Alex Trelinski
A LOVE-HUG robbery gang has been busted by the Policia Nacional and their Romanian counterparts in an operation coordinated by Europol.
21 arrests have been made in Spain(13 in Murcia and eight in Madrid) with 16 raids on addresses in Spain and Romania.
46 crimes have so far been identified by authorities in one of the country’s biggest-ever sweeps against a love-hug group.
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Though based in Madrid, the Romanian crew operated in tourist spots in the Alicante, Malaga and Murcia areas.
Robberies were carried out either close to banks or in busy tourist areas.
The police probe started after a woman pounced on a female victim in Benidorm and snatched some jewellery she was wearing on her wrist.
Authorities uncovered a pattern of similar crimes across Spain involving several Romanian families that mainly stole high-end watches and jewellery.
They set up a network of temporary safe houses to act as bases for their criminal activities.
They were generally secluded homes in rural areas where operations were coordinated, with thieves then travelling considerable distances to carry out the robberies.
The robbers were split into pairs- normally a male and female- with the man waiting in a getaway car as his compatriot executed a crime.
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Another ruse was to have women working in groups of four or five.
One of them would keep an eye out for the police while the others approached foreign tourists as they pretended to be members of an association for deaf-mutes.
They’d then steal any valuable items including wallets with cash or cards, in addition to mobile phones.
Gang members would also make special journeys to ‘work’ areas to collect the stolen items.
They would then send them by parcel to Romania, while stolen money was kept in Spain to maintain a ‘high standard’ of living.
The Policia Nacional said there was a ‘continuous’ flow of money and goods between Spain and Romania.
In Romania, the organisation had numerous properties and high-end vehicles, as a result of laundering the proceeds from selling off stolen items.
56 bank accounts and financial assets have been blocked there, as well as the seizure of seven properties along with five luxury cars.
The operation is still open pending the arrest of four other suspects who are currently outside Spain and for whom European Arrest Warrants and International Arrest Warrants have also been issued.
