An illegal race transformed into an urban guerrilla scene. This is the chilling picture that emerged from the images circulated in the last few hours on social media and ended up at the center of an investigation that led to the seizure of two horses and the reporting of two men from Catania aged 40 and 45. The footage, which quickly went viral, showed an illegal competition between carriages on the farm roads near the SS417 Catania-Gela, in the Palagonia area. Dozens of scooters ran around the horses, many with blacked out license plates, while some participants fired shots in the air holding pistols and even a Kalashnikov. A presence that immediately raised the level of investigative alarm. Not just an abusive competition, but a true display of strength and control of the territory.
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The illegal stables discovered in San Cristoforo
After the release of the videos, the Horse Squad of the Catania Police Headquarters started intense checks in the first hours afterward. The checks were concentrated in the San Cristoforo district, between via Alogna and via Garozzo, with the support of the ASP veterinarians. During the first inspection, the owner of a stable admitted that the foal kept in the structure was one of the animals used in the previous day’s race. The horse, about a year old, would have been without regular identification.
The officers then proceeded to identify the animal via microchip and seize it, which was subsequently entrusted to a specialized facility. The checks then led to the discovery of a second illegal stable. Here too the horse found had no microchip or health registration. According to investigators, the absence of identification would serve precisely to avoid veterinary checks and official tracing.
The jockey recognized and the admissions
During the operations, the police recognized one of the jockeys immortalized in the videos of the clandestine race. The man, filmed with his face uncovered while driving the carriage, was identified and admitted his responsibilities in the race, but distanced himself from the shots and the armed people present along the route. Both seized animals were found in good health, but their transfer to authorized facilities was deemed necessary to prevent their further use in illegal competitions or, in the worst case scenario, slaughter.
The people present in the controlled stables were accompanied to the police headquarters for further investigations. The owners of the illegal structures received administrative sanctions for unauthorized detention of animals, failure to register and failure to carry out mandatory health checks.
The alarm about illegal racing and the burden of crime
The images of the race have turned the spotlight back on a phenomenon that for years has represented one of the most violent and deep-rooted manifestations of illegality in the Sicilian territory. According to animal rights associations and investigators, clandestine horse races are not just illegal events linked to betting, but real instruments of intimidation and criminal affirmation. The presence of weapons, scooters used to block the streets and collective participation transform these races into public demonstrations of power. The appearance of a Kalashnikov in the videos made the picture even more disturbing. A detail which, beyond the nature of the weapon, transmits a precise message: control of the territory and open defiance of the rules. Now the documents have been sent to the Caltagirone Prosecutor’s Office, which will have to evaluate the responsibilities that emerged during the investigations. The presumption of innocence remains valid for those under investigation until a possible final conviction.
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