Four Italians have been detained in Gujarat for vandalising metro train waggons in a few Indian cities. They are thought to be part of a global network of graffiti artists. The Kochi Metro’s four coaches were spray-painted with the phrases ‘SPLASH’ and ‘BURN’ a few months ago by the same gang.
Cudini Gianluca, Baldo Sacha, Starinieri Daniele, and Capecci Paolo were taken into arrest from a flat in the Kothawala neighbourhood of Ahmedabad by the Gujarat Crime Branch and the Anti-Terror squad.
They were apprehended after breaking into the designated metro parking area and spray-painting graffiti on two coaches of the Ahmedabad metro.
On October 1, only hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first stretch of the Ahmedabad Metro, they spray-painted graffiti on the stationary metro coaches. The four were recognised after the police looked over the CCTV footage gathered at the scene.
Before accessing the metro parking shed, the accused scaled the Apparel Park Depot’s perimeter wall in Gomtipur and vandalised the coaches by spray-painting the name ‘TAZ’ on them. According to authorities, the foreign nationals are members of the ‘Rail Goons’ group, who travel the world to spray-paint graffiti on trains.
Rail Goons is an international group of graffiti artists notorious for displaying their creative skills in public places. Graffiti damage by Rail Goons on public properties and vehicles is common abroad.
Rail Goons were suspected soon after the mysterious appearance of graffiti on coaches of Kochi Metro.
The artists had encroached the high-security Muttom Metro parking yard and defaced the coaches, police then said.
The graffiti had the word ‘BURN’ spray-painted in bold and big letters on one side of a coach which was part of the ‘Pamba’ rake. Adjacent to it, the words ‘First hit Kochi’ are painted in small size. At two other spots, the number ‘22’ was also seen.
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