Products against parasites of plants, but they are also harmful to humans: they are very prohibited and yet buying them is easy. Just ask the main sellers.
Accessing the black market of illegal pesticides and phytopharmacies is easier than expected. Just search the web, contact the traders via Whatsapp, almost all based in China, and wait for the estimate.
“The quantities are not a problem,” one of the wholesalers contacted by the wholesalers explains. Whether it is atrazine, a powerful herbicide forbidden in Italy since 1992, or the carbofurano, insecticide that the Chinese authorities themselves have banned, makes no difference. The only hitch (but only for maxi supplies): you have to have a support in China for transport. “Do you have a shipper in China?” LU asks, the girl who takes care of concluding the deal and who presents himself in the jacket and tie in the photo of his WhatsApp profile. And so, we discover that for a hundred cartoons of Atrazina, for a total of a thousand kilograms, $ 6,530 are spent. “You can pay with an online bank transfer,” communicates Lu. You pay everything in advance: “30 percent on account and 70 after sending the photos of the goods ready for shipping”.
And if for the atrazine the negotiation via chat started by the panorama row smooth such as oil, the carbofurano seller, which with a small amount can also be lethal for human beings (It has been prohibited in the European Union since 2008) It is more cautious. In this case the chat is anonymous. And the profile photo is the company logo. The seller asks many questions. He asks, for example, because we are looking for that substance. We explain that we have a corn field to defend from the aggression of insects. Then try to replace the product with the carbox, explaining that “the first is very toxic, while the latter is moderately”. To be sure of the request he writes the chemical formula: “C12h15no3?”. And when he understands that there are no margins he arrives to the point: “Approximately how much does it need?”. Also in this case the negotiation is successful. The price? About 40 dollars per kilo, excluding shipping costs. Obviously, if the payment had been successful, it would have been possible to import significant quantities of both substances. Forbidden for decades, but still available for those who know where to search.
Within a few days, in short, an unscrupulous farmer can put his hands on prohibited substances, dangerous for health and the environment. But China, which dominates the black market of phytopharmacies, is not the only supply channel. It is also possible to suppose from Eastern Europe and even in Italy, where, as the judicial investigations demonstrate, the smuggling is in full expansion. Behind the trafficking of illegal pesticides there is a system that makes money on everyone’s skin: farmers who save at the expense of safety, pleased retailers, organized crime that has smelled the business. And while the kidnappings increase, the black market evolves, focusing on clandestine e-commerce and parallel trade to get around the law.
The numbers are clear: In 2023 the controls on illegal pesticides are almost tripled compared to the previous year (1,411 against 559 of 2022). At the same time, the crimes and administrative offenses ascertained (328 in 2023 against 75 of 2022), the complaints (300 in 2023 against 73 of 2022) and the kidnappings (24 in 2023, none in 2022) have grown dramatically. An investigation conducted on October 16, 2024 by the Forestry Carabinieri, led by Lieutenant Colonel Giovanni Gianvincenzo, led to the seizure of over one hundred packs of non -regular pesticides to 15 agricultural companies in the province of Novara, with penalties for 27 thousand euros.
The problem, however, does not concern only farmers: The entire supply chain, from trade to distribution, is involved in the illegal mechanism. From Torre Annunziata, the prosecutor led by Nunzio Fragliasso has ordered a seizure of almost eight million euros of 46 thousand liters of adulterated phytoopharmacies. Nine people were arrested for criminal association aimed at the adulteration of phytopharmacies and the receiving stolen goods, recycling and self -laundering. Investigations show that illegal pesticides trafficking is changing strategy. Criminal organizations also seem to focus on small loads (up to ten liters or kilograms) to evade controls, falsify the brands of legitimate phytosanitary products and illegally import the substances necessary to produce the prohibited pesticides on their own. “As European underlines in its documents,” explains Enrico Fontana in the last Legambiente dossier, “there is a further modus operandi that is being affirmed. A phytosanitary product authorized in one Member State can be marketed in another, subject to authorization for parallel trade ». This mechanism is exploited to circumvent the prohibitions and enter the Italian market forbiddenly prohibited in disguise.
One of the most striking cases is the “synergy” investigationconducted by the Nas of Padua under the coordination of the Verona prosecutor. On 10 October 2024, the Nas carabinieri carried out two European arrest mandates against entrepreneurs involved in a transnational criminal association. The suspects would have used a network of fictitious companies and compliant printers to print false labels and market very dangerous products for health.
The operations led to the seizure of 450 tons of illegal substances, for a commercial value of around 15 million euros. The pesticides, it was discovered, were intended for use on agricultural crops for food consumption. In Orta Nova and Manduria, in Puglia, two companies have been identified and marketed forbidden pesticides. The kidnapping concerned phytopharmacies for a value of 530 thousand euros. And it is not over: the Guardia di Finanza of Latina has recently discovered another disturbing aspect of the phenomenon: the use of illegal phytopharmacies in farms that exploit black work. During a blitz in a Cooperative of the Piana di Fondi, the owner, without the authorizations for the use of phytopharmacies, was surprised while preparing a mixture of twenty thousand liters with dangerous pesticides, intended for crops during the collection. And, coincidence, always in Latina, in February, an Indian agricultural worker was hospitalized in critical conditions for the consequences of “prolonged contact poisoning with chemicals”. The man developed a serious necrosis in the limbs and it was necessary to amputate his leg. Proof that these illegal products are more widespread than you imagine.
