Andrea Cattabriga, President of the Association for Biodiversity and Conservation, examines his homegrown rare cacti at his greenhouse in San Lazzaro di Savena, Italy, Saturday, June 5, 2021. Cattabriga, a top expect on rare cacti, was called by the Carabinieri Military Police in February 2020 as a consultant to examine thousands of cacti stolen from from the Atacama Desert in Chile, confiscated when police conducted a massive cactus bust at a greenhouse along the Adriatic Coast in Italy.
An Italian Carabinieri checks cacti in the greenhouse of a suspected cactus trafficker, in Senigallia, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. A huge cactus bust in Italy in February 2020 resulted in the confiscation of over 1,000 rare cacti. The find became the catalyst for an international effort among cacti experts, police, conservationists and governments to launch the first rare plant return to its native habitat.
Andrea Cattabriga, President of the Association for Biodiversity and Conservation, examines his homegrown rare cacti at his greenhouse in San Lazzaro di Savena, Italy, Saturday, June 5, 2021. Cattabriga, a top expect on rare cacti, was called by the Carabinieri Military Police in February 2020 as a consultant to examine thousands of cacti stolen from from the Atacama Desert in Chile, confiscated when police conducted a massive cactus bust at a greenhouse along the Adriatic Coast in Italy.
Andrea Cattabriga, President of the Association for Biodiversity and Conservation, examines his homegrown rare cacti at his greenhouse in San Lazzaro di Savena, Italy, Saturday, June 5, 2021. Cattabriga, a top expect on rare cacti, was called by the Carabinieri Military Police in February 2020 as a consultant to examine thousands of cacti stolen from from the Atacama Desert in Chile, confiscated when police conducted a massive cactus bust at a greenhouse along the Adriatic Coast in Italy.
Andrea Cattabriga, President of the Association for Biodiversity and Conservation, walks amongst his homegrown rare cacti at his greenhouse in San Lazzaro di Savena, Italy, Saturday, June 5, 2021. Cattabriga, a top expect on rare cacti, was called by the Carabinieri Military Police in February 2020 as a consultant to examine thousands of cacti stolen from from the Atacama Desert in Chile, confiscated when police conducted a massive cactus bust at a greenhouse along the Adriatic Coast in Italy.
Andrea Cattabriga, President of the Association for Biodiversity and Conservation, examines his homegrown rare cacti at his greenhouse in San Lazzaro di Savena, Italy, Saturday, June 5, 2021. Cattabriga, a top expect on rare cacti, was called by the Carabinieri Military Police in February 2020 as a consultant to examine thousands of cacti stolen from from the Atacama Desert in Chile, confiscated when police conducted a massive cactus bust at a greenhouse along the Adriatic Coast in Italy.
Italian Carabinieri wrap up confiscated cacti to be sent back to Chile, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 7, 2021. A huge cactus bust in Italy in February 2020 resulted in the confiscation of over 1,000 rare cacti. The find became the catalyst for an international effort among cacti experts, police, conservationists and governments to launch the first rare plant return to its native habitat.
ROME (AP) — Armed with a search warrant, Italy’s police wildlife unit entered the house of a suspected cactus trafficker, finding over 1,000 rare cacti poached from Chile’s Atacama Desert in a locked room.
This February 2020 discovery became one of the largest known cactus busts and the catalyst for an international effort among cacti experts, police, conservationists and governments to return the plants to their native countries.
What Lt. Col Simone Cecchini and his team found in Senigallia, a town on central Italy’s Adriatic coast, were hundreds of Copiapoa cinerea and Eriosyce cacti that had been uprooted from the desert. They also found the suspected trafficker’s passport, computer and other documents that helped them reconstruct his operation.
The suspect, an Italian in his 40s, had made seven trips to Chile, from where he sent boxes of cacti to Romania and Greece. They then were brought to Italy and sold to clients, mostly in Asia.
“I never imagined there could be a market like this. I never thought a cacti could be sent by post to Japan for 1,200 euros ($1,430),” Cecchini said.
He reached out to Andrea Cattabriga, president of the Association for Biodiversity and Conservation, and asked him to examine the specimens to confirm they had plundered from the Chilean desert, which is considered the driest non-polar desert in the world. The region, west of the Andes Mountains, has been used by scientists as a site to simulate Mars expeditions.
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