Albanian criminal gang who committed dozens of home robberies in Spain dismantled

A CRIMINAL gang who reigned a wave of fear across Barcelona, Spain, through multiple burglaries has been dismantled, as reported by the police.

Issuing a statement to the press this morning (December 29), a spokesman for the Mossos d’Esquadra, the local police unit in the Catalonia region, confirmed that several individuals belonging to the gang had been arrested after an exhaustive investigation.

This included four Albanian men between the ages of 32- and 34- who are heavily suspected to have committed 27 home robberies in the districts of Vallès Occidental and Baix Llobregat Osona.

An investigation had been launched last month after a series of burglaries were reported by local residents, sparking police officers to be on guard for pertinent information. After a neighbour called the emergency services to report that they had seen a man acting suspiciously at an apartment block’s community park, a officer on duty then rushed to the scene. 

As the officer approached the suspicious man, the assailant launched an assault on the police officer before trying to flee. However, this was unsuccessful, and the man was arrested at the scene.

Upon a search of the man, they found a plethora of valuable items, including jewellery and considerable amounts of cash. It was later discovered that the man was with two other men before he was arrested and that they had forced entry into two homes in an apartment block by climbing onto the balcony and breaking the property’s glass doors.

The men were part of a criminal group comprised of six indivuals who police report were specialists in forcing entry into homes and acted methodically to burglarise at least 27 homes in Terrassa, Sant Esteve Sesrovires, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Llinars del Vallès and Tona.

The criminal gang used the same method of operating, where three members of the group used a getaway car which they would park in an isolated area. Once it was dark, two of the men dressed in dark clothes would carry out their wave of robberies, where the two assailants would then hide in the back of the vehicle after committing their crimes in a move to go unnoticed by police checks and security cameras on the roads. The three men would then return with the stolen goods to a home in calle Perafita in Barcelona.

Once enough evidence was collected, the Criminal Investigation Division launched a raid on the property, where officers found a stash of goods linked to dozens of robberies. The four men who were inside the home at the time of the raid were arrested and have been remanded in custody. As Euro Weekly News understands, the Albanian men are expected to appear in court early next week.

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Written by

Isha Sesay

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