Sardinia has stunning beaches. Just make sure you leave the sand where it is.Life's a beach...
A French couple who were enjoying a holiday in Sardinia, Italy, now face up to six years in jail after they stole some sand as a 'souvenir'.
The Italian island is famous for it white sand beaches and the sand is highly protected.
Anyone who tries to remove any sand faces harsh penalties, from from one to six years in jail for theft.
The couple were caught with a whopping 14 plastic bottles full of sand, weighing 40kg, in the boot of their car.
The pair were about to board a ferry from Porto Torres to Toulon, France, according to local media.
Taking sand has been illegal since 2017 after some tourists began trying to sell bottles of it online.
Although taking sand from a beach may not sound like a big issue, local scientists say that the practice is extremely detrimental.
Sardinian environmental scientist Pierluigi Cocco told the BBC that Sardinia’s sandy beaches, one of its main attractions, are under threat from both erosion and tourists removing the sand.
“Only a fraction of the tourists visiting Sardinia spend their time digging up to 40kg of sand each,” he said. “But if you multiply half that amount times 5 per cent of the one million tourists per year, in a few years that would contribute significantly to the reduction of beaches.”
