Clandestine immigration, decorum, checks on the regularity of public businesses, the open questions in the Umberto I neighborhood are still in the sights of the La Spezia Police Headquarters which in recent days has operated with personnel and means of both the La Spezia State Police personnel and the with the help of the Liguria Crime Prevention Department and the Financial Police with the drug-sniffing dog, and the Local Police. During the checks, the operators of the Flying Squad sanctioned a citizen, found in possession of three wraps of narcotic substance of the cocaine type, with a total weight of 2,739 grams. Likewise, during the checks carried out in some city premises, certain administrative irregularities were found, such as, among others, the occupation of public land, the failure to regularize the signs and the failure to display the prices of the products. Overall, 134 people were identified and fines were imposed against three neighborhood businesses.
During the same week, Flying Squad personnel intensified their activity aimed at combating illicit drug trafficking; in particular, yesterday, in the same area, it arrested a thirty-one year old Tunisian, observed several times in the previous days, caught by plainclothes anti-drug officers in the act of giving a dose of cocaine to another person. The couple, evidently after having reached an agreement, moved from the pedestrian area located in front of the elementary schools and the media library, always under the discreet observation of the officers. Near the intersection with Via Torino the drug dealing took place: while the buyer handed over 20 euros to the drug dealer, the latter briefly gave him a small wrapper in exchange, which was hidden in the fist of his hand. The operators, who had observed the entire negotiation, then stopped both the buyer, who had just come into possession of the drugs, and the dealer. The latter was found in possession of both the price of the dose just sold and other banknotes of various denominations, considered probable proceeds of similar drug dealing activities. During the search, which was carried out immediately, other drugs were also seized: approximately 38 grams of hashish. The pusher was also found wearing a particularly sharp cutter, used to divide the hashish to be dealt, which still had evident traces of the aforementioned substance on the blade.
Given the flagrant nature of the crime, the thirty-one year old, a Tunisian citizen already known to the offices, was arrested. Administrative complaint for substance use for the buyer. The position of the arrested person, who is charged with the crime of drug dealing, aggravated by the circumstance of having sold the drugs in the vicinity of educational institutions, as well as detention for the purpose of drug dealing – conduct punished by articles 73 and 80 of the Consolidated Law of the Laws relating to Narcotic Substances – is now being examined by the Deputy Public Prosecutor Elisa Loris and then by the Judge of the Court of La Spezia, for the analysis of his conduct and responsibilities. The arrest was validated with precautionary custody in prison. The thirty-one year old will also have to answer for the detention of the cutter, whose possession was not justified and, therefore, it was forbidden to carry it in a public place.
