The Civil Guard detains the perpetrators of eleven crimes against property in the Marina Alta
The Civil Guard of Alicante has arrested two women for their responsibility in eleven crimes against property and the socioeconomic order, specifically several crimes of theft and fraud using a bank card.
The Moraira Civil Guard observed a high increase in the commission of crimes against property in the towns of Teulada, Moraira and Benissa, which led to the initiation of an investigation last July. Once the operation began, they realized that these types of crimes were also carried out under the same modus operandi.
The authors chose a victim with a specific profile, usually an elderly person of foreign origin, to commit the crime. To do this, they followed the victim and taking advantage of a moment of distraction or a crowd of people, they stole any valuables, wallets and bank cards from their clothes, purse or hand luggage.
The choice of this specific profile makes investigations difficult since the most important thing in this type of crime is to immediately inform the agents of the events that have occurred. In many cases and due to the difficulty of the language and the limitations of the elderly, such speed when filing the complaint is not possible.
On other occasions, theft was not only limited to the theft of personal effects, but their victims were pursued in a longer and more thorough way. Observing their movements while they made purchases in different establishments, taking advantage of any moment to get the Pin number of the bank card and later use it fraudulently. The investigation revealed that purchases were made with the stolen cards, of high value in different shops such as boutiques and tobacconists for a value of 7.000 euros. Added to this is the withdrawal of cash from various ATMs.
During the investigations, a Civil Guard agent even caught them red-handed while they were committing one of the crimes. Thanks to the collaboration of the Civil Guard of Xàbia, these two people were arrested.
The Civil Guard recalls that although this type of robbery usually occurs more frequently in agglomerations of large cities and in seasonal periods such as summer, the truth is that it can occur anywhere and it is convenient to be alert.
To avoid this type of situation it is best to have all the belongings in sight, and if you also perceive a group of people acting in an unusual way, move away as much as possible.
The two 37-year-old and 25-year-old women have been arrested for the authorship of 11 crimes of theft and fraud, and brought to justice before Court number 3 of Dénia, who ordered their release with charges; the withdrawal of the passport and the obligation to appear on the 1st and 15th of each month.