Arrests made in street crime swoops
Suspects detained, and bailed by judges
DISTRACTION thieves operating in Alicante province have been arrested by the Guardia Civil.
A force spokesman explained that they used different methods to steal from their victims.
Six suspects were detained in Torrevieja ‘after they had just committed a crime’, he noted.
And in Calpe, a woman was detained who was suspected of trying to rob a victim outside a bank and found to be wanted by a number of courts ‘for crimes of a similar nature’.
According to the spokesman, distraction thieves often act in a group and travel to different municipalities ‘with the aim of stealing and thieving’.
They ‘take advantage of circumstances in which the victims have been distracted’, or ‘if they are vulnerable due to their age, or other circumstances’.
Arrests
The spokesman explained how the suspects came to be arrested.
Two off-duty Guardia Civil officers in Torrevieja spotted three people acting in a suspicious manner and decided to keep watch on them.
After observing their movements, they realised that six people were working together.
They had two cars and were ‘prowling’ around different supermarket car parks.
When a customer parked up, the gang would wait until the person had gone inside before breaking into their car.
They would be on the lookout for the security forces and used radios to communicate with each other.
While one of them carried out the theft, another would keep their car running so they could make a quick getaway.
“After witnessing one of the break-ins, the off-duty officers called in their colleagues and intervened to detain the suspects before they could leave the area,” explained the spokesman.
A total of six suspects were arrested – all from Colombia and aged between 23 and 52 years old.
They have been charged with breaking into five cars in San Fulgencio and Torrevieja, and belonging to a criminal gang.
The suspects have all been bailed to appear in court at a later date.
Officers seized €4,000 in cash, their radios, and a frequency jammer which they ‘probably used to disable the locking system of the cars so they could break in without smashing a window’.
Calpe suspect
Guardia Civil also detained a 41-year-old woman in Calpe, who is originally from Guatemala.
She is accused of attempting to mug an elderly person outside a bank.
Officers found that she is wanted by courts in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz), Coslada (Madrid), Orgaz (Toledo) and Almería for stealing various amounts of cash in street robberies.
A Denia judge bailed her to appear before the court at a future date.