National Police officers have arrested two men specialising in robberies with intimidation in banks and jewellery shops, who have been blamed for three robberies in establishments in Benidorm (Alicante) and Cartagena (Murcia), according to sources from the National Police in a press release.
Their ‘modus operandi’ consisted of meticulously planning the robberies, for which they previously studied the place of the facts and their escape routes, choosing jewellers where only one girl worked as a clerk.
Thus, they would visit the establishment in the days prior to the robbery pretending to be customers who were interested in various pieces on display. In this way, they studied their security measures and the place where the most valuable items and money were to be found.
When carrying out the robberies, they verbally intimidated the shop assistants with the threat of hiding a gun and, in one of the robberies, they even sprayed pepper spray on the victim.
They then tied the shop assistants’ hands and feet with cable ties and quickly stole as much money and jewellery as they could get their hands on. They then quickly fled the area in vehicles, some of them stolen and others illegally obtained in the name of other persons who had nothing to do with the acts.
THE FIRST ROBBERIES TOOK PLACE IN THE CITY OF BENIDORM
The first of the robberies took place in March in a central jewellery shop in Benidorm (Alicante), when the two men entered the establishment and threatened the shop assistant by showing a pistol and hitting her until she fell to the ground.
Only the worker’s desperate cries for help made the robbers desist from the robbery and flee the scene on a motorbike stolen months earlier.
The second robbery took place at a major currency exchange in Benidorm at the beginning of May, when the two men entered the premises and, after threatening the shop assistant, tied her up with cable ties and stole more than 6,000 euros and 300 pounds sterling, fleeing the scene in a vehicle.
THE THIRD ROBBERY TOOK PLACE IN CARTAGENA
The third robbery also took place in mid-May in a jewellery shop in Cartagena (Murcia), where both men entered and using the same modus operandi, after intimidating the shop assistant, they sprayed her with pepper spray and tied her hands and feet with cable ties, stealing more than 24,000 euros in cash and jewellery valued at more than 135,000 euros.
Thanks to a laborious investigation by the Specialised and Violent Crime Units of Benidorm and Cartagena and the exchange of information between them, the National Police launched a joint investigation that led to the identification of the suspects, both of Argentinean nationality.
Furthermore, the National Police determined that the perpetrators of the three robberies were the same male couple, both of whom had a long history of robbing jewellery shops and banks. In fact, both were expelled from the country for these acts in 2008 and returned to Spain through third countries to avoid the ban on entry into the national territory.
THE DETAINEES WERE ALREADY IN PRISON
Once the perpetrators of the robberies had been fully identified and the evidence and evidence necessary for their indictment in court had been gathered, the investigators found that both were already in prison in Murcia for other acts different to those described in this report. For all these reasons, the agents went there to charge them with the three robberies and inform them of their rights.
One of them was arrested by agents of the Local Brigade of Citizen Security of Elche (Alicante) when he was staying in a Hotel in the district of El Altet, being able to recover several euro and pound sterling notes, clothes used in the robberies and numerous jewels that were recognised by the victim from Cartagena, the Judge of Instruction decreed his immediate imprisonment.
The other suspect was arrested in Barcelona for other different acts, also recovering jewellery and money from the Cartagena robbery, and was also ordered to be sent to prison.
