TRANI – They demanded and obtained by force of threat the payment of a sum of money for parking in Trani, in the port area, the Cathedral, the Swabian Castle, to the detriment of motorists, especially tourists. The State Police of Trani arrested three local citizens, two men aged 37 and 49 and a woman aged 42, for the crimes of extortion and illegal parking. The investigations against illegal parking began at the direct request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Trani.
Monitoring of the illegal phenomenon has also been started with the help of technical activity.
The agents of the Public Security Commissioner, assisted by the Scientific Police, documented the extortion methods. The investigators ascertained that the three, posing as regularly authorized parkers, approached motorists in the same way: first they made every effort to indicate the free space in the blue lines, then they approached the victim and threatened him with phrases such as “if you want to stay calm …”. The victim, at that point, paid the sum necessary to guarantee the safety of the car. In other circumstances they guaranteed the “safety of the car” during parking, upon payment of a fee. There were numerous extortion schemes put in place: in one circumstance the threats become explicit: “If you want your car to remain intact and safe, you have to pay me”.
The three had already been reached by the Dacur measure issued by the Police Commissioner of the Bat province which prohibits access to certain areas of the city but today’s arrests were added to this measure which is not suitable to curb the illicit action. The three must answer for extortion, illegal parking activity and violation of the Dacur. Two of them were taken to Trani prison while the woman was admitted to the house arrest regime.
