The president of the Court of Instruction number 3 of Torrent, acting as guardian, decreed this Thursday afternoon the entry into temporary prison, communicated and without bail, of four men detained for, allegedly, looting of businesses in a shopping center from the town of Aldaia. on the night of last Tuesday, when the area was hit by Dana, which caused dozens of deaths in the province of Valencia.
The instructor made this decision at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, after receiving the statements of the arrested persons by videoconference, in telematic connection with the Valencia City Hall of Justice, where they had been transferred by the security forces due to the impossibility of taking them. at the courthouse due to the effects of flooding.
The four people involved were arrested by the Civil Guard after being surprised in the vicinity of the shopping center with items that they had just stolen from several businesses, such as sports equipment, cell phones and a video game console, among others. others.
The judge indirectly attributes to the persons indicted, without prejudice to any other qualification, the aggravated offense of theft with violence in an establishment open to the public for the commission of which an accident was exploited or “the existence of a risk or ‘a general danger’. for the community that weakened the defense of the offended party or facilitated the unpunished commission of the crime.
The judge considers that the detainees were able to take advantage of the impunity offered by the fact that the security forces were attentive to the emergency situation generated by DANA to commit the theft.
The Valencia Provincial Prosecutor’s Office has warned that it will request the preventive detention of all those arrested for thefts and thefts in businesses and homes affected by DANA.
In a statement, the prosecutor’s office reported Thursday that “in these dramatic moments when more than 155 people lost their lives and thousands lost all their belongings in a devastating DANA, thefts and thefts are taking place in situations of d the helplessness of the victims, with contempt towards them and seeking impunity.
Faced with this reality, “in every respect morally and criminally intolerable, the Prosecutor’s Office requests the preventive detention of people detained for these behaviors under the protection of article 235.6 of the Penal Code (theft) and 240.2 and 241.4 (theft).”
This Thursday precisely, the National Police reported the arrest, on Wednesday night, of 39 people as part of a special crime prevention system launched around the commercial areas most affected by DANA in Valencia. The agents claim in a press release to have recovered a multitude of stolen objects in the municipalities of Horta Sud, the most affected by the flooding of the Poyo ravine, coming from Chiva.
The Civil Guard also reported a specific system to try to avoid this type of situation which, as it explained, are perpetrated both by organized groups and by individuals who take advantage of the situation with a behavior which, she assured, is common. in this type of disaster.
Residents of the villages of Paiporta, Catarroja, Alfafar and Sedaví say they witnessed acts of vandalism, such as thefts from supermarkets and some destroyed houses, on Tuesday night, after the first floods. “People took cell phones and even dragged hams,” says one of the neighbors consulted by this newspaper, who affirms that the thieves pretend that “the insurance pays.”
Some citizens decided to oppose the groups that stole equipment from businesses, but they say, devastated, that they were not listened to. Emergency sources claim to have sent police reinforcements in response to acts of vandalism in certain points, such as commercial areas of the affected municipalities. For the most part, neighbors point out, acts of solidarity take place, such as residents who gave up their vehicles and equipment to remove debris or who donate clothes.
