Alex Trelinski
A VALENCIA gang that held up a van at gunpoint and stole mobile phones worth €1.5 million has been arrested by the Policia Nacional.
Four Spaniards aged between 29 and 46 have been charged with a variety of crimes including robbery with violence, vehicle theft, and money laundering.
All of the men have extensive criminal records.
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The heist happened in mid-January when a delivery van was intercepted during its journey from a warehouse on the Loriguilla industrial estate in Ribaroja to a parcel company in Manises close to Valencia Airport.
Four crates of phones were stolen in an intricately planned operation.
The night before, the gang stole two high-end cars in the Valencian towns of Benaguasil and La Pobla de Vallbona, which they then used to carry out the phone robbery.
One of cars was used to monitor their target as the van was loaded up at the warehouse.
Both cars pursued the van, and then one of them overtook it to act as an escort to sandwich in their target before the robbery.
The stolen vehicles were recovered shortly afterwards by police- abandoned in Godelleta.
Police investigators found the gang had a ‘safe house’ in a quiet area away from urbanisations where they went completely unnoticed.
It was used as a base to plan robberies as well as to hide vehicles and to change clothing to make identification of the crew harder.
Five addresses were searched by the Policia Nacional as well as a business where one of the gang leaders laundered the profits made from criminal activities.
Seized items included five high-end vehicles and a van as well as electronic devices and frequency inhibitors in addition to two air guns.
