Illegal building crimes up 37% in 2021-2023 -Legambiente

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 22 - Illegal building crimes went up 37% between 2021 and 2023 with a peak reported in 2022, the same year in which national statistics institute Istat recorded a 9.1% growth in illegal building compared to 2004, environmental association Legambiente said on Monday in its Ecomafia report.
    Overall, according to Legambente's figures, "34,714 crimes" were committed from 2021 to 2023 "at a rate of 31.7 a day, one every 45 minutes".
    A reported "42.7% was concentrated in the four regions" with a strong presence of mafia crime syndicates - Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily, per the report.
    The people reported for such crimes were 36,753 - up 47.6% - while 5,075 real estate seizures were carried out by authorities.
    Although illegal building work can mainly be found in the four regions mentioned in the report, data released by Istat and by security forces showed a growing number of such crimes in Lazio and Toscana.
    Calabria was one of the most affected regions, Legambiente said.
    A reported 3,003 crimes were found to have been committed in the southern region between 2021 and 2023, with a slight decrease in 2022 and a 20.1% peak in 2023, the Ecomafia report said.
    The crimes ascertained in 2023 were 1,046, with 1,230 reported to authorities for illegal building - up 29% on 2022. (ANSA).