Drug mugging suspects detained
They specialised in grabbing bags and jewellery from people in the street
A TOTAL of five people have been arrested for being part of an organised gang whose members carried out muggings in Torrevieja in order to buy drugs.
Officers found a treasure trove of personal effects that had been stolen from victims around the municipality.
A Guardia Civil spokesman explained that officers started investigating a ‘ family clan’ living in Torrevieja around a year ago, who were suspected of supplying drugs.
During their intelligence gathering operation, officers found that they and their accomplices were ‘ extremely violent’ and would carry out beatings and threaten their clients with knives over drug debts.
Officers arrested members of the clan last December, seizing marijuana and cocaine. The spokesman explained that nine people were detained in this initial phase of the operation.
At the time they found a hoard of objects which appeared to have been stolen – including 22 mobile phones, three tablets, two laptops, video games, bicycles, etc.
The large number of items led officers to believe that another criminal network was operating underneath the suppliers.
A new investigation found that a group of addicts were ‘ stealing anything they could to pay for their fix’.
They specialised in grabbing bags and jewellery from people in the street.
If their victims tried to resist the addicts would threaten them with knives, according to the spokesman.
He explained that all the suspects in the second gang have now been rounded up.
They are five males, aged between 27 and 37 years old, who have been charged with 12 counts of theft, two robberies with violence and three muggings.
The spokesman noted that ‘ almost all’ the stolen property has been returned to its owners.