Officers from the National Police and the Guardia Civil in Santa Pola have arrested three people of Spanish and Algerian nationality who formed a criminal group highly specialised in perpetrating crimes against property, most of them robberies inside homes, taking advantage of the absence of their residents.
Because of the crossover after both bodies began parallel investigations, resources were pooled and investigators identified three people believed responsible for carrying out a series of home robberies throughout the province of Alicante.
The suspects would travel to coastal towns, normally in the morning, and entered properties using the “slip” or “impressioning” methods, consisting of the use of a mould to obtain a copy of the key, with which they could manipulate the cylinder, achieving thus access to homes. In this way, the owners did not realise the thefts until they entered their homes.
The investigators discovered that two of the members of the criminal group were admitted to a Penitentiary Centre to which they returned every night after perpetrating their robberies whilst on day-release. They parked their vehicle at the door when they returned to jail to spend the night and, the next morning, take the car again and travel to various towns in the province where they would commit new robberies.
The officers successfully arrested the three suspects and charged them with the commission of four robberies in houses in the towns of Santa Pola and Guardamar del Segura and they continue to be investigated as the officers suspect that they could also be involved in the commission of another twenty robberies in houses in the towns from Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa and Jacarilla.
At the time of the arrest, those arrested in the city of Alicante had a bum bag with jewellery and valuables presumably recently stolen, as well as master keys and other useful tools to carry out the robberies.
Three house searches have also been carried out in the towns of Alicante and Elche where the agents found jewellery and valuables allegedly stolen as well as tools used to violate the locks of the homes.
The 55, 58 and 62-year-old detainees were placed at the disposal of the Alicante Court, determining the admission of two of them to prison.
