Every day that passes after the DANA epidemic, 25 people are arrested by the National Police and the Civil Guard accused of stealing and looting homes and businesses Valence after the storm. More than thirty thieves have been arrested in the last 48 hours and the total number of people arrested has already exceeded 170 in seven days. Many end up in temporary prison because the crime of forceful theft is aggravated if it is committed during a disaster in which the victims of the theft are defenseless.
It was President Pedro Sánchez himself who confirmed the number of detainees after the DANA during the press conference, adding that “looting is decreasing to absolutely marginal figures” after the reinforcement of the police which already deploys almost 10,000 police officers, civil guards and local agents. in areas affected by DANA.
Unfortunately and despite police reinforcementalready visible in the affected areas, the figures contradict the president. In the last 36 hours alone, more than 30 arrests have been made for theft and looting in the municipalities most sanctioned by DANA. This represents an average of almost 20 detainees per day, while the total average is 25 detainees every day for theft and looting after DANA.
They steal anything
It is true that after the images of looting went viral last week, the DANA thieves stopped looting shopping centers to concentrate on less guarded areas.
“These are unscrupulous people who take advantage of the situation to enter establishments, homes or vehicles and assume all the consequences. They don’t steal essential goods“, they steal designer clothes, electronic devices or even jewelry,” explains the spokesperson for the Aragon police headquarters, Rubén Nido, after police officers from this community joined the reinforcement of agents of the Valencian Community. In the first days of chaos after DANA, thieves targeted athletic shoe and phone stores.
Once the thieves DANA have excluded businesses which are no longer unsupervised or isolated, they concentrate on loot houses or goods that their owners had to leave on the street to save their lives.
Looted trucks
So, this Monday, the Civil Guard arrested five people who were there at that time steal the goods of a container truck which was transporting 200 vehicle tires. The truck had been dragged by the current into the industrial zone of the Valencian municipality of Ribarroja.
When the civil guards responsible for surveillance and security tasks surprised the thieves, they were ready to three vans to load the tires they were stealing. Furthermore, one of the five detainees was in a situation of search and capture by order of the judicial authority.
