The amount of crimes against the
Italian environment committed by organised crime groups, or
Ecomafia offences, grew seven billion euros last year to 22
billion euros, according to the latest report on the phenomenon
from green group Legambiente.
Last year there were 29,293 ecocrimes, or 80 a day, the
report said, with a 26% rise in the waste sector and a 4.3% gain
in the cement sector, "mainly fuelled by corruption".
Puglia is the top region per number of crimes while Lazio
is top in central Italy and Lombardy leads the way for
corruption-linked ecocrimes, said the report.
More than half the crimes, 14,736, took place in the four
regions where Italy's mafias are based: Puglia, Sicily, Campania
and Calabria.
Crimes affecting the agri-food sector amounted to 7,985,
for a value of 4.3 billion euros, and the illicit animal racket
notched up 7,846 crimes.
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