TWO men have been arrested for robbing mainly women and elderly people in supermarket car parks in the Murcia and Valencia regions.
An off-duty Guardia Civil officer saw a female become a victim of a distraction theft while sitting in her car in a parking lot in Benifaio (Valencia).
The officer intercepted the suspect as he ran off with a stolen wallet, which the victim did not know had been taken.
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The thief’s colleague drove off but was later intercepted by the Guardia in Benifaio.
The arrests happened on September 2, but details were only disclosed on Thursday.
The two men, aged 39 and 66, and both Romanian nationals, were brought before a court in Carlet.
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A Guardia Civil statement linked the duo to a string of similar crimes in Alicante and Valencia provinces as well as the Murcia region.
The detainees had reportedly been in Alicante, Murcia, and Cullera in the days leading up to the Benifaio theft.
The off-duty officer was in a Benifaio supermarket car park when he noticed a man and woman in the back of a car.
She had just finished doing some shopping and was being asked for directions to the nearest pharmacy.
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The man sneakily stole a wallet from the woman’s handbag without her knowing and the officer then saw his accomplice appear in front of her car.
The wallet was passed to him and he hid it under his shirt, before the officer intervened to execute the arrest.
After the second man was apprehended later, the Guardia found clothes and perfumes inside his car from high-end brands that still had their labels and price tags on that had a total value of €596.
They also discovered €420 on him in banknotes.
The Guardia Civil said the duo pounced on mainly elderly and mostly female victims who had been shopping alone at supermarkets.
If they found a wallet with bank cards, they would go to ATMs to withdraw large amounts of cash.
They stated that the men would not hesitate to resort to violence to execute a robbery, though that was not the case in the Benifaio distraction theft.
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