A PICKPOCKET crew that plundered foreign tourists along Spain’s Mediterranean coast has been arrested by the Policia Nacional in Alicante.
Two men and two women aged between 19 and 39 years were spotted stealing a mobile phone from a tourist’s bag in the city centre.
They’d been operating in various locations along the coast for several months.
READ MORE:
- Barcelona pickpocket pipeline revealed as driver is caught smuggling over 150 stolen phones to Morocco
- ‘Stay alert’ warning for British tourists targeted by pickpockets in Spanish holiday hotspot
- Robbery warning to Brits in Spain’s Benidorm: Police recommend avoiding ‘pickpocket alley’
The police said they quickly switched areas after committing thefts and two of the detainees had been spotted earlier in Benidorm on the day of their arrest.
They also had connections to other criminal gangs across Spain that operated in the same way.
Their method was to select a victim beforehand, surround them and cause a distraction while executing a robbery.
The thieves- of undisclosed nationality- chose busy streets with large numbers of foreign tourists to chose from.
They were caught out in Alicante by officers on a crime prevention patrol who spotted the quartet watching over crowds of pedestrians.
Their behaviour aroused the suspicions of the officers who decided to monitor them discreetly.
The group made a move on a couple that were walking down a street with one of them peeling off to act as a lookout.
Two of them stood just behind the couple to act as a shield to partially hide what they were planning to do from potential witnesses.
One of the women then stood very close to the target, exactly behind a bag she was carrying, and skilfully removed the phone without the owner noticing anything untoward.
The police then pounced to make their arrests and immediately returned the stolen phone to the victim.
The lookout ran away but was detained a few days later close to Alicante’s railway station.
Click here to read more Costa Blanca News from The Olive Press.
