Illicit waste trafficking: the Carabinieri of the NOE of Lecce, Bari and Naples execute numerous precautionary orders

On February 5th, in the province of Bari, Taranto, Trani/Barletta, Brindisi, Caserta, Naples, Avellino, Cosenza, Matera, Campobasso, Viterbo and Potenza, the Carabinieri of the Group for the Protection of the Environment and Energy Safety of Naples, together with the Carabinieri of the territorially competent Provincial Commands, have executed a precautionary custody order against 9 subjects, held responsible in various capacities for the crime of criminal association, activities organized for the illicit waste trafficking, impediment to the control and illegal management of waste.

The precautionary order issued by the GIP of the Court of Lecce, following the outcome of the preventive interrogations pursuant to article 291 paragraph 1 quater of the Code of Criminal Procedure and in full acceptance of the request filed by the local District Anti-Mafia Directorate, refers to a series of illicit conducts found during a complex investigative activity, conducted by the Carabinieri of the Ecological Operations Unit (NOE) di Lecce, Bari e Napoli, which he had starting in June 2023 and it continued for several months, affecting different regions of the national territory.

The investigation, conducted with the aid of technical activities, such as wiretaps of conversations, video recordings and stalking, result of a complex investigative maneuver, focused on countering the phenomenon ofabandonment of hazardous and non-hazardous special waste, has allowed us to ascertain against the suspects, who were associated with each other, multiple organised activities aimed at illicit waste trafficking.

The same, through the preparation of a false environmental authorization which attested, on behalf of theEKO srl company of Onano (VT), the availability of an authorised waste treatment plant as well as through the use of forms containing false information regarding the place of delivery for subsequent recovery, carried out multiple illegal operations involving the movement of large quantities of industrial waste, coming from Puglia and Campania and headed for theillegal disposal in Puglia itself, Calabria, Campania and Basilicata (particularly in areas falling within the provinces of Taranto, Cosenza, Avellino and Matera), which were disposed of or after spilling on the ground or abandoned inside disused warehouses.

From the analysis of the modalities of such spills, the NOE investigators, coordinated by DDA Lecce, have focused their attention on a well structured criminal organization, dedicated to the disposal of special waste of Campania origin.

In fact, since the beginning of the investigations, it has been ascertained that the special waste, EER codes 191212 and 150106, organised in strapped bales, mainly composed of waste from the treatment of special/industrial waste and undifferentiated fraction of RSU, as well as textile waste, after having been collected and transported, instead of being sent to authorised disposal and/or recovery sites, in order to obtain an unfair profit, represented by the cost savings resulting from the failure to activate the correct waste management procedures prescribed by law, were, after having been collected from the production sites, transported and disposed of illegally on land or in abandoned warehouses, thus creating a real illegal waste trade chain which included the delivery, reception, intermediation, transport and illegal disposal phases.

In Villapiana (CS), Cassano allo Ionio (CS), Ferrandina (MT), Pulsano (TA) the have been identified sites where large quantities of waste are dumped, object of the illicit traffic.

The investigations carried out have allowed us to analyse the illicit mechanisms of such trafficking, carried out according to tried and tested procedures, based on the fictitious classification of waste by the production plants, with the drafting of false documentation indicating non-existent destination sites, which would allow for the justification of the transportation of waste and its subsequent illegal abandonment in illegal sites, identified from time to time.

The proximity to the Campania, the main area of ​​origin of waste, and the vastness and orography of the Apulian territory have contributed significantly to the perpetuation of such illicit trafficking.

The areas concerned, some of particular naturalistic value, overlooking municipal and provincial roads close to the most isolated rural areas, have become authentic open-air illegal landfills, where the waste once dumped, in some circumstances they were set on fire, making the air unbreathable.

The criminal activity allowed the suspects to collect a illicit profit equal to approximately 1.000.000 (one million) euros, sum of money for which the seizure of equivalent value has been ordered.

During the aforementioned operation, they were also seized 3 waste treatment/recovery companies of Giugliano (NA), Onano (VT), San Martino Valle Caudina (AV), 3 industrial warehouses, in Pulsano (TA) and Cassano allo Ionio (CS), 2 agricultural lands in Villapiana (CS), 25 vehicles (trailer and tractor).

The application of the precautionary measure for the suspects, drivers, transport organizers, intermediaries and formal and de facto managers of the responsible companies, is aimed at preventing the repetition of the criminal activity, through further illegal abandonment of waste and to avoid the alteration of the sources of evidence through the preparation of documentation aimed at demonstrating the alleged regular disposal of waste.

In addition to the subjects affected by the precautionary measure, 34 more people are involved and reported to the Judicial Authority.