A couple who stole 14 plastic bottles of sand from an Italian beach could receive a jail sentence of up to six years.
According to the Metro, the couple stole the sand from the beach at Chia on the island of Sardinia. The sand, which weighed around 40kg, was found in the couple’s car when they were travelling to France by ferry.
The case sounds unusual but in fact the sand is public utility in Italy and people can be sentenced to a jail sentence of up to 6 years for stealing a public utility in this way. And the problem isn’t just present in Italy. Bizarrely, sand theft has also been a problem in the UK where sand is thought to have been stolen from Hemsby beach and possibly then sold on to builders so that they can create small beaches in householders’ back gardens.
Beach sand in Italy is protected due to the natural erosion present in the area which means that the beaches are made smaller all the time. All tourists won’t steal an amount of sand like 40kg but any amount can cause difficulties and so it is forbidden. Even though the case sounds bizarre, it has happened before. A man living in the UK was fined £1000 when he was found to have stolen sand from a beach in Italy.
No doubt these stories will put tourists off taking even a bucketful of sand from any beach they visit in the future.
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