Over the last week, the Gioia Tauro Company has carried out targeted checks on commercial and production activities in the municipalities of the Piana to verify compliance with environmental regulations and the correct carrying out of the economic activities subject to the licence. Thanks to intense and constant analysis, the Carabinieri identified a series of objectives which, following the inspection, highlighted serious irregularities.
In Rosarno, it was reported a seventy-year-old who, inside a room on the ground floor he owned, had set up a public betting shop without any license. The place had no signs but upon entry the Carabinieri ascertained the existence of a real betting centre, divided into several rooms, within which sports bets were illegally placed and slot machines were installed without any authorization . The man was administratively and criminally sanctioned for violating the gaming and betting regulations and the equipment was seized.
In Gioia Tauro and Melicucco, during three different checks, the Carabinieri carried out reported five individuals for violation of environmental regulations. In the first check they found that two subjects they illegally carried out the profession of mechanic and disposed of industrial waste, such as used oils, lubricants and steel drums, independently, without authorization and causing serious damage to the surrounding environment.
In the second check, however, they seized a pile of waste located inside a demolition plant. On this occasion, a leak of waste oil from the demolition operations was detected, which had contaminated the soil outside the plant and the rainwater containment tanks in which various contaminating residues were found. In an area adjacent to the plant, covering approximately 600 m2, an illegal landfill of decommissioned vehicles and metal components to be scrapped was also identified, among which a stolen car was found. This area, used without the necessary authorizations and filled with uncontrolled accumulations of materials which constituted a serious risk for the environment, was also subjected to seizure.
Subsequent documentary checks made it possible to ascertain that the managers of the area did not have the disposal forms relating to the correct disposal of waste water and used oils. The third control, however, allowed the manager of a laundry to be reported for discharging waste water into the surrounding environment without authorization.