Thirteen thousand square meters, over two hundred car wrecks, hundreds of batteries, one suspect : these are some of the numbers from the operation by the Quartu Investigative Unit of the Forestry Corps that led to the seizure of a large area transformed into an illegal landfill, a short distance from the new State Road 554.
The hundreds of cars found were of various origins. Most should have been scrapped legally, some had been stolen. The carcasses were dismantled and the components introduced into an illegal disposal circuit. Several vehicles, moreover, were burned to recover the metals.
Industrial appliances, air conditioners, tires and highly polluting materials such as bags of glass wool were also found in the area. In addition to hundreds of lead batteries, abandoned in direct contact with the ground. The land was found to be partly state property, expropriated for the construction of the new State Road 554.
The preventive seizure of the entire area was validated by the investigating judge of the Court of Cagliari and an individual, already known for environmental crimes, was identified as the owner and manager of the site. He is being investigated for numerous crimes: management of an illegal landfill of hazardous waste, illegal incineration of waste, crimes against property and receiving stolen goods.
The position of the owners of over 200 cars is still being defined: they could be fined for failure to scrap and abandonment of vehicles, with a penalty of arrest from six months to two years and a fine from 2,600 to 26,000 euros.
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)