The Guardia Civil has recovered part of the stolen objects, including jewellery valued at 2,000 euros.
The Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia, in the framework of the operation ‘Ruino’, has developed an investigation to identify and arrest the perpetrators of several continuous robberies, committed in homes and public establishments in San Javier, which has resulted in the dismantling of an experienced criminal organisation, whose eight members have been arrested as alleged perpetrators of the crimes of robbery with force (7), robbery with intimidation with a firearm, fraud and membership of a criminal organisation.
The Guardia Civil has recovered part of the stolen objects, including jewellery valued at 2,000 euros.
The investigation began last April, when the Benemérita became aware of a series of robberies, committed both in homes in the town of San Javier and in the outskirts, perpetrated continuously and with a similar pattern.
While these crimes were being investigated, already in June, other robberies in commercial establishments in the coastal municipality led the agents to suspect that it could be a criminal group that was targeting all types of properties in the area, which suggested that they had prior knowledge of the area.
The agents gathered evidence, as well as video-surveillance camera recordings of some of the shops that had been robbed, which allowed them to find out their modus operandi and information about their physical appearance.
It appeared that they were a group of young men who moved around in the early hours of the morning, on electric scooters or mopeds, wearing work clothes. After recognising the less well-lit and less frequented areas, they discreetly approached their targets, to which they gained access by breaking doors, grilles or shutters to get hold of all kinds of easily transportable objects.
The agents found that these same individuals could be linked to a series of non-payments at petrol stations in San Pedro del Pinatar.
They used a firearm to intimidate a supermarket security guard.
The investigation took a turn when, in mid-June, one of the suspects threatened the security guard of a commercial establishment in San Javier with a firearm. This event revealed the recklessness and aggressiveness of the assailants, and generated social alarm among neighbours and businessmen in the area.
The evidence obtained by the investigators made it possible to identify each of the alleged members of the criminal group, all of them linked to the world of crime and based in the municipalities of San Javier, Los Alcázares and San Miguel de las Salinas (Alicante).
After several months of investigation and having determined the degree of participation of each of them in the different robberies, the Benemérita has arrested, in a staggered manner, eight people.
One of the arrests took place in a house in Los Alcázares, when the inhabitant tried to flee through the roofs to avoid arrest, while the alleged ringleader was located in an isolated house in Lorca, where he had gone to take refuge after allegedly learning of the string of arrests of his accomplices.
Finally, operation ‘Ruino’ has culminated in the dismantling of an experienced criminal organisation, whose eight members have been arrested as alleged perpetrators of the crimes of robbery with force, robbery with intimidation with a firearm, fraud and membership of a criminal organisation.
The detainees, of Spanish and Swedish nationality, aged between 18 and 41, residents of San Javier, Los Alcázares and San Miguel de las Salinas, the effects recovered and the proceedings have been placed at the disposal of the Court of Instruction of San Javier, which has ordered the remand in custody of one of those arrested.