Lamezia Terme: 17-year-old arrested for theft and arson: 27 crimes involving damaged cars and vehicles set on fire.

The Carabinieri of the Operational and Radiomobile Unit of the Lamezia Terme Company (CZ) they arrested a 17enne Lamezia Terme, considered responsible for a long series of theft, damage and arson which destroyed, on the night of July 6 last, six cars and a moped in May 1st Avenue, right in the city centre.

The young man is also accused of theft of a car happened on the same night in via September 20thAfter stealing the vehicle, without a license, he had driven off into a reckless escape provoking serious damage to numerous parked cars, street furniture, benches and flowerbeds. The arrest was carried out on precautionary custody order issued by Preliminary Investigating Judge of the Juvenile Court of Catanzaro, at the request of the venue Prosecutor's Office.

The investigations, which began after the events of 28 February – 1 March 2025, had documented a night of madness in which they had been committed 27 aggravated thefts and damages to parked cars in the historic center of Lamezia Terme. On that occasion, one of the two young men involved had already been identified and arrested, in June 2025. The Carabinieri's investigative activity was based on the analysis of over 180 hours of footage, From 45 public and private video surveillance systems, also made available by citizens. It was thanks to the collaboration of the community that it was possible reconstruct the movements step by step of the two minors.

The real turning point came after the fire of 6th July, when the military noticed strong similarities in the modus operandi with previous incidents of theft and vandalism. Through the analysis of further 30 hours of recordings and the intersection with telephone records, the investigators have the 17-year-old has been unequivocally identified as the perpetrator of the damage and the fire that destroyed seven vehicles. The young man was thus associated with the Juvenile Penal Institute of Catanzaro, where it is available to the Judicial Authority.

The outcome of the investigation was decisive for the following: images from public and private video surveillance systems. Numerous citizens, outraged by the violence and devastation, have voluntarily made their videos available, allowing the Carabinieri to to trace a real "electronic shadowing" of the young man, immortalized during the fire and his escape in the stolen car. The investigations revealed a worrying escalation of criminal behavior among minors, often linked to conditions of marginalization and educational povertyA phenomenon which, as the investigators point out, requires timely and coordinated interventions between institutions, schools and social services, to promote prevention and reintegration paths really effective.