Vast operation by the State Police in several provinces of northern Puglia
On 27 and 28 September, 400 State Police operators, coordinated by the Central Operational Service of the Central Anti-Crime Directorate, conducted a vast judicial police operation which affected the high-density criminal centers of Cerignola, Andria and Bitonto, where the area was scoured with searches, raids, checkpoints and checks on commercial establishments.
In action are the Mobile Squads of the Police Headquarters of Bari, Foggia and the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, as well as the SISCO (investigative sections reporting directly to the Central Operational Service) of Bari, Lecce, Naples, Potenza and Campobasso, which in recent weeks have carried out, in the territories concerned, preliminary investigations aimed at collecting widespread information on subjects and places dangerous to public order and safety, which were affected by today's operation.
In addition to the Investigation Offices, the Crime Prevention Departments from different parts of Italy operated and, in particular, from Abbasanta, Bari, Bologna, Catania, Florence, Foggia, Lecce, Naples, Palermo, Perugia, Pescara, Potenza, Reggio Emilia , Rende, Rome, Siderno and Vibo Valentia.
The contingent also made use of UOPI (First Intervention Operational Units) teams, policemen with particular training and equipment, highly specialized for securing the operational theater and for the possible neutralization of serious threats.
The police stations of Cerignola and Bitonto, anti-drug and anti-explosive dog units, the scientific police, the administrative and social police and the traffic police also participated in the activities.
Aerial coverage of the huge device was guaranteed by two helicopters of the 9th Flight Department of the State Police.
In the Cerignola area, the operation focused on the Torricelli and San Samuele area, a neighborhood also known as "Fort Apache", known in the news for drug dealing activities and because many attacks are believed to have been planned in this very place to security vans from all over Italy. During checks carried out at local car dismantlers, with the help of the Traffic Police, almost 9000 spare parts for high-end cars were found and seized, of suspected illicit origin, ready to be resold, of which more than 6000 to inside a single warehouse.
In Andria the operation concerned the San Valentino neighbourhood, which in the recent past was affected by numerous arsons and intimidations carried out by organized crime in Andria.
In Bitonto, the Borgo Antico area and area 167 were hit, also known as the "Scampia" of Bitonto because it was affected by a massive phenomenon of open-air sale of narcotic substances with leaders, lookouts and pushers. In the same area, a frequency inhibitor (jammer) used to disturb the signals of radio equipment and mobile phones, facilitating the commission of crimes, were found and seized, as were three wigs used for misrepresentations.
Following the pressure exerted on the criminal associations operating in these territories, 13 people were arrested during the operation, while 15 were handed over to the Judicial Authority in a state of freedom.
In the same geographical context, 127 house searches were carried out and 86 checks were carried out on those subjected to house arrest.
Furthermore, over 300 checkpoints and 4 checkpoints were carried out with the crews of the Crime Prevention Department and the UOPI, with more than ten thousand people checked and identified and more than 5000 vehicles checked.
In the territories affected by the activity, 3 pistols and 3 stabbing and stabbing weapons were seized.
Finally, as a result of the vast operation, almost a kilogram of narcotic substances was seized, in some cases hidden in cellars and terraces.