Italian police have uncovered an illegal rubbish dump hidden in the remains of ancient Roman catacombs sealed off the area while they investigate alleged environmental pollution.
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| Italian municipal police in Rome have discovered underground illegal dump-siteat the tunnels and chambers of ancient catacombs [Credit: ANSA] |
Underground caverns and tunnels used as tombs since the second century BC had been filled with harmful waste over the years, creating an underground lake of acrid oil, Italian media reported.
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| Investigations revealed a massive dump-site polluting the environment and the archaeological site with harmful waste. [Credit: ANSA] |
The city government confirmed police had seized the site, which lies along the Appian Way, a preserved example of the ancient Roman street-building technique which laid smooth stones over a bed of gravel.
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| The caverns and tunnels were used for disposal of harmful waste [Credit: ANSA] |
Italy is home to some of Europe’s largest landfill sites and has been fined millions of euros by the European court of justice for failing to clean up its illegal dumping grounds.
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| The police discovered the site following an investigation and sealed off the area [Credit: ANSA] |
The waste management business has also provided fertile ground for organised crime in the country’s poorer south, most notoriously in the “Land of Fires” north of Naples, where rubbish has been dumped and burned, poisoning the environment.
Source: Reuters [January 26, 2016]
I'll bet those same "municipal police" who "discovered" the dumping , have also been on the Mafia payroll to look the other way for years .