Three arrested in Málaga after €1.2m of screens were ripped from a wildfire helicopter

The company operating a wildfire helicopter for Andalucía’s Plan Infoca found four navigation screens torn from its cockpit, then started getting messages offering them back for cash. Police say it was those messages that gave the suspects away.

Four screens worth €1.2m taken from a Superpuma

The Guardia Civil announced on Wednesday October 21 that three people have been arrested in Málaga over the theft of four navigation screens from a Superpuma, a large twin-engine helicopter used by Plan Infoca (Andalucía’s regional wildfire service). 

The equipment is valued at around €1.2 million, and the company that owned it first reported the theft 2 years ago, back in 2024. So the case has been building for a long time, though the arrests are only now public.

Cash demands led police to the suspects

Soon after the theft, staff at the company began receiving messages asking for cash in return for the screens. However, the thieves didn’t seem to do their research, as the sums being demanded were far below what the equipment is actually worth.

Investigators from the Guardia Civil’s property crime unit in Málaga (the Área de Patrimonio) traced the messages to two people, a former pilot and a mechanic who was working at the company when the theft happened. A third person was then identified as being involved in the blackmail and in hiding the equipment.

The screens turned up in Adamuz

The operation, named Heliplay, included searches of properties in Málaga and Córdoba, where officers seized computer equipment, mobile phones and the SIM cards used to contact the company.

The four screens were found intact in Adamuz, a town in Córdoba province, and the third suspect was arrested there while allegedly hiding them.

All three are now at the disposal of the courts. The Guardia Civil hasn’t yet said which charges they’ll face, so what they’re formally accused of should become clearer once the case moves forward in court.