He offered narcotic-laced drinks and robbed his victims

Pretrial detention in prison for a 50 year old Neapolitan accused of drugging and robbing his victims. This is the decision of the investigating judge of the court of Napoliwhich validated the arrest warrant issued by the local Public Prosecutor’s Office against the man, considered “serious suspect” of aggravated robbery and aggravated personal injury, committed on 21 June last to the detriment of a 78 year old Ischia and attempted robbery and aggravated robbery and aggravated injuries against 7 people – 6 women and 1 man between the ages of 20 and 55 – between 6 and 10 July. The 50-year-old was already detained in prison, responsible for aggravated injuries and robbery against a 78-year-old Ischian woman, robbed after being drugged with benzodiazepines in coffee; after a series of investigations, the carabinieri managed to trace three other episodes back to the same individual.

From the reconstructions, it emerged that the 50-year-old, on Saturday 6 July, entered a household goods shop wearing a red mask and with a tray in tow, pretending to be a newly hired waiter from a nearby bar. Thus, he would have managed to convince four employees, aged between 20 and 45, to drink almond milk and black cherry drinks, already poured into glasses. After a few minutes, the women had noticed strong dizziness and loss of consciousness, revealing – in subsequent reports – the presence of benzodiazepines, administered with the intent, according to the accusations, to sedate them and then rob them (even if the presence of customers and other employees would not have allowed the man to proceed).

A few days later, on Wednesday 10 July, three people, the 50-year-old owner of a fish shop, his 35-year-old daughter and the 55-year-old owner of a tobacco shop on Via Foria, were admitted to the Vecchio Pellegrini Hospital with the same symptoms: all three victims had benzodiazepines in their blood and the owner of the fish shop had money stolen from his pants pockets. In this case, the alleged culprit allegedly managed to have almond milk drinks delivered to the two businesses thanks to unwitting bartenders. The investigative activity of the Carabinieri finally allowed them to fully identify the man who, tracked down on the night of 11 July, was taken to Poggioreale prison.