Italy's government is sending
100 military troops to fight the so-called ecomafia in the area
between Naples and Caserta, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano
said Monday.
The illegal burning of toxic waste in the area has led to
it being dubbed the "land of fires".
With 90 clans and 4,000 affiliates active in the region,
the powerful Naples-based Camorra mafia has long infiltrated the
rubbish-collection industry and has raked in huge profits even
as its illegal dumps and uncontrolled burning of waste and other
toxic materials have been blamed for unusually high levels of
cancer and other disease linked to pollution that will plague
future generations.
Although the waste is usually disposed of in southern
Italy, it is often produced by firms in other parts of the
country and sometimes by foreign companies as well.
Mafia infiltration of waste disposal has become a major
environmental and health issue as hundreds of thousands of
tonnes of waste - some of it dangerously contaminated - has been
illegally dumped in what some have described as an ecological
time bomb that will continue to poison the land for at least
another 50 years.
Monday's announcement follows on an emergency decree that
became law in February to deal with ecomafia environmental
crimes as well as industrial pollution from the ILVA steel plant
in southern Italy.
It authorizes deployment of a maximum of 850 military
troops in the Land of Fires up to December 31 this year.
"The military is staying as long as it's needed", Alfano
told the National Public Safety and Order Committee, which he
chaired Monday in Naples.
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