At the end of last month, the Civil Guard of the Almería Command, with the collaboration of the Local Police of Huércal Overa, recovered more than a ton and a half of copper cable that was stacked and was going to be loaded onto two vehicles, and arrested a person as the alleged perpetrator of a crime of theft with force.
This operation began at 00:30 on 19 January, when an off-duty Civil Guard officer alerted a Civil Guard patrol from the main post in Huércal Overa, which was carrying out prevention and public safety tasks, of the presence of two suspicious vehicles in an isolated area between the municipalities of Huércal Overa and the hamlet of Almajaleo.
Once there, the Civil Guard personnel located the two vehicles and noticed that at least six people, upon noticing the police presence and taking advantage of the night time and characteristics of the terrain, fled. A search was carried out in the area, at which point the patrol in charge had to request support from the Civil Guard forces of Albox and the Local Police of Huércal Overa, since, taking advantage of the lack of visibility and from different points, the people who fled threw large stones at the officers.
Once the search was started again, the agents found several piles of cut copper cables, stacked and ready to be loaded onto the vehicles, where they also found more copper cables, as well as other items. Likewise, crouching and hidden in the vegetation, they found a person, dressed in black, with gloves and a face covering, who spontaneously reported that he had come to the place with some friends to collect copper.
As a result of this action, the Civil Guard, in collaboration with the Local Police of Huércal Overa, recovered more than a ton and a half of copper, with an approximate value of 50,000 euros, and arrested a person, resident in Albacete, who has a history of similar crimes committed in the provinces of Madrid and Valladolid, as well as belonging to a criminal group, as the alleged perpetrator of a crime of theft with force.
The Civil Guard has thus begun an investigation in which the vehicles and objects seized will be analysed in order to identify and locate the rest of the people involved.