Dozens of tourists were severely fined for ‘sand theft’

Citing AP, Traveler reported that on June 5, the Coast Guard on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Italy) issued a decision to impose fines of up to 3,000 euros ($4716) against 41 people in recent days. here as they were trying to leave the island with a total of 100 kg of sand, shells and rocks picked up at the beach.

In some cases, tourists have been selling sand, seashells and rocks picked from the beach on the internet, LaPresse news agency said, creating a market for such souvenirs, including from local shops. luxury resort along Italy’s Emerald Coast. It’s an illegal market.

This is not the first time that the authorities of the island of Sardinia have issued such a sanction. In September 2020, CNN reported that an unnamed man came to visit the island of Sardinia. However, he was detained by airport staff at Cagliari Elmas on September 1, 2020, when he was found with a 2kg bottle of sand in his luggage on his way back.

This French tourist later had to pay a fine for his actions. A spokesman for the Sardinian island force said: “This sand bottle has now been confiscated and kept in our operations room. This is also where we store many other confiscated items. At the end of the year, we usually have a lot of such sand bottles accumulated over time.”

“In 2019, we discovered a website that was selling sand on the island as a souvenir. This has become an all too common phenomenon here,” he said. Control measures have become much more “strict” over the past three years, the spokesman said. Forest rangers have coordinated with the police to reduce the situation of “sand theft” on this island. People also actively participate in supporting and reporting to local authorities if they find out that tourists are planning to take sand away.

Bags of sand, shells and stones were seized at Sardinia’s airports and ports under a 2017 regional law that stipulates fines ranging from 500 Euros to 3000 Euros. The seized sand will be returned to the beaches by authorities. The law is intended to prevent the negative impact of sand and shell removal by the millions of tourists who flock to this Mediterranean island each year, known for its long stretches of unspoiled sandy beaches. And the sand on the beaches on the island of Sardinia has a “fancy” color, especially pink or very white sand that is most often targeted.