Joe Duggan (Reporter)
POLICE have arrested nine people suspected of robbing Mallorca tourists.
The Algerian men,who are alleged to have stolen luxury watches, were held in raids by Policia Nacional on Monday and Tuesday.
Three were held in Port Andratx as they were about to commit another robbery, police say, with the others arrested in Palma hotels during Operation Perejil.
A watch worth €15,000 and another worth €40,000 were seized during the raids.
Police became aware of their alleged activities when one of the suspects allegedly mugged a tourist for his watch on July 17.
Officers suspect the group are responsible for the theft of nine watches in Mallorca, but believe they may have carried out more than 50 robberies in Ibiza and Marbella in July.
The robberies are thought to have been carried out by two suspects who would approach their victim to check what kind of watch they were wearing.
One would then grab the watch from the victim’s wrist.
Police had been carrying out surveillance on the gang for 36 hours prior to the arrests.
