A major police operation targeting transnational criminal networks involved in luxury watch thefts, featuring security controls in Dénia, has resulted in thirty-four arrests. The coordinated international crackdown successfully resolved twenty-eight violent robberies linked to eight distinct criminal gangs.
The National Police spearheaded the operation in close cooperation with the Italian Polizia di Stato. Investigators recovered six high-end watches, with individual valuations ranging from 20.000€ to upwards of 450.000€ apiece. Officers also confiscated multiple vehicles, fraudulent number plates, and forged identity documents.
Surveillance and control checkpoints were established at critical logistical and transit nodes, including Dénia, Barcelona, Madrid, and Palma de Mallorca, in order to shut down escape routes and intercept stolen goods destined for international black markets.
The investigation originated in January when the National Police established a specialised coordination group to monitor and centralise responses to this specific crime trend. Throughout the summer months, enforcement efforts concentrated heavily on high-end tourist destinations such as Ibiza, Marbella, and Estepona, where itinerant criminal cells operated during brief visits before attempting to flee.
Suspects deployed spotters in promenades, marinas, and entertainment venues to target victims, while accomplices used snatch-and-grab tactics or extreme violence, including chokeholds and motorcycle helmet strikes, before escaping. In Marbella, four suspects who ambushed a tourist outside his home at the end of July were subsequently traced and arrested in Estepona, where officers recovered both the stolen timepiece and clothing worn during the assault.
The thirty-four suspects have now been placed at the disposal of the judicial authorities, and the investigation remains active as authorities do not rule out further arrests.
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