NAPLES – Carabinieri are using metal detectors in the ‘war’ against so-called baby gangs to combat the rise in knife crime in the Naples’ hilltop district of Vomero, police sources said on Monday.

 Positioning themselves at the turnstiles of the Vanvitelli subway station as young boys pass through, police say the measure also prevents fare evasion.

 Three teenagers have been reported for unjustified possession of objects likely to offend.

 A 13-year-old was caught carrying a serrated knife with an eight-centimetre blade. A 20-year-old from Anacapri, a commune on the island of Capri, was found to have a switchblade knife with a four-centimetre blade, while a 16-year-old was carrying one with a nine-centimetre blade.

 In an effort to combat the spread of weapons among the young, Brigadier General Canio Giuseppe La Gala has made an appeal to parents – 

 “Check the pockets of your children, avoid them walking around with a pocket knife: unfortunately more and more often it is happening that boys who have no connection with criminal circles find themselves reacting for matters of pride and risk committing a murder,” La Gala said.

 The measures come as the region of Foggia, Apulia, experiences a ‘youth emergency’ where the latest in a long series of attacks were recorded last night, Il Secolo XIX reported.

 In the first, a group of young children was surrounded, kicked and punched. The youngsters, aged between 12 and 14, were eating pizza when they were surrounded by another group of minors “who, for no reason, started to kick and punch,” the victims’ parents said.

 The second incident involved a 50-year-old who was beaten after scolding some youngsters for smashing glass bottles and bothering passers-by.

 These incidents follow an attack last Sunday on a 60-year-old. The victim, who was attacked by minors on the outskirts of Foggia, sustained a fractured humerus.

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