Shawn Tan
Very often in our travels, we find ourselves loving a place so much that we’d want to bring a piece of it home. A tourist was fined for stealing sand from a beach in Sardinia, Italy on 1 Sep. The fine was $1,200.
According to reports, the French tourist was caught at the Cagliari Elmas Airport trying to sneak out a bottle containing 4.4 pounds of sand.
The Italian island’s sand is protected, with a regional law introduced in 2017 for Sardinia’s beaches. So, objects like sand and pebbles are forbidden to be removed.
“The bottle was confiscated and is now in our operating room where we hold these confiscated items,” a spokesperson for Sardinia’s forest rangers told CNN. “At the end of the year we usually have many bottles of sand accumulated.”
Also read: 10 Most Beautiful Islands to Visit in Italy
History of sand theft in Sardinia
This is not the first time a tourist has attempted to steal sand from Sardinia’s beaches. The island is renowned for its pristine white and pink-hued sand. As such, it finds itself having to deal with sand thieves every once in a while.
Last year, a couple faced six years of prison after attempting to sneak almost 90 pounds of sand off the island in 14 different water bottles. In 2016, a woman returned pink sand she stole from Budelli island after her visit 29 years ago.
As the saying goes, when you visit a place, take nothing but memories with you. While we would love to have souvenirs from our trips, a fine should not be one of them. Don’t be the next tourist fined for stealing sand in Sardinia!
