Waiting lists: intramoenia and fraud with payments made out to unsuspecting patients. The balance sheet 2025 of the Nas carabinieri
The budget presentation was attended by the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, and the Commander of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Health, General Raffaele Covetti. During the year, the Nas carried out 45,762 inspections, contesting 6,255 criminal sanctions and 23,397 administrative sanctions, with 148 arrests, 2,829 referrals to the Judicial Authority and 13,390 reports to the Administrative Authority
In 2025 the Carabinieri's Nas put pressure on two fronts that directly affect citizens: health care and food safety, with an eye increasingly focused on the political and social issue of waiting lists in the National Health Service (NHS) and the distorted use of intramoenia (Alpi), where investigations tell of a system that, in some cases, can turn booking into a field of scams, favours and cash.
Checks and verifications
During 2025, the Nas carried out 45,762 inspections, contesting 6,255 criminal and 23,397 administrative sanctions, with 148 arrests, 2,829 referrals to the Judicial Authority and 13,390 reports to the Administrative Authority; on the seizure front, there were 6,249,380 kg/packages of food and over 49,900 packages of drugs/healthcare items for a total value of over 197 million euro, in addition to the closure or seizure of 1,660 facilities and 24 million euro in contested sums.
In detail by macro-areas:
1. foodstuffs: 25,055 inspections, 2 arrests, 518 referrals, 6,249,380 kg seized amounting to 34.3 million, 1.331 facilities closed/seized;
2. health: 17,363 inspections, 117 arrests, 1,788 referred, 5,925 drugs and 1,718 medical devices seized, 225 facilities closed;
3. veterinary: 499 inspections, 6 arrests, 78 referrals, 16,158 animals seized for 161.17 million, 89 facilities closed;
4. pharmaceutical: 2,845 inspections, 23 arrests, 445 referrals, 82 sites blacked out, 41,805 drugs and 507 medical devices seized, 15 facilities closed, 165 doping controls with 4 positives.
Waiting lists and intramoenia
On the most sensitive chapter - waiting lists and Alps - 1,930 checks were carried out in 2025 between health directorates, specialist departments and Cups, with 9 arrests, 105 reports for offences ranging from fraud and embezzlement to bribery, extortion and fraud in public procurement, as well as around 474 reports to the administrative authority.
And it is precisely from the waiting lists that the most emblematic cases of the line of investigation emerge: in Catanzaro (July 2025), the Nas executed 7 precautionary measures and reconstructed an alleged mechanism of 'extended' intramoenia in external private practices, with cash receipts, minimum fees paid to the SSN to 'cover' the activity, and Alpi bookings recorded a posteriori as paid in the name of unsuspecting patients; the operation also led to the seizure of three flats used as doctors' offices and a preventive seizure for equivalent amounts exceeding one million euro.
