Police arrested five people, two fugitives and three smugglers, as part of the checks carried out by the Trieste Border Police. He was arrested in the municipality of Muggia a 36-year-old Polish citizen who had accompanied to Italy a young Turkish couple with a young child, who did not meet the requirements for entry and residence in the national territory. The man was checked on board a car with Polish license plates, parked in the lay-by before entering the Montedoro tunnel in the direction of Aquilinia (Trieste).

The Turkish family was instead found among the passengers of the bus line 20 that was passing by at that moment, a fact that aroused the suspicions of the police.. In fact, from subsequent checks it emerged that the Turkish citizens had travelled in the Polish citizen's car. The latter was then arrested for aiding illegal immigration and taken to the local prison in Via del Coroneo. The arrest of the Polish facilitator took place as part of the operations aimed at countering the flow of migrants coming from the Balkan route.

Fraud, falsification of documents, money laundering and criminal association. These are the crimes – committed in 2016 in Spain – for which he will have to serve 26 years in prison 53-year-old Romanian citizen arrested last 27 January by the Border Police of Trieste. The incident occurred at the Fernetti border crossing (Municipality of Monrupino) during border controls temporarily restored after the suspension of the Schengen Agreement.

The Romanian citizen, arrived from Slovenia with two compatriots in a car with Romanian license plates, he was the recipient of a European arrest warrant for extradition purposes, issued in September 2018 by the Spanish Judicial Authorities. At this point the Spanish and Romanian Authorities were contacted and, once all the necessary information was obtained, the man was arrested. He is now in the local prison “Ernesto Mari” at the disposal of the Court of Appeal of Trieste.

Two other facilitators were identified at the Basovizza border crossing (Municipality of Trieste) during border controls restored: a 19-year-old Croatian citizen, resident in Germany, and a 17-year-old German citizen were transporting, on board a car with German license plates, four Turkish citizens aged between 20 and 47, all of whom did not have the appropriate documents to enter and remain in Italy. Inside the car, which was later seized, Knives, a nutcracker and counterfeit banknotes were found.

The two young men were arrested for aiding illegal immigration and for carrying weapons or objects capable of causing offence, and the German citizen also for counterfeiting coins and introducing counterfeit coins into the country. At the end of the investigations, the adult was transferred to the Trieste prison, while the minor was entrusted to a suitable facility.

The 36-year-old Ukrainian citizen was wanted internationally for aggravated robbery in competition, and was blocked at the Fernetti border crossing upon entry into the country. Charged to the man, a passenger on board a car with Ukrainian license plates, a provisional arrest warrant for extradition purposes had emerged, ordered by the Ukrainian judicial authorities in January last year. The Ukrainian citizen is currently at the disposal of the Court of Appeal of Trieste in the city prison.