Gallipoli (Lecce), Operation “Stone Waste” continues by the Carabinieri Forestali to combat abuses in mining activities in the area

Second phase of Operation “Stone Waste”, a campaign of controls by the Carabinieri Forestali to combat abuses in mining activities in the Gallipoli area and its hinterland.

This time too, the activities saw the collaboration between the Carabinieri Forestali (NIPAAF – Investigative Unit of Lecce and Forestry Unit of Gallipoli) and the Regional Environmental Monitoring Unit, according to an operational plan, which also includes the sharing of available technology, which is providing highly significant results.

“Stone Waste 2” was carried out by the Carabinieri Forestali and officials of the Puglia Region after long and in-depth investigations, with the necessary involvement of the Municipality of Gallipoli (One-Stop Shop for Productive Activities), and has led to the establishment of the integration of numerous illicit activities in an area long used for the extraction of stone material, in the “Mater Gratiae” district.

In this case too, the reconnaissance operations carried out with the Carabinieri helicopter (a recently supplied AW169 equipped with the most advanced technologies for filming the area) and with the drones of the Regional Environmental Surveillance Unit – Lecce Section were decisive.

From the investigations and surveys carried out, it was verified that a quarry, part of a large mining area which had already been intervened in with the initial phase of "Stone Waste", was being exploited in the absolute absence of the required authorization from the Puglia Region, and despite an order to suspend the activity.
Forestry officers, regional technicians from the Environmental Surveillance Unit and the Gallipoli Local Police then proceeded with the preventive seizure of the quarry, to prevent the continuation of the illegal mining activity: the area to which the seals are affixed measures a total of 2,20 hectares of surface area for 15 meters of average depth; 70 blocks of stone cut and ready for transport were also seized.

The precautionary measure also affected waste (stone scrap) from extraction stored on site, a tracked mechanical shovel, as well as the premises used as a sawmill with machinery; it was also noted that the lubricating liquids and in any case used for cutting the blocks were freely dispersed in the subsoil, without any filtering work.

The Carabinieri Forestali, the Regional Environmental Surveillance Unit and the Local Police then proceeded to report to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Lecce a 66-year-old, owner and manager of the quarry, for the crimes referred to in Articles 7 and 19 of Legislative Decree 117/2008 (framework law on the management of waste from extractive activities) and art. 256 of Legislative Decree 152/2006 (Consolidated Environmental Law) for unauthorized management of waste from extractive activities carried out by companies, art. 452-bis and 650 of the Criminal Code (environmental pollution in an area subject to landscape, hydrogeological and cultural restrictions, due to its proximity to a small church of historical value - failure to comply with provisions of the Authority), as well as for failure to appoint the quarry manager, failure to submit the health and safety document and the document on the stability of the fronts, as required by Law 624/1996 (relating to the health and safety of workers in the exercise of extractive activities).

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