National Police officers have arrested four people in Alicante and Los Alcázares following an investigation into an itinerant criminal gang responsible for violent robberies and distraction thefts across Spain.
The investigation began after a woman reported being violently robbed in Alicante while attempting to deposit nearly 53,000 euro in cash at a bank branch. The stolen money represented company takings, which the victim regularly deposited as part of her routine.
According to police sources, the suspects followed the worker from her workplace to the bank. Exploiting the fact that she was forced to park away from the branch in a quiet area, one of the perpetrators forcefully snatched her bag, throwing her to the ground. A second man was waiting nearby in a vehicle, and the pair fled the scene at high speed.
Officers from the Judicial Police Operational Group at the Alicante Centre District Station traced the vehicle used in the getaway to a rental car. Subsequent enquiries led to the identification of two male suspects, aged 61 and 62, as well as a 36-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman who had provided the rental car.
Further checks revealed that the three men were already wanted by judicial police groups in Lorca and Hellín for similar offences using distraction techniques known as “la siembra” (the drop) and “el pinchazo” (the flat tyre).
In Hellín, the group had previously attempted to steal 15,000 euro from a person who had just withdrawn the cash from a bank using the drop method. On that occasion, the victim grew suspicious of the group’s behaviour and managed to avoid the theft. The drop method involves dropping cash near a target to create confusion while an accomplice steals money from the victim’s pockets or bag.
In Lorca, the suspects were identified in connection with a flat tyre theft, in which a woman had her handbag stolen from inside her vehicle. This method involves puncturing or deflating a target vehicle tyre and alerting the driver to distract them while another gang member snatches valuables left inside the car.
Officers eventually located and arrested two suspects in Alicante and two in the Murcian town of Los Alcázares. The four individuals face charges of violent robbery, causing injuries, document forgery, and membership of a criminal group. All four, who have previous arrest records for similar co-committed offences across Spain, have been handed over to the duty courts in Alicante and San Javier.
