Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Seven people reported; investigations started from the analysis of camera trap images

Milan, October 17 2019 – The Environment Unit of the Local Police, coordinated by Commander Marco Ciacci and Deputy Commander Paolo Ghirardi, seized a lorry and reported seven people connected to a series of illegal dumpings and the illicit transport of waste.

The investigations started from the analysis of the images of the camera traps: the mobile cameras installed by the local police in critical points, where illegal waste dumping had been reported. Viewing the videos allowed the officers to identify a white truck with a tipper that unloaded, at different times and on different days, large quantities of waste between via Zama and via Bonfadini.

Through the license plate number, the Local Police identified the owner: a 62-year-old Italian woman, resident in the field of via Bonfadini 39, who was immediately reported for illicit transport of waste. When spoken to by the officers, the woman declared that she did not know who could have used her truck, because she usually left it parked on the street, unlocked and with the keys in the car. Given these statements, the agents started further investigations to find out not only who was driving and illegally dumping the waste, but also to identify who was delivering the waste to the transporter for disposal.

The law allows the seizure of the vehicle for this type of crime only in flagrante delicto, the license plate of the vehicle was therefore issued to the patrols in the area and the surveillance of the Environment Unit of the local police was intensified. About a month after the owner's complaint, the truck was tracked down by a Local Police officer who noticed the vehicle in via Mecenate and immediately alerted the Environment Unit. The patrol was thus able to intervene on the two men who were loading some disused furnishings from a commercial business under renovation. Stopped by the officers, the two, without the documentation required by law, were reported for illicit transport of waste and the truck was seized. One of the two turned out to be the husband of the owner of the vehicle. Together with them, the owner of the business who had entrusted the material to be disposed of to people who did not meet the requirements was also reported.

During the same investigation, by examining the material abandoned by the same lorry in other adjacent streets, in the area between via Pestagalli and via Medici del Vascello, the agents managed to trace other people who had entrusted their waste to be disposed of. They too, two partners of a Paullo company who had rented a warehouse to another company, and the owner of the latter company, a woman of Chinese origin, were reported for illegal waste disposal.

“The agents carried out important work – explained the deputy mayor and councilor for safety Anna Scavuzzo – with investigations aimed at identifying both those materially responsible for the spills and those who illegally entrusted waste disposal to third parties. The signal that the Administration has given with these activities to combat the abandonment of waste is clear and the commitment of the local police will continue in the coming months. I thank the citizens and businesses for the information and reports provided to us, which are essential for the investigations and useful to continue to combat these phenomena which create degradation in the city".