A French tourist was arrested as he tried to leave the island of Sardinia with 41 kilograms of pebbles and stones in the trunk of his car, which he allegedly illegally picked up from a local beach, Italian authorities said on Tuesday, as quoted by AFP and Agerpres.

Italian customs officers intercepted him before he boarded the ferry connecting Porto Torres (northwest Sardinia) and the city of Nice (southeast France).

“In the trunk of his car, he had 41 kilograms of pebbles and stones recovered from the beach of Lampiano, which were confiscated and will be transported back to their place of origin,” Italian customs said in a statement.

Sardinia is famous for its beaches with flawless white sand. It is so popular that the Italian regional authorities in 2017 passed a law banning tourists from leaving with Sardinian sand and pebbles.

The purchase, possession and trade of sand, pebbles, stones and shells originating in Sardinia without a permit is subject to a fine of between €500 and €3,000.

The new seizure by Italian customs is considered one of the largest of its kind.

By comparison, last August, Italian customs officials at Alghero-Riviera del Corallo airport, which serves Sardinia, announced that they had found 22 kilograms of sand, stones and shells stolen from the island’s beaches in the luggage of tourists.

But in this case, we were talking about the total catch for half a month, from July 15 to 30, and from all caught tourists. Every summer, the Italian authorities make similar announcements, but this does not seem to deter tourists.

In 2019, a French couple visiting Sardinia was caught with 40 kilograms of sand in their car. The two said that they wanted to take the sand home as a souvenir and did not realize that they had committed an illegal act.