Italy’s internal affairs attache to Bucharest, Paolo Sartori, said the four Romanian citizens were turned in to Romanian authorities, who identified and fingerprinted them. The Italian official could not say whether the four are free or were detained.
"This is known only by Romanian authorities. The Romanians are now with the border police," Sartori said.
Asked of the reasons why the four were deported, Sartori said they were known as criminals and had been arrested by Italian authorities repeatedly.
"One was investigated for theft, another for reckless manslaughter and others were investigated for several other crimes," Sartori added.
These are the first Romanian citizens to be banished from Italy after the government adopted a decree allowing the deportation of EU citizens on grounds of public safety.