Three were arrested in Cagliari, shortly before boarding a ship bound for Naples. This morning, the Carabinieri arrested three alleged members of the gang that recently carried out (at least) two scams involving fake Carabinieres. The incidents that sparked the investigation, culminating in the early-morning arrests, occurred in recent days against two elderly women from Baratili San Pietro and Uras , in the Oristano area.
The operation was conducted by soldiers from the Ghilarza, Mogoro, and Oristano companies, with operational support from the Cagliari Company. Two suspects are charged with aggravated extortion, and the third with receiving stolen goods.
The arrests came after 15 hours of surveillance, which began following the scams carried out in recent days.
The scam's scheme is well known: the carefully selected victims were contacted by telephone by a fake Carabinieri officer who, under the threat of severe criminal prosecution for their entirely fabricated involvement in a crime (such as cloning their car's license plate, used to commit a robbery), was forced by the self-styled Carabinieri, who then showed up at their homes, to hand over cash, gold, and jewelry in their possession.
The last two heists netted a haul of approximately €40,000. Two highly valuable pieces of jewelry, found stolen from the Uras victim, were found in the possession of the fence.
"The criminals' specious intimidation of elderly victims, already observed in similar previous incidents by law enforcement," the Carabinieri explained, "aims to instill psychological subjugation and a sense of fear in vulnerable individuals, making them feel guilty of a nonexistent crime and exploiting the Carabinieri's credibility among the public to induce them to hand over cash or gold jewelry to avoid negative consequences with the justice system."
The elderly victims were forced, "under the threat of unjust harm, to maintain telephone communication with the criminals who were attempting a scam (a well-known technique for isolating the home's telephone number from other incoming calls). Meanwhile, the criminals were asking questions about the home, presumably in an attempt to locate it."
At that point, the interlocutor explained that his associates would show up and collect the money previously advanced. This time, the scammers fared badly: three were taken to prison in Uta, while investigations are ongoing to recover additional stolen goods and identify further connections to similar incidents in the province of Oristano and throughout Sardinia.
The Carabinieri command emphasizes that the manner in which this "horrific crime" was carried out "denotes a high level of organization and meticulous planning, planned down to the last detail, with a planned trip from Campania and all the necessary precautions. The attack was carried out after having searched for the victim, gathering information about his profile and habits, undoubtedly including the absence of family members at home and the names of his loved ones. The fact that two people were identified as being alone, very elderly and evidently impressionable, that their understandable fear was exploited, and that this feeling was exploited to attempt to steal large sums of money, is indicative of the total lack of restraint on the part of those who act "criminally," showing not the slightest compassion, especially when it comes to the detriment of citizens of small towns in the province of Oristano."
Enrico Fresu