Two integrated territorial control actions have been carried out in recent days by State Police officers in the neighbourhood Saint Christopher, populous district of the historic center of Catania. During the services, on the orders of the Police Commissioner, the activity of a public establishment in via della Concordia was temporarily suspended, with the simultaneous closure of the place for 7 days, because it was frequented by numerous criminals. Fire Brigade personnel also intervened to assist the police in order to dismantle iron structures placed to protect some homes believed to be places of drug dealing: the buildings appeared abandoned, but in reality they were indoor drug dealing plazas with doors of iron that armored the entrances. Inside they are material for packaging drugs and microcameras used for surveillance of the drug dealing house, so as to also prevent the arrival of the police forces.
Flying Squad agents carried out several searches which allowed them to find 200 grams of marijuana and 100 grams of cocaine, the latter already divided into doses ready for dealing. The drugs were in an abandoned scooter and in “ghost homes”, dilapidated structures whose owners cannot be identified and which are often used as temporary storage for drugs.
Overall, over 200 people were checked, of which 48 with criminal records, as well as 102 vehicles, with numerous violations of the Highway Code reported, especially due to the lack of insurance coverage and periodic inspection. A 47-year-old was reported for theft of electricity with direct connection to the public network.
Even from above
The extraordinary control action of the territory, coordinated by the Central and San Cristoforo police stations, took place through a device that saw some crews from the Crime Prevention Department, anti-drug dog units of the Police Headquarters, the X Mobile Department, together with the Police Local and with support from the helicopter of the V Flight Department of the State Police, stationed in Reggio Calabria. The aircraft made it possible to monitor the entire city from above and in particular the areas of operations, constantly monitoring, at low altitude and inch by inch, the places where the patrols set up numerous control posts and targeted inspection activities, even of commercial establishments.
