Payment made to return stolen scooter, but police turn up at meeting in Paternò

Two hundred and fifty euros to return the stolen scooter to the rightful owner, with the classic “return horse”, this is the sum requested by an 18-year-old from Paternò to the victim, a 48-year-old man from Catania.

However, the plan failed after the victim’s report and thanks to the trap organized by the carabinieri of the operational section of Paternò.

The scooter, an Aprilia motorcycle, had been left parked along Via Etnea in Catania, with the steering lock engaged. Nevertheless, it was stolen and taken to Paternò where the eighteen-year-old was caught while, riding the scooter, he was speeding along Via Dalmazia.

The theft was immediately reported to the carabinieri and the scooter was described in detail in the report, which the owner had personalized with two red paint stripes on the fairing. In the meantime, the man had started looking on social networks for images and videos of scooters of the same model as his own. In conducting this search, he managed to find a video showing a boy on his scooter, lifting it off the ground for several meters near a building decorated with a mural. Having recognized that particular building, the owner provided the images to the military in Paternò and, under their guidance, began messaging with the person who had posted the video, asking for its return. The interlocutor, while admitting to using the scooter, claimed not to have it in his possession anymore, but was willing, he said, to “help” the victim recover it, in exchange for 250 euros. This practice is obviously illegal as it is extortion.

At that point, the carabinieri advised the man to go along with the game and arrange for a meeting to hand over the money in exchange for the scooter. After agreeing on the date, time, and location of the meeting, the military set up a surveillance service from a distance, in order to constantly monitor the situation until, when handing over the money, the blitz was triggered. The young man, riding the stolen moped, approached the victim and took the envelope containing the money from his hands, but was immediately stopped by the men of the operational section. The boy was arrested and placed at the disposal of the judicial authority, which placed him on house arrest.