Kirsty Mckenzie
POLICE believe a gang of robbers has disbanded after a series of major arrests put an end to crooks terrorising homes on the Costa del Sol.
The suspects, from Eastern Europe, are thought to be responsible for a string of housebreakings in the space of a week.
Police said the robbers were so meticulous that they were able to swipe items without leaving the slightest hint of their presence in the property.
Detectives nicknamed the spate of robberies as ‘ghost thefts’ because there was never a sign of forced entry and even the home owners began to question if someone from the households were responsible for items going missing.
The arrests come as two Croatian women were arrested in Elche last week after a spree of home robberies across Spain.
The 23 and 25-year-old duo were detained by police after previous arrests in Valencia City, A Coruña, Logroño and Orense.
The women are members of a family gang who travel around the country staging numerous break-ins.
The net tightened on them after an El Altet resident reported an attempted robbery. The complainant said they entered an apartment block and tried to force their way into one of the homes, but ran off when he caught them in the act.
The Policia Nacional discovered they were part of the Croatian gang and found them in Torrevieja.
Rather than arresting them straight-away, they pursued them to Elche, where they tried to rob some more apartments. The duo were then detained with large screwdrivers and plastic cards used to ‘slip’ locks discovered inside their clothes.
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