Officers from the Guardia Civil, as a result of ‘Operation Opikum’, arrested a man in the Lleida town of La Seu d’Urgell for 4 alleged crimes of sexual assault on minors carried out in Cartagena.

Investigators have seized sunglasses with an integrated hidden camera and 4 mobile phones.

The operation began at the end of September, when a Ukrainian woman informed an association, dedicated to providing support to displaced people and refugees, that she had suspicions that a compatriot who lived in the same building could be sexually assaulting her children.

Assisted by social agents from this association, the mother went to the Cartagena Guardia Civil barracks to report what her children had told her.

The complainant explained to the investigators that the suspect had gained her trust and that of the children, with whom he used to play, taking advantage of the moments when alone with them, would touch them in intimate areas.

Once the mother knew what was happening, she spoke with other compatriots, also mothers of minors who were also related to this individual, and it did not take long for 2 more complaints to be received that pointed to the suspect as the author of several sexual assaults.

The agents found out that the detainee had certain ties in the Lleida municipality of La Seu d’Urgell , a place to which he had fled with the intention of leaving the national territory.

The Guardia Civil located and arrested this man in La Seu d’Urgell as the alleged perpetrator of 4 crimes of sexual assault on minors. At the time of his arrest, four mobile phones and sunglasses, with an integrated hidden camera, were seized, which are being analysed.

The detainee, the seized effects and the proceedings carried out were placed at the disposal of the Investigative Court of La Seu d’Urgell (Lérida), and his placement in provisional prison was ordered.

‘Operation Opikum’ remains open until the seized technological storage devices are analysed and it is determined if they contain files related to the investigation.