Jewellery thieves targeted the elderly in Almeria

SIX people have been arrested for their involvement with a gang which stole jewellery from elderly people.

They are believed to be responsible for more than 120 robberies in 19 provinces throughout Spain, including Almeria, where some of the members were based.

Around 450 pieces of jewellery have been recovered and will be exhibited at the Almeria Guardia Civil station for owners to identify.

The way they operated was by one of them asking people over the age of 65 for directions to distract them while taking their belongings, or in other cases, they would offer to sell them cheap jewellery which they put on them while removing the valuable items they were wearing.

They travelled in high-range vehicles all over Spain and chose small towns, isolated areas, and locations surrounding homes or centres for the elderly.

On some occasions if the victim resisted, they would take the jewellery by force and had knocked down some of the victims.