On September 30, before Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a part of the first phase of the Ahmedabad metro, four Italian nationals trespassed and jumped into a metro yard located at the Apparel Park Depot, Gomtipur, and defaced two parked metro coaches by making graffiti over them.

Not only this, they even wrote a code ‘TAS’ on an electric pole there before fleeing the spot. The word ‘TAS’ written by the accused on the electric pole in the depot has been decoded now. The word was initially assumed to mean “Terrorist Anti Squad”.

However, during interrogation, it was revealed that the words denote ‘Tagliatelle with Sauce’, a pasta dish.

After the matter came to the fore, based on CCTV footage, a case was registered and all the accused were arrested in a joint operation by Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Gujarat Police.

The accused were grilled for hours by the ATS and other agencies for what they wrote while making graffiti on the metro coaches.

However, nothing suspicious was found during the investigation.

Later on Sunday, all of them were handed over to the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) unit for further inquiry. They were nabbed near Kothawala Flat, Ellisbridge close to VS Hospital with 20 graffiti spray painting bottles and 70 other bottles.

The arrested accused have been identified as Cudini Gianluca Italiana 24, Baldo Sacha Italiana 29, Starinieri Danileli Italiana 21, and Capecci Paolo Italiana 27, who arrived in India on a tourist visa via Dubai. They reached Mumbai from Dubai and traveled to Ahmedabad.

An officer from the Gujarat Police said that the incident allegedly happened in the early hours of Friday before Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Phase-1 of the metro rail service in another part of the city.

A case has been registered in the matter stating that three of four persons jumped across the wall of the Apparel Park metro rail depot in Gomtipur between 2.37 am and 2.52 am. They entered the area between two parked coaches, T-14 and T-15, and wrote ‘TATA’ on them in different colors.

They also wrote ‘TAS’ on the electric poles between the two Metro coaches and fled away. This act caused damage of about Rs. 50,000 to public property.

As per the FIR, the men have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 447 (criminal trespass), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees or more), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), and under section 3 (1) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

During the interrogation, they admitted that they are addicted to graffiti-aerosol painting, an activity which has become a trend in Europe and America and there is a craze for drawing such graffiti in these countries. Such activities have increased a lot in these countries. So, they search for an opportunity to draw such graffiti and have joy.

TAS decoded
These accused had also allegedly tried to paint Mumbai Metro coaches last Monday. As per Mumbai police sources, the four had entered the Charkop Metro yard in the wee hours but could not manage to paint due to the strict security measures in place.
An FIR was registered at MHB colony police station on September 26, after CCTV footage of the four suspects crossing the metro track was found.