Alex Trelinski
A NINE-MONTH probe to catch a burglar who plundered properties in the Benissa and Teulada-Moraira areas ended in his arrest as he planned to leave Spain to sell off the stolen loot.
The 58-year-old man’s activities prompted the Guardia Civil to start a special operation to catch him after they started to get a string of complaints starting last summer from robbed home owners.
The thief kept changing the cars he used to travel from Alicante to his targets, making things harder for investigators to track him down.
The vehicles were identified but once the Guardia found out who they were after, they discovered he had gone back for a time to his native Algeria.
He resurfaced in Spain earlier this year and authorities moved into action to arrest him last month at his Alicante base.
A search of his home and at an Alicante business yielded numerous stolen items including jewellery which he was planning to sell off during another visit to Algeria.
The thief had numerous police records for similar crimes and was denied bail by an Alicante court.
The vast majority of stolen goods recovered by the Guardia have already been returned to their rightful owners.
