Pescara, pre-trial detention in prison for 5 individuals for extortion, stalking and criminal association
The investigators' activities will continue, however, in order to verify any responsibilities of other individuals involved in the same or other events that occurred in the city.
Pescara, pre-trial detention in prison for 5 individuals for extortion, stalking and criminal association
The Pescara State Police has executed the precautionary custody in prison of 5 young foreigners, all aged between 18 and 19, requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Pescara and ordered by the GIP, for the crimes of extortion, stalking and even criminal association"aimed at the commission of multiple crimes of private violence, aggravated threats, beatings, extortion... through raids in the city centre at night and harassment of occasional passers-by".
The measures are based on the investigation carried out by the police of the Flying Squad who, starting from some criminal episodes that occurred last August in the central areas of this capital, to the detriment of several victims, managed to identify a group of young North African foreigners who used to hang out near the station and the beach resorts, especially in the evening and night hours, taking advantage of the large influx of people to commit predatory crimes or even simply to harass unsuspecting unfortunate people, making use of the strength of the group and, sometimes, even armed with clubs and knives.
In particular, towards one of the victims, the group committed a real extortion, snatching the phone from her hand and demanding payment for its return; towards the same boy, the harassing conduct, consisting mostly of beatings and threats aggravated by the use of instruments suitable for offending, were repeated several times, to the point of generating a serious state of anxiety in the victim and therefore also configuring the crime of stalking.
Also thanks to the monitoring activity carried out by the police officers of the Pescara Police Headquarters in the past months on the groups of young people who, during the past summer, gathered in strategic points of the city, the investigators of the Flying Squad have managed not only to identify those responsible for the crimes, some of whom formally had no connections with this province (but who, in reality, went there every day during the summer season), but also to demonstrate their habit of acting in groups in the areas and at the times monitored, in order to more effectively perpetrate their criminal conduct.
As a result of these investigative activities, the suspects were charged with several criminal episodes involving beatings and threats aggravated by the use of clubs and knives, in addition to the extortion and stalking mentioned above.
On the basis of the investigative elements collected, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Pescara identified a real criminal association among the adults, bringing it to the attention of the GIP, who agreed on the validity of the accusatory thesis, "the existence of a united group, ready to harass occasional passers-by out of a mere desire to harm others... a non-occasional meeting of the suspects for the exercise on the territory of planned group actions against the safety and property of the weakest members, strong - the associates - of the common ethnic belonging and of the overwhelming number".
The investigators' activities will continue, however, in order to verify any responsibilities of other individuals involved in the same or other events that occurred in the city.
The operation is part of a broader strategic plan, which concerns criminal conduct committed by very young people, a phenomenon present in many cities, discussed and addressed also at the Provincial Committee for Public Order and Security of this capital.
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