Upon the arrival at the pier of Sant’Agostino of the cars of the Guardia di Finanza, those of the local police and of a Roan vessel via lake, among those who were preparing to pick up tourists in an unauthorized way – because otherwise the reaction would not be explained – a bit of everything happened, which can be described in a few words with the term “run away”. Phone in hand, some behind a wall, some at a bar table, calls were made to this or that person to ask not to show up, or to arrive at another time. It is presumable that there were partners or customers on the other end of the phone. Just as the soldiers present on the pier told – another curious thing – of a fake tourist complete with a (real) dog in tow, who, pretending to be interested in the environmental beauty, was procuring customers for boat excursions, also in this case in an evidently unauthorized way.
In short, yesterday morning’s visit to Sant’Agostino by local police and yellow flames, called to verify the regularity of taxi boat or boat rental activities, caused a stir. Two hours in which, among tourists intrigued by that sudden gathering and those cards that were shown and requested, 15 boats were checked about to dock at the pier. In the afternoon, confirmation arrived regarding the service from the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza and the Air-Naval Operations Department, which with the help of the local Police carried out «a series of checks in Viale Geno, in particular on the pier of Sant’Agostino, in order to verify the presence of any irregularities in the taxi boat activity”.
Six patrols were present, some of which were also in civilian clothes, with the help of a finance patrol boat from the water, plus two patrols from the Viale Innocenzo corps. In three cases, failure to complete the mandatory forms was contested, with penalties ranging from 65 to 665 euros. With respect to two other operators, the failure to install telematic meters was found, i.e. devices equipped with a tax module with the capacity to memorize individual operations and, at the same time, to issue the commercial document relating to the services rendered. In this case the fine is 1200 euros.
Finally, during the morning, six individuals were also identified intent on approaching tourists present on Viale Geno (such as the fake tourist with the dog) to offer them the possibility of taking trips on the lake. Their position is under investigation.
