The Guardia Civil of the Region of Murcia, in collaboration with the Local Police of Cartagena, has arrested two alleged robbers who are accused of four crimes of robbery with violence and intimidation, three of them attempted, perpetrated in two hotels in San Javier, and theft of a motor vehicle.
The detainees were located and arrested after suffering a road accident with the stolen vehicle in which they were fleeing, in the outskirts of Cartagena.
The investigation began on the 8th, when the Guardia Civil became aware of the commission of a robbery with violence and intimidation, perpetrated at around 03:00 in the morning in a hotel in San Javier, by two individuals armed with a large knife.
The subsequent investigations revealed that after entering the hotel pretending to want to stay there, they attacked the receptionist, placed a knife on his abdomen while demanding the money and managed to steal the safe with which they fled the premises.
On 14 December, less than a week later, the same establishment was the target of an attempted robbery, also in the early hours of the morning. In this case, the employees recognised the suspects and saw that they were armed with two knives, so they did not allow them to enter. Although they knocked on the door and caused some damage, they did not achieve their objective and left. Two days later, in the late afternoon, the Guardia Civil learned that another robbery with violence and intimidation had been committed in another hotel in Santiago de la Ribera-San Javier.
The sequence of the assault began when an individual with his face uncovered entered the reception, at which point a second subject entered with his face covered and a large knife. While the armed person threatened the desk clerk with the knife to hand over the money, the hotel manager came out to meet him, at which point the assailant grabbed him and put the knife to his neck. The victim struggled until he managed to free himself, while other people came to his aid, so that the suspects had to flee hastily from the place. The next day they returned to the hotel where they had robbed the victim a few days earlier and tried to rob him for the third time, but were again recognised by the employees and were unsuccessful. From there, they went to a nearby area where, taking advantage of the carelessness of the owner of a high-end vehicle, they stole it and fled in the direction of Cartagena. In the vicinity of the Santa Lucía hospital in the port city, the fugitives were involved in an accident, so a team of the Cartagena Local Police went to the scene, which led to their identification, just 500 metres from the road accident, and their arrest for the alleged offence of theft of use of a motor vehicle.
The investigation carried out by the Guardia Civil led to the suspects being charged with four offences of robbery with violence and intimidation, three of which were attempted. In their possession was seized the knife allegedly used to commit the robberies. The Spanish nationals arrested, aged 27 and 54 years and residents of San Javier, the recovered vehicle, the seized weapon and the proceedings have been placed at the disposal of the Court of Instruction number 2 of Cartagena, being decreed the imprisonment of the two detainees.
