A foreign tourist was caught by the police after trying to take 41 kg of pebbles from the beach of Lampiana on the island of Sardinia in Italy. About why he needs such a large amount of material, the publication Travel Tomorrow clarified.
The French poacher was caught when a tourist boarded a ferry in Nice from Porto Torres, located in the northwest of the tourist island. The tourist justified his act by wanting to take a souvenir with him, but the law enforcement officers believed that the exported volume far exceeded the souvenirs.
It was clarified that the customs police found a pebble in the trunk of his car and arrested the man for theft. Now he faces a fine of up to 3,000 euros. The police returned the pebbles to the coast.
As a reminder, according to local legislation, it is strictly forbidden to take sand, pebbles, shells, and stones from beaches on the island of Sardinia. All violators are required to pay fines and may even be imprisoned. This law has been in effect since 2017.
The fact is that Sardinian beaches are not only a tourist attraction but also an important element of the island’s ecosystem. After a similar incident in 2019, local environmental scientist Pierluigi Cocco warned about the possible consequences of such actions: “The beaches are one of the most outstanding sights of Sardinia. There are two threats: one is due to erosion, which is partly natural and partly caused by sea level rise due to climate change; the second – theft of sand by tourists. Only a small part of vacationers try to take out such volumes, and if you multiply them by the total number of visitors to the island, it can seriously threaten the reduction of beaches – the main reason for which tourists are attracted to the island of Sardinia.”
It should be noted that then, in 2019, a couple of travelers tried to remove 14 plastic bottles filled with sand from the island. Its total volume was 40 kg. According to the detainees, they needed the Sardinian sand to fill their aquarium.
Both then and today, environmental organizations sound the alarm about the illegal sale of Sardinian sand, which is in demand on online markets. In 2021, the organization “Sardinia Robbed” estimated that 6 tons of sand were stolen from the island’s coast between January and mid-August alone.