Novara: joint operation to combat food counterfeiting

Novara: joint operation to combat food counterfeiting.

On the morning of11 July, in Provinces of Novara, Biella, Livorno, Milano, Parma and Reggio Emilia, the Carabinieri of NAS of Turin and the staff of the Group's Operations Unit Guardia di Finanza di Novara, coordinated by Europol and as part of a proceeding ordered by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Novara, gave execution of an Ordinance of application of a precautionary measure issued by the GIP of the Court of Novara, together with a decree of local search, towards of 3 subjects investigated in the context of a complex investigative activity aimed at combating the crime di a criminal conspiracy dedicated to receiving stolen goods and food counterfeiting.

Le organisers' activities, carried out in collaboration with the Provincial Carabinieri Commands and with the NAS who are competent in the area, have overall affected 14 targets including private homes and commercial establishments, distributed on 6 different provinces. THE investigations they have had originating for more than a year, when in March 2022 the soldiers of the NAS of Turin, at a food retailer in the Province of Novara, subjected to criminal seizure several kg of confectionery products potentially dangerous to public health as they lacked commercial documentation and reported an expiry date later turned out to be counterfeit.

Dai subsequent investigations it then emerged how such products they came from a wholesale company, also located in the Novara area, against which the Carabinieri have therefore started a complex monitoring activity, also through technical interception instruments. The activity, carried out jointly by the soldiers of the Army and the Guardia di Finanza on the invoices and accounting documentation acquired over time, allowed us to reconstruct the existing financial relationships in detail among those under investigation, as well as the particularly significant economic volume of illicit activities, also corroborated by the huge seizure made last month October, where they had been inside a warehouse in the Province of Novara several tons of food subjected to criminal restraint, for an approximate value of 1 million euros, already relabeled and ready for sale although expired. In the over the months, therefore, it was possible reconstruct the links between the various suspects, as well as the specific characteristics of the associative bond, or in particular the preparation of a stable organization based on an agreement between the interested parties and suitable for carrying out the criminal program knowingly put into practice, aimed at the marketing of food and household products, purchased even from well-known Italian companies that have already expired or are close to expiring, and put back on the market with counterfeit labeling and/or packaging indicating the batch and expiry dates.

Le precautionary measures applied concern the obligation to stay in the municipality of residence with a ban on going out at night for the 2 identified subjects respectively such as the financier and distributor of the counterfeit products, as well as the obligation to submit to the judicial police and the interdictory measure of the temporary ban on carrying out entrepreneurial activities towards the aforementioned interested parties and also the person identified as the supplier of expired or soon-to-expire products.

Il criminal case is currently in the investigation phase preliminary investigations and therefore the presumption of non-guilt of the suspects applies until the final sentence.