Benedetta Pilate, the theft, handcuffs, the hotel-project. What happened in Singapore

The case is not closed. The nightmare continues: even if the 4 blue swimmers returned to Italy 11 days ago. It is a story that is enriched every day with details and implications at times dramatic that lived in Singapore, the city of the World Cup, between 14 and 19 August by Chiara Tarantino and Benedetta Pilate, arrested at the airport because they were surprised to take away without paying three bowls of perfumes from a duty free before embarking on Italy together with Anita Bottazzo and Sofia Morini (involved in a different way, affair but listen and searched).

the detention and the sleeping pill

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The cameras of the airport surveillance circuit unmask the Tarantino who deposits the objects stolen inside the Pilato’s bag: the agents who forget, seize the objects and handcuff the two blue, also intimating to Bottazzo, close to the Gate, to undress in search of another “stolen goods”. In the search, the blue are forced to explain why in their hand luggage there were pills for the jet lag. That “sleeping” that the policemen thought were narcotic substances, not at all tolerated in Singapore. After clarifying that it was an misunderstanding, waiting for a judge to decide on what to do, Pilate and Tarantino were taken away by the terminal handcuffed inside a truck and formally accused of theft in a police station in which they spent one night.

the decisive intervention

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In the meantime, on that terrible first night Morini had contacted the Italian embassy. The ambassador Dante Brandi, a former palletist who had known the blue during the World Cup, was on vacation but coordinated the intervention of the number 2 of the embassy, ​​Fabio Conte, who intervened to manage the case. The assistance of the diplomat had a first positive effect in the release of the two accused, accompanied in a hotel, a sort of “prison” from which they could not move away and deprived of the passport pending the judge. “The” Cabinet “of the Foreign Minister” and the Italian Directorate General abroad “of the Farnesina was informed,” but no direct intervention by Tajani was necessary “sources of Farnesina yesterday clarified, as well as the president of the Federnuoto Paolo Barelli, linked to the Minister of Foreign Affairs by family and political reasons reiterated that neither from Tajani nor from the party there were political interventions on the events of Singapore. The authorities of Singapore recognized the modest value of the goods and appreciated the clarification by the swimmers and decided for their release, but they had to wait for the judge’s decision, a warning measure, which took place only on August 19th. An exemption.

voltage

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If Tarantino and Pilate had to face the handcuffs of the handcuffs and one night to the police station, the Bottazzo forced and delayed, he had to redo a ticket costing dear to his return to the USA, in Florida where he trains. And in the moment of the police blitz he risked being involved because the pilate backpack with stolen products was not far from her. So the serenity of a happy holiday in Bali, on the return to Singapore, soon turned into moments of fear. The post on Friday of the Pilate was the demonstration that the compactness of the group had jumped. “Mygrade – Benny pointed out -, I was indirectly involved in an unpleasant episode. I have never intended to make inadequate gestures, and those who know me know how much I care about the values ​​of sport, to correctness and personal honesty. From this experience, however, I draw great teachings on prudence, individual responsibility and on the value of the people around me”.

future

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In short, Tarantina distanced himself from Tarantino, also because he wants to underline his honesty, also having important commitments with the sponsors. For his partner forced to silence by his military group, however, the risks are different: they are above all of a disciplinary nature, even if a warning is not a condemnation and does not risk the place of financera. Perhaps it risks it in the sports group of the Yellow Flames. The commander Gabriele Di Paolo made it clear that an immediate decision will not be made: at a military level the emotionness gives way to the formal procedure, more complicated to follow. Chiara will initially be convened in Rome by her superiors for a defense and explanation of what happened to her in Singapore. The stunt could also cost dearly for the resonance of the story. But nothing has been decided yet. The case remains, in fact, open.