THE Civil Guard of Valladolid reported the arrest of seven people installed in Cordoba as alleged perpetrators of a crime of belonging to criminal groupa continuous crime of theft of copper cables from the telephone network and a continuous crime of damage in the towns of Peñaflor de Hornija, Castromonte and Olmos de Esgueva.
These thefts caused “considerable economic damage» to the communications company, for the value of more than 100,000 euroseven if all the damage caused to the telephone infrastructure remains unresolved, since some 19,380 kilos, the copper corresponding to the 10,850 meters of stolen aerial cable, were stolen, according to sources from the Government Sub-delegation.
The investigation began following several complaints submitted by the telephone company for the theft of overhead telecommunications cabling between October 24 and November 11, 2024.
Based on these complaints, Civil Guard investigators began efforts to identify and arrest the alleged perpetrators. The efforts carried out in the localities affected by the events made it possible to collect “relevant” information thanks to the testimonials from several neighborswho explained that during the nights when some of the thefts were committed, they saw vehicles moving in a “suspicious” manner on the roads that connect the affected villages.
THE witnessesAdditionally, they provided key data by providing the registration plates of these vehicles, which was essential to the progress of the investigation.
With the information obtained from the suspicious vehiclesas well as through initial investigations and exchanges of information with other police units, it was possible to associate the vehicles with a group of peopleresiding in a colony of Cordobaallegedly members of a criminal group dedicated to committing copper thefts.
As the investigation progressed, it became clear that the members of the criminal group visited the province of Valladolid on several occasions, between the months of October and November of this year, and participated in five flights of copper cable telecommunications in the province.
This is how the thieves of Cordoba operated
Thanks to the “careful” work of the Civil Guard, a surveillance system was put in place on the identified targets, allowing Benemérita agents to detect how the people investigated they moved from Cordoba in several vehicles towards the province of Valladolid.
More specifically, they went to the town of Peñaflor de Hornijaa place where previously They had already committed two thefts of copper cable. The officers’ actions were essential in closely monitoring the suspects’ movements and anticipating possible further criminal actions.
At dawn, officers observed that two monitored vehicles were heading towards the A-62 highway in Valladolid, so they were intercepted in Zaratán and their occupants were identified. seven people wearing dark clothes with obvious signs of having been in the field as they are mud-stained and wet.
After opening the vehicles, it was discovered in one of them that it was a loaded with copper pipes of cable, cut into sections of 2 to 3 meters in length each, as well as a telescopic aluminum ladder, presumably to access and cut the overhead copper telecommunications cabling, which runs between the wooden poles, clothing and gloves hot and dark conditions, headlamps, gloves and tools used to cut wiring.
THE suspects who reside in colonies located on the outskirts of Cordobathey traveled to the province of Valladolid with vehicles with high loading capacity on behalf of third parties to avoid being identified.
At dawn, to act, they distributed the functionssince several of the individuals they went down of the vehicles in the chosen area, equipped with a telescopic ladder To climb the wooden poles and access the cable which passes suspended between the poles, they make several cuts in the cable so that it falls to the ground; while other individuals carry out surveillance work with vehicles that circulate on the communication routes near the place where they carry out the cutting, to locate possible police patrols.
He cable cutting They did it in areas where the telecommunications line passes arable land or scrubland areaswhich it was easier to hide During the execution of the thefts and when the necessary security conditions are met, they move the trucks to the cutting area and load all the stolen cable.
