They could spend 6 years in prison for taking "a souvenir" of a paradisiacal beach in Italy

A couple of French tourists were stopped by Italian Customs with 40 kilos of white powder in the trunk. It was not a drug, but an even more valuable badet, the White sand paradisiacal beaches of Sardinia.

The two people were arrested by police during a check while they were preparing to take a ferry to Porto Torres to go to Toulon, France, the newspaper said. Corriere della Sera.

In the trunk of his 4×4, the agents find 14 plastic bottles loaded with sand from Chia beach. The tourists said that they just wanted to take a "souvenir" and that they did not know that they were doing something wrong.

The famous white sand of Sardinia is considered a public good and it is strictly forbidden to remove beaches. Under a 2017 law, trading in sand, blocks or snails is illegal and is generally punishable by fines up to 3,000 euros.

The couple incurs a prison sentence of between one and six years for the crime of theft with the aggravating factor of stealing a public good.