Seven people have been arrested following the repeated theft of copper cable from an electrical substation in Beneixama. The Guardia Civil has attributed alleged offences of membership of a criminal group, handling stolen goods and seven counts of robbery with force to those involved.
The suspects, all Spanish nationals aged between 21 and 48 with prior police records, include the manager of a metal recycling centre in the city of Alicante who avoided entering the received material into official documentation.
The investigation began in Villena, where the local post of the force received an alert regarding several individuals intruding into the electrical substation. Upon deploying to the area and searching the surroundings, officers identified a group of five men who already had police records for similar acts.
Subsequently, the company owning the electrical facility reported that up to seven intrusions had been recorded at the plant during previous weeks. In these break-ins, the thieves managed to steal a total of 17 spools of new copper cable.
The length of the stolen material amounts to around 2.4 kilometres. The market value of the taken copper is around 30,000 euro, in addition to causing severe disruption and risk to the electrical supply.
Following the initial identifications, the ROCA team from Ibi took charge of the investigations to gather necessary evidence linking the suspects to the prior thefts. Investigations indicate that the alleged perpetrators acted within an organised and coordinated structure, stealing up to nine cable spools in a single day.
Officers also managed to trace the destination of the stolen material to a metal recycling centre located in Alicante. There, the manager hid the metal amongst other materials and avoided logging its entry to erase the trail of its illicit origin.
With all evidence assembled, the Guardia Civil launched the operational phase. Initially, six men were arrested in Novelda and Villena. Five were detained as alleged material perpetrators of the robberies with force, whilst the sixth was the recycling centre manager, arrested for alleged handling of stolen goods.
In a later stage, police proceedings located and arrested the seventh group member, who had been subject to an active judicial order for a year, including instructions for search, capture and immediate entry into prison.
All detainees were placed at the disposal of the Court of First Instance and Instruction in Villena. The first six arrested were granted provisional release with cautionary measures, whilst the seventh detainee has entered prison to serve the outstanding judicial order.
The Guardia Civil has requested public cooperation, noting that the theft of copper cable can severely compromise essential infrastructure for the public electricity supply.
