It’s Wednesday, market day. For decades, the traditional Mercato of Luino has been one of the most famous sights on Lake Maggiore. What most visitors don’t suspect is that while they’re strolling through picturesque alleyways, just a few kilometers away, a completely different kind of trade is flourishing. Drug dealers camp out in the forests of Valcuvia and Valganna, selling cocaine, heroin and hashish by the kilo – including to Swiss junkies.
“From here, the dealers go up to their hiding places and bring the stuff to the customers,” says Alessandro Volpini (49). The head of the Luino Carabinieri points to a steep path that leads from the hairpin bend into the forest. His people have marched ahead. They search in the undergrowth for tents, fireplaces, provisions. Blick accompanies the officials through the thicket.
The leafy ground is scanned for weapons with a metal detector. Dug troughs serve as places for the dealers to sit and sleep. “They set themselves up in the forest for several days,” says Volpini. The dealers are gone. But they left their jackets. The carabinieri search the pockets, hoping for a cell phone, drugs, private photos. The men find bags, a tin can, campfire lighters and Arabic tea.
Moroccans tortured for over seven hours
This place is a cruel crime scene, says Alessandro Volpini. A few weeks ago, a Moroccan man (25) was tied to a tree and tortured for over seven hours. “They whip him, break his arm and try to cut off his ear,” the commander continues, “so that he would obey his bosses.” In the end, the tormentors simply threw the seriously injured man out of the car. They took his belongings with them.
A little later, an Italian (40) with welts all over his body ended up in the Luino hospital. The Moroccans hung him from a tree by the wrists and beat him up for more than three hours. When the branch broke, the man was able to escape. The investigation quickly leads to the torturers. In mid-July, three men were arrested in Pavia and charged with robbery and aggravated assault.
The violence has escalated this year
The commander follows with great concern what is happening in the woods of Luino. Because, according to Alessandro Volpini, the violence is escalating. “It started almost five years ago,” he says. “In the first operation in Maghreb, we arrested around 20 people and seized seven kilos of drugs. In 2019-2020 we also found dozens of weapons in the woods. Rifles, pistols, machetes. The gangs started defending their territory.”
The situation has calmed down in the lockdown. But in 2022, the violence explodes. There was an exchange of gunfire in February. “We have arrested 24 criminals in the past four months, 23 Moroccans and one Italian,” says Deputy Commander Marco Cariola (50). According to the carabiniere, the forests are firmly in Moroccan hands, “the people mostly come from the Moroccan region of Beni Mellal.” Her Italian homeland is the Milan hinterland.
The Carabinieri show presence in the forests, want to disturb the Moroccans and finally scare them away. Tourists might also help, according to the police chief. «The woods of Luino are a popular hiking area. Locals, but also foreign guests, should keep their eyes open and report bivouacs, maybe also photograph license plates of suspicious vehicles and send them to the police,” says Alessandro Volpini.