Police unions have warned that increasingly sophisticated and heavily armed criminal gangs are establishing operations across the Region of Murcia, while officers lack the personnel, equipment and technological resources needed to confront them.
The warning follows the arrest in early August of five people, aged between 39 and 52, suspected of belonging to a Murcia-based gang responsible for robberies at banks and gambling establishments across nine Spanish provinces. All five were remanded in custody without bail.
Jupol, the largest union within Spain’s National Police, said the case was part of a broader rise in organised crime throughout the region.
Francisco Moreno, communications secretary for Jupol Murcia, claimed criminal organisations were becoming better armed, more structured and increasingly capable of intimidating their victims. He warned that many appeared to be operating with a growing sense of impunity.
In February, the National Police and Albanian authorities dismantled a highly mobile gang linked to violent burglaries at occupied homes across Spain and elsewhere in Europe. The suspects allegedly threatened residents to reveal the location of cash, valuables and safes.
Investigators said the gang used balaclavas, vehicles and mobile phones registered under false or third-party identities. The equipment was regularly discarded to avoid detection, while the organisation reportedly maintained infrastructure and collaborators in Murcia.
Coast Becoming Drug-Trafficking Hotspot
Jupol also warned that Murcia’s coastline was emerging as an important drug-trafficking route. The union alleged that high-speed boats were arriving during daylight hours, supported by networks supplying fuel to vessels involved in drug trafficking and migrant smuggling.
Moreno said these organisations had access to advanced technology, international logistical networks and, in some cases, military-grade weapons. Meanwhile, officers stationed in the region were frequently expected to confront them with inadequate support.
The union also highlighted the changing nature of youth and organised gangs. Such groups were no longer defined by age or nationality, it said, but had evolved into less visible criminal networks involving members from a wide range of backgrounds.
Their activities increasingly combine violent crime with drug trafficking and online fraud, while the level of violence associated with them has also escalated.
Jupol argued that organised crime could not be tackled effectively with understaffed police units and insufficient technology. It said the authorities’ response remained too slow and inadequate as criminal organisations became more professional and international.
Armed Raids Planned in Detail
Juan García Montalbán, Murcia secretary-general of the Unified Association of Civil Guards, said gangs targeting gambling halls were not a new problem. Their activity, he explained, tends to rise and fall depending on how many organisations are dismantled.
Shortly before the coronavirus pandemic, the so-called “Porsche gang” carried out a series of robberies across Murcia, primarily targeting petrol stations and gambling halls. After several raids during one night in January 2020, the vehicle was found burned in a field—apparently destroyed by the criminals to eliminate evidence.
In 2023, another gang travelling in a Porsche committed three robberies within hours at betting shops in San Javier, El Esparragal and Sangonera la Verde.
García Montalbán described these gangs as highly organised. Targets are researched in advance, participants are assigned specific roles—including surveillance and protection—and high-powered vehicles are used for rapid escapes. Increasingly, those involved are also armed.
The attacks are often timed for periods when no patrols are nearby and may take place within minutes of one another, making arrests at the scene extremely difficult.
He warned that sending a single patrol to confront a larger group of armed criminals presented an unacceptable danger to officers.
Images Guardia Civil
