joint operation with the GDF to combat food counterfeiting, 3 precautionary measures applied

On the morning of July 11, in the provinces of Novara, Biella, Livorno, Milan, Parma and Reggio Emilia, the Carabinieri of the NAS of Turin and the personnel of the Operational Unit of the Novara Guardia di Finanza Group, coordinated by Europol and in the context of a proceeding ordered by the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Novara, implemented an Order for the application of a precautionary measure issued by the GIP of the Court of Novara, together with a local search decree, against 3 subjects under investigation in the context of a complex investigation activity aimed at contrasting a criminal association dedicated to receiving stolen goods and food counterfeiting.
The activities, carried out in collaboration with the Provincial Carabinieri Commands and with the competent NAS, involved a total of 14 targets including private homes and commercial businesses, distributed over 6 different provinces.
The investigations originated more than a year ago, when in March 2022 the military of NAS of Turinat a food retailer in the Province of Novara, subjected several kg of confectionary products potentially dangerous to public health to criminal seizure as they lacked commercial documentation and bore an expiry date which was later found to be counterfeit.
Subsequent investigations then revealed that these products came from a wholesale trade company, also located in the Novara area, against which the Carabinieri then launched a complex monitoring activity, including through technical interception instruments.
The activity, carried out jointly by the soldiers of the Arma and the Guardia di Finanza on the invoices and accounting documents acquired over time, has made it possible to reconstruct in detail the financial relationships between the suspects, as well as the particularly significant economic volume of the illegal activities , also corroborated by the huge seizure carried out last October, in which several tons of foodstuffs, for an approximate value of 1 million euros, had been subjected to criminal constraint, already relabelled and ready for sale although expired.
Over the months, therefore, it has been possible to reconstruct the links between the various suspects, as well as the specific characteristics of the associative bond, or in particular the preparation of a stable organization based on an agreement between the interested parties and suitable for carrying out the criminal program consciously put into practice, aimed at the marketing of food and household products, also purchased from well-known Italian companies that have already expired or are in any case close to expiry, and re-marketed with counterfeit labeling and/or packaging indicating the lot and expiry dates.
The precautionary measures applied concern the obligation to stay in the municipality of residence with a ban on going out at night against the 2 subjects identified respectively as the lender and the distributor of the counterfeit products, as well as the obligation to submit to the judicial police and the disqualification measure temporary ban on the exercise of business activities towards the aforementioned interested parties and also of the subject identified as the supplier of expired or close to expiry products.
The criminal proceedings are currently in the preliminary investigation phase and therefore the presumption of innocence of the suspects applies, until the final sentence.