8 Egyptians belonging to a gang engaged in violent robberies and kidnapping have been arrested
On May 23, 2021, the Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Milan, in the capital and in the province of Varese, executed a precautionary custody order in prison issued by the GIP at the Court of Milan, at the request of the local Public Prosecutor's Office (Sost . Proc. Dott. Francesco Vittorio De Tommasi) against 8 subjects of Egyptian origin held responsible, for various reasons and in concurrence with each other, for aggravated robbery, kidnapping, aggravated personal injury, extortion, private violence and carrying of arms or objects capable of offending.
The investigations, conducted by the Compagnia Carabinieri Milano Duomo and coordinated by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, made it possible to reconstruct, through the collection of witness statements and photographic identifications by the victim and other people informed on the facts, as well as the analysis of the images of the video surveillance systems and the results in the database, which the eight foreigners (four of whom are brothers):
- on the evening of January 17, 2021, they broke into a shop on the site in Via Imbonati and, after violently beating the owner (a 34-year-old Egyptian) with fists, kicks and slaps to the body and face for about two hours, by tightening a rope around his neck and hitting him in the legs with an iron club, they had taken possession of 62 telephone devices, about € 2.000 in cash and other electronic equipment to then earn their escape, not before having tied him with plastic bands at the wrists and ankles and gagged with adhesive tape, so as to leave him immobilized on the ground until the evening of the following day, when he was rescued by a family member;
- during the violent assault, in order to induce him to leave the neighborhood as suspected of being the author of reports to the PF on their illegal activities, they had ordered him to sign an entire book of bills after having photographed and taken back his private parts with the threat of disseminating its contents, an event that did not materialize due to the opposite refusal of the victim who, once he had regained his freedom, did not hesitate to report the incident.
The investigative activity also made it possible to ascertain two other episodes of extortion and robbery committed by two of the Egyptians against another compatriot (a 24-year-old owner of a fruit and vegetable shop), on the occasion of which, respectively:
- they had taken possession of some fruit and vegetables for sale, deliberately refusing to pay the due price;
- they had hit him in the chest and ear with a switchblade, causing stab wounds [1] and stealing a cell phone and the cash of € 1.830 from his jacket pockets before fleeing.
Today's operation, conventionally called "Jafar" (from the name of the film character who, using his evil, aims to conquer the city and the whole world) has ultimately allowed to bring to justice a very dangerous band of non-EU citizens who, in recent months, he allegedly terrorized the merchants, mostly compatriots, in some districts of the Lombard capital with the intention of exercising pervasive control through the systematic commission of crimes against property and the person.