Guardia smash burglary gang
One of the most active criminal groups in the province has been taken down
GUARDIA Civil have busted an ‘extremely violent’ gang of burglars who were breaking into occupied homes in Alicante province.
According to a force spokesman, they threatened their victims with weapons including a pistol and ‘very large knives’.
The burglars wore balaclavas and masks to avoid being recognised.
Residents were tied up while the criminals ransacked their homes, stealing jewellery and money.
The spokesman explained that gang members would study the movements of the residents and ensure they were alone when they broke in.
Once inside they would ‘intimidate them at gunpoint or with a knife to the throat’ to gain the codes to the safe.
A Guardia Civil operation was launched after break-ins occurred in Novelda, Pinoso and Aspe between June and November last year.
“Officers realised that they were very well organised and had no scruples,” noted the spokesman.
He explained that one of the homes targeted was occupied by a couple in their 80s and in another a mother and her son were tied up.
The spokesman explained that a long and arduous investigation – along with witness statements and some recovered jewellery – allowed officers to identify five members of the gang.
They were arrested in two phases – during raids on three homes in Alicante city and one in Pinoso; and then a month later when then found a gang member who had gone into hiding.
He climbed out of a window of a third-floor apartment to avoid arrest and was about to jump into the street below when he was grabbed by a Guardia Civil officer, ‘preventing a fall which could have proved fatal’.
Officers found evidence in the flat which will be presented in court.
Items seized included two replica pistols, a taser stungun, ammunition, masks, tools to break into homes, along with jewellery and other valuables which had been stolen from the properties.
“The arrests mean that one of the most active burglary gangs working in the province has been brought down,” noted the spokesman.
The suspects – three Spaniards aged 24, 38 and 44; a 33year-old Dominican; and a 37year-old Moroccan – have been charged with committing burglaries with intimidation, illegal detention, belonging to a criminal organisation, and causing damage by arson.
They have all been remanded in custody.