Major crackdown in San Cristoforo: neighborhood surrounded by agents, street vendors fined and illegal structures demolished.

A special territorial control operation was coordinated in recent days by the State Police in the San Cristoforo neighborhood, with the dual objective of countering widespread illegal activities and episodes of illegal street vending.

The police officers from the Police Headquarters of Catania cordoned off the entire neighborhood to allow for dynamic patrolling of streets, alleys, and squares, thanks to the intervention of various agents from the flying squad, motorized units, and canine units, with the support of the Eastern Sicily Crime Prevention Department and the Regional Scientific Police Office. Personnel from the Sicilian Regional Forestry Corps and local police officers were also present, conducting checks to ensure compliance with food service regulations.

During the inspections, several street vendors were caught displaying and selling fruit and vegetable products without any authorization. For this reason, the local police officers issued fines totaling 10,000 euros to the illegal vendors and seized almost a ton of food that lacked the necessary traceability requirement. After appropriate checks, the food was deemed suitable for human consumption and was donated to charitable organizations.

On via Della Concordia, the police officers from the Police Headquarters found some structures placed on the street and sidewalk in an illegal manner. Therefore, all installations were removed, freeing up public spaces and returning them to citizens who were unable to walk on the sidewalk and were forced to go into the street, posing a risk to their safety.

On via De Lorenzo, an illegally constructed awning was found on the street to shelter parked vehicles. It was not possible to identify the author of the illegal structure. The entire structure was removed thanks to the intervention of a team of workers from the Municipality.

During the phases of removing the canopy, the police dogs of the canine unit sniffed something, leading the officers to an electrical cabin, where a gun was found, wrapped in cellophane along with some ammunition. Once the removal phases were completed, the entire area was cleaned, resulting in the recovery of almost two tons of waste, including wooden and plastic crates and abandoned sales counters. In this way, the decorum of the street and sidewalk was restored, making it accessible again to pedestrians.