THE TARANTO FINANCIAL DEPOSITARY HAS EXECUTED A PERSONAL PRECAUTION ORDER AGAINST 21 PEOPLE ON ACCUSED OF CRIMINAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS, POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE OF OLOTURIA
This morning, the Yellow Flames of the Naval Operational Section of the Financial police of Taranto, together with the soldiers of the Provincial Command of Taranto and Brindisi, of the Aeronaval Group of Taranto, of the Naval Station of Bari, of the Naval Operational Department of Brindisi and with the support of a helicopter from the Air Section of Bari, they completed today an important operation against the “fish poaching”.
The financiers, at the request of the Public Prosecution Service, implemented a personal precaution order issued by the GIP of the Court of the Ionian Capital. Nine people ended up in prison and twelve others were placed under house arrest on charges of criminal association e environmental disaster.
The investigations
The investigations, which began in 2021 and were coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, made it possible to discover an organization active in the provinces of Taranto, Bari and Brindisi and dedicated to the arrest and processing of olo holders, for export. The illegal activity of collecting the so-called “sea cucumber” has led to the gradual disappearance of these echinoderms from the Ionian coast.
Between 2022 and 2023, the suspects’ military seized more than 5 tons of echinoderms illegally fished in the waters off the coast of Taranto, and two chambers illegally used for the storage and processing of sea cucumbers.
In addition, they arrested a 50-year-old Chinese citizen who, without any health permit, had set up a laboratory equipped with dryers for the processing and subsequent export of echinoderms, of the species “Holothuroidea”.
Domestic and foreign forwarders are, unknowingly, used for transport
The organization used foreign transporters to ship the recovered and still alive product to Greece and Turkey. Operators of well-known logistics companies were also engaged for domestic and foreign shipments, subconscious to transport quantities of processed and dried sea cucumbers.
I “sea cucumbers” (sea cucumbers), are very valuable to fish poachers and to the brokers who handle their exports to China. In the East, the value of dried sea cucumbers can reach €700 per kilogram, with peaks of up to €3,000 per kilogram.
Poaching as an environmental crime
A millionaire turnover, already discovered in 2017 thanks to the operation Blue desertcoordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Taranto, which laid the foundation for the recognition of poaching as environmental crime by the Court of Cassation, thanks to the pioneering application of “Ecoreati” introduced Criminal Code with law 68/2015.
This action dealt a severe blow to the professionals of illegal fishing and to those responsible for the so-called “Green crimes”.
Bari’s Air and Naval Operations Department continuously monitors the coastline and regional waters and keeps crime prevention and control operational 24 hours a day. This oversight allows us to safeguard natural resources, protect public health and support the legal economy.