Crime alarm: Bern has been contacting to restore the minor Customs

Recovery of unattended or closed at night Customs.

A new appeal to Bern from the border territories has been started in the hope that it will return to  some form of monitoring of the minor Customs.

The latest to write to the Government and to the Deputy of Ticino has been Giorgio Pellanda, the mayor of Centovalli, a Swiss municipality on the border with the province of Verbano Cusio Ossola; who asked in a letter sent to the authorities of Canton, as well as to members of the Deputy of Ticino in Bern, the return to a garrison of small passes.

After the agreements of Schengen of 2003, remarks the Executive, the Custom of Camedo has been dismantled, or rather no longer unattended, becoming “a border of free access, a sort of ‘virtual and fragile State Boarder no longer sufficient to block the rising crime and delinquency imported from foreign aid’ which it could be checked ‘just by the forced passing that is the traditional Custom’”.

An alarm that is the result of recent thefts, happened close to Lionza, ended up with the tragical death of two young people, and that, in connection with the armed robbery of Brusino Arsizio and Pedrinate, according to the Executive of Centovalli, they contributed to create in the population a “climate of uncertainty to those who have the duty to protect all its citizens, guaranteeing them a quality dignified and peaceful”.

An analogous application was presented too by the Mayor of Re, from the Italian side of the border, and this sensibility to the theme of the Customs is spreading in other zones like Mendrisiotto and Lugano, where there are registering similar efforts by groups but also private citizens, that are asking a pledge to Bern: “free movement” doesn’t need to mean “dismantling” of the systematic controls on the borders.

The representatives on behalf of the “Lega dei Ticinesi” (League of the Ticino’ settlers), for example, had announced the next November 8th the intention to reunite and defend the crossing of Pedrinate, in the Mendrisio area. The focus is to monitor the crossings that are left unguarded during the night, as it is affirmed by the representative of the league Massimiliano Robbiani: “The crossing must become overseen right now by the border guards during the day and be closed during the night,” explains Robbiani to the Corriere del Ticino. “We don’t want to create a fuss, we only wish to mark the presence in solidarity for those that live everyday moments of fear because of the robberies on the border.”

The citizens of the Mendrisio area have been asking for month to the authorities of the Confederation a better surveillance of the unattended crossings: “We will try to involve the citizens that created the petition,” continues Robbiani,”If we will see someone we don’t like that crosses the border, we will intervene.”

It looks like Bern received the requests of the Ticino citizens: the Political Institution Commission approved unanimously the motion that was promoted by a national councillor from Ticino, about the night closing of the less important crossings. To make this operative, it is necessary also a covenant with the Italian authorities.

From the Italian’s side, right now, the only sign of attention to this topic comes from Re, while in the provinces of Como and Varese there aren’t any similar efforts at the moment.