In a joint operation, agents of the Civil Guard and the National Police arrested in Mallorca two menof Italian origin, aged 44 and 56, specializing in the theft of luxury watchesOne of them is accused of three counts of violent robbery and the other of one count of violent robbery and falsification of documents.
According to the Armed Institute and the General Directorate of the Balearic Islands, one of the arrested people visited the island several times, where he committed several violent robberies last July in the company of other people.
This action was developed within the framework of the police operation established permanently by the General Commissariat of the Judicial Police, the UDEV Centrale of the National Police in collaboration with the Italian Police (Servizio Centrale Operativo and Squadra Mobile Napoli) and a Criminal Intelligence Center Unit against criminal activity organized groups from Napleswho travel to tourist areas in Spain for short stays to commit thefts of high-end watches.
In addition, this investigation was joined to another by the Civil Guard and thanks to this collaboration, the arrest of these two thieves was obtained, managing to clarify the facts and identify the rest of the members who have demands for their search and capture. . being outside of Spain.
First flight to Palma
The National Police Robbery Group, in collaboration with the General Police Judicial Police Station, has managed to solve a violent robbery committed in Palm the past July 22 from 2024 around 11:00 p.m.
A a tourist had just left the restaurant where he was having dinner in the centre of Palma and got into a taxi heading to another location. When he got off, he was approached by a man who he pushed him in the back making him fall to the ground steal his watch estimated at approximately 30,000 euros.
National Police investigators were able to establish that the theft had been committed by three men, they managed to identify them and took steps to locate and arrest them.
One of the identified people was on the island two months ago in the company of another Italian citizen, arrested by the agents for having transported false documents staying in a hotel and renting a motorbike to carry out their criminal activity. The arrest cut short their expectations and the possible robberies were aborted by the officers.
Second flight to Illetes
At the same time, agents from the property crime area of the Civil Guard of the Balearic Islands were carrying out another investigation into a violent robbery committed in the past. July 23 about the 9:00 p.m. inside Illetes Promenade from Calvia.
On this occasion, two men who were on a motorbike approached a tourist. The co-driver got out and started a fight with a tourist who tried to steal his high-end watch valued at 25,000 eurosthe chain broke, the watch fell to the ground and was recovered by two citizens who helped the victim, prevented the theft and scared off the thieves.
Following the investigation, Civil Guard agents managed to identify the two thieves and opened an investigation to locate them.
Third flight to Palmanova
The third flight took place last September 9, around 8:30 p.m., in Palmanovawhen a man was walking down the street and was approached by an individual who jostled and immobilized him, taking a high-end watch valued at 35,000 euros.
The thief fled on a motorcycle with an accomplice waiting for him, both of whom fled the scene. Officers began efforts to identify one of them and discovered that the other had a false identity.
police apparatus
Following investigations by both agencies, it was found that One of the people investigated participated in all three robberiesA police force was therefore set up to locate and arrest him.
Officers discovered that the suspect was staying in a hotel in Palma with another man with false Italian papers who had accompanied him on the last robbery.
On Wednesday, September 11, the two men were arrested, one as the alleged perpetrator of three violent robberies, one attempted robbery, and the other as the alleged perpetrator of a violent robbery and falsification of documents.
Modus operandi of the groups that perform in the Balearic Islands
The National Police and the Civil Guard have recalled that the thefts of high-end watches are committed by specialized gangs that have been operating in the Islands for years.
These are authentic groups organized with a clear objective distribution of tasks and established hierarchiesThese groups have a great capacity to adapt to the commission of the aforementioned criminal acts and remain in the area where they operate for a short period of time, two or three days, and leave the country as soon as they have stolen the watches.
They use as modus operandi THE monitoring and follow-up of victims usually in busy areas of luxury establishments. Then they look for the right place to exert violence on the victims to steal their watches, going so far as to knock them to the ground or hit them.
After They execute their escape with the help of a driver on a high-speed motorcycle.endangering both road traffic and pedestrians who may be in the area, they sometimes use a car for cover or transportation.
They in turn use false identity documents to check into hotels or rent vehicles that they use to flee the crime scene, leaving the country almost immediately after the crime is committed. Police operations have resulted in the arrest of many members of these groups who have been imprisoned.
