The control and protection of the territory carried out by the Forestry Carabinieri continues unabated, engaged daily in the protection of environmental legality within the Aspromonte National Park.
In recent days, during a territorial control service, aimed at the prevention and repression of environmental crimes/illegal acts, the soldiers of the CC Park Units of Mammola and San Giorgio Morgeto, dependent on the CC PN “Aspromonte” Department, identified, in the locality of Rodinella, in the Municipality of Mammola, along the municipal road that leads to Provincial Road n. 120, a car in a clear state of abandonment, located within a free-access agricultural area.
The vehicle, a green Fiat Panda, had no license plates and doors, with the passenger compartment used as a storage area for various types of objects.
Suspicious about the condition of the vehicle and the circumstances of its discovery, the Forestry Carabinieri decided to investigate further, carrying out a thorough inspection of the vehicle.
The particular attention and operational intuition of the soldiers made it possible to identify, hidden inside the engine compartment, a 12 gauge semi-automatic shotgun, Beretta brand, model A302, with abraded serial number.
In the same compartment, over one hundred 12 gauge cartridges were also found, with broken ammunition, and further ball cartridges, kept inside two plastic casings.
A discovery of particular importance, especially considering the alteration of the identifying marks of the weapon, a circumstance which determined the need to proceed with further investigations required by current legislation on clandestine weapons.
In light of what was ascertained, the operating military proceeded to seize the material found, promptly informing the competent judicial authority at the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Locri.
The activity demonstrates, once again, the value of the constant presence of the Forestry Carabinieri in the internal areas of Aspromonte, where environmental surveillance is accompanied by a broader function of safeguarding legality and collective safety.