(ANSA) - Rome,
December 31 - Italian police on Monday continued their traditional
end-of-the-year offensive against illegal fireworks, a battle which has produced
favorable results over the past few years.
Most of the fireworks seized in the lead up to New
Year's were in the south, especially in Naples which each year usually records
the highest number of injuries from the improper use of fireworks, mostly
illegal ones.
Over the past weeks, police in the region of Campania
alone have seized 12.5 metric tons of illegal fireworks and arrested 99 people.
A special task force has been set up in Naples to
deal with the emergency this year, which has been aggravated by the risk that
fireworks may set ablaze the mounds of trash which have accumulated on roadsides
throughout the province.
''Already by early evening we will have civil
protection volunteers join firemen to extinguish burning trash, which could
release harmful toxins in the air,'' the Naples provincial councilor for civil
protection, Francesco Emilio Borrelli, said on Monday.
In order to help in these efforts, Borrelli said a
hotline had been set up to allow citizens to report any dangerous fires.
Police have warned that many of the illegal fireworks
are in reality rudimentary bombs, including ''The Budget'', a mortar using one
kg of explosive that can cause serious damage to persons and things within a
broad radius.
''It costs 250 euros and can blow up a whole
building,'' said a doctor leading a prevention scheme in Italy's most
firework-mad city.
Citing other holiday crowd-pleasers like the Bin
Laden, the (Pope) Ratzinger and the Maradona Bomb, Dr. Mariano Marmo said
''these are full-blown explosives''.
More than 200 ''Budget'' bombs were seized in Naples
over the weekend.
Aside from government agencies, religious authorities
have also joined in the effort against illegal fireworks, with one priest
defining their possession and use a ''sin''.
''People who buy illegal fireworks are helping to
enrich organized crime. And people who set off illegal fireworks put at risk not
only their own lives but also those of others,'' said Father Tonino Palmese, a
priest in Naples known for his efforts against the local organized crime
syndicate, the Camorra.
Possessing and setting off illegal fireworks is a
sin, he explained, ''because not only is 'do not kill' a commandment of the
Catholic faith, but the Church explicitly condemns those who put at risk, even
through carelessness, their own lives and those of others. Life is sacred
because it is a creation of God''.
Father Palmese asked law enforcement officials to
intensify their efforts against illegal fireworks ''because the Camorra is very
sly and brings out its most dangerous fireworks at the very last moment''.
Among those arrested for possession of fireworks on
Monday was a 38-year-old man in Brindisi who was taken to jail after police
found 120kg of illegal fireworks in his home, where he had been under house
arrest after being busted two weeks ago for possession of 400kg of fireworks.
Illegal fireworks are not only a phenomenon in the
south. Police in Genoa seized 40,000 of them over the weekend, including mortars
and rockets, while in Turin 177 mega-firecrackers were impounded.
Police in Rome on Monday seized 2.2 metric tons of
Chinese fireworks that had counterfeit authorization labels and had higher
amounts of explosive power than what had been written on the packages.
Thanks to the nationwide crackdown on illegal
fireworks, there has not been a firecracker-related fatality since New Year's
Eve 2000.
Two people were killed last year and two the previous
one - but both by shotguns.
Last year 55 people were wounded or maimed, compared
to 60 in 2005.
Most of the victims are youngsters. The luckier ones
get burned. Others have fingers or larger parts of limbs
removed.
