Hole dug on NATO pipeline at Vezzano Ligure: tickets with Quranic verses found
The Spezia prosecutor's office is investigating attempted theft and sabotage near the NATO-pol pipeline. The mayor of Vezzano Ligure: "I found out from a friend who was watching the TG1 news".
Pit a few centimetres from military pipeline: tools and notes in Arabic seized
A pit dug with a shovel and pickaxe a few centimetres from the NATO-pol pipeline — the oil pipeline that supplies Jet A-1 aviation fuel to military bases in Ghedi, Aviano, Villafranca Veronese and Cervia-Pisignano — has opened an investigation by the Spezia prosecutor's office for attempted theft and sabotage. ANSA Cronaca reports.
Inside the pit investigators found the tools used for the excavation and some small notes, one of which written in Arabic reported verse 255 of Sura al-Baqarah of the Quran, known as the Verse of the Throne, which proclaims the oneness and majesty of Allah. The discovery fuelled numerous hypotheses, but investigators for now lean towards an attempted theft — also considering the value of the diesel — or an excavation aimed at hiding something. The anti-terrorism district has not yet been involved.
Investigators have sealed off the area around the pit, the tools and the notes, and are continuing investigations to answer the questions opened up by the case: from the presence of the Quranic verse to the fact that the pipeline's route at that point is not marked by any signs.
The furious mayor: "I found out from a friend yesterday evening"
The incident has prompted a reaction from the mayor of Vezzano Ligure, Massimo Bertoni, who was not informed by either the carabinieri or the prefect. "I knew nothing about it," Bertoni declared. "I found out from a friend yesterday evening who had seen the TG1 news. I understand the confidentiality that this situation requires, I understand that everything concerning this pipeline is military jurisdiction, but could you not warn the mayor of the town that something happened? Even if it was just a hole."
Bertoni wrote to the prefect today to express his disappointment. His words also reflect concern about the potential consequences of the incident: "Let us ask ourselves what would have happened if these people had punctured the pipe. Thousands and thousands of litres of fuel would have ended up in the canal that leads to the Magra and from there would have been spilled into the sea at Marinella. In the best-case scenario it would have been an unprecedented environmental disaster. In the worst case, if the fuel caught fire, the town of Vezzano would not exist anymore." The mayor stressed that he had been unable to activate civil protection or local police in time.
Beneath the hillside, five enormous kerosene tanks
Vezzano Ligure, a hillside municipality at approximately 200 metres above sea level in the province of Spezia, is home beneath the mountain to five large kerosene tanks, a legacy of military policies in the nineteen-sixties, in the height of the Cold War. Two military areas, surrounded by barbed wire, are under continuous surveillance and classified as highest security.
"The concern is constant, now more than ever with the wars that are happening," Bertoni recalled. "This is an area considered high-risk. And also for this reason I expected different conduct." The mayor said he was ready to address the matter with the competent authorities, requesting that in future the mayor be informed promptly of any event concerning the municipal territory.
Source: ANSA Cronaca