Last Sunday, during a patrol of the territory, the Carabinieri of the Crotone Forestry Unit identified a cultivated field of Indian hemp, in the Brasimato area of the municipality of Crotone. The military, who in this period also intensified their checks to prevent and combat the phenomenon of forest fires, came across, within a eucalyptus wooded area which is not easy to access with vehicles, a large clearing where there were over 500 marijuana plants arranged in different rows with an average height of approximately 1 meter, which covered an expanse of 600 square meters and on which the presence of the inflorescences used for the production of the narcotic was evident and unmistakable. Furthermore, an irrigation system consisting of a pump and distribution pipes was recovered and seized, which allowed the water supply of the land on which the illegal cultivation was set up from a nearby reservoir. A surveillance system was also found that allowed observation of the area.
Under the direction of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Crotone, the entire cultivation was eradicated by the Crotone soldiers who intervened, also supported by NIPAAF of Crotone, the Carabinieri Station of Scandale and the Forestry Unit of Cirò, who proceeded with the aid of special machines agricultural, to the destruction of the plants found.
The investigative activity also continues on the basis of the clues collected on site which could lead to the identification of the responsible parties and their indictment for the crime of illegal cultivation of narcotic substances which carries a prison sentence of 6 to 20 years and the fine from 26 thousand euros up to 260 thousand euros.
This further blow to the drug market by the Carabinieri averted the imminent harvesting of the plantation for the production of cannabinoids, the sale of which would have generated an illegal profit estimated at around 200 thousand euros.
