Burglary suspect jailed on remand
Property has been returned and efforts continue to locate the owners of the remaining objects
THE GUARDIA Civil have arrested a suspect accused of carrying out several home burglaries in Teulanda-Moraira and Benissa.
Last summer, Guardia Civil officers in Calpe and Moraira received several reports of burgled homes in Benissa and Teulada-Moraira – and they set up operation Garden23 to locate the perpetrator.
‘With some difficulty’ officers managed to identify the vehicles used by the perpetrator, as he kept changing them, which complicated the investigation, explained a spokesman for the force.
Once the vehicles had been identified and located, they were able to establish the suspect’s identity, and this is when they discovered he had fled back to his country of origin – Algeria.
But in February 2023 several more burglaries occurred and officers recognised the modus operandi of the perpetrator and restarted their investigation to locate the offender.
They were able to pinpoint the suspect’s home in Alicante and then carried out a search of the property, as well as a commercial premises in the same city.
Officers seized numerous pieces of jewellery and stolen material, 6,000 Algerian dinars, 40 British pounds, and mobile phones, along with clothes and equipment allegedly used in the burglaries.
The suspect was also in the house and was arrested.
The next day, the detainee, a 58-year-old Algerian national with a long police record for similar crimes, was placed at the disposal of an Alicante judge, who remanded him in custody.
The vast majority of the items seized have been returned to the householders, and efforts continue to locate the owners of the remaining objects.
The suspect was allegedly planning to leave the country imminently for Algeria, where it is suspected that the stolen items that are still missing may have ended up.