The National Police has dismantled a criminal group specialized in the theft of luxury watches that operated in wealthy neighborhoods of the capital and did so using violence, including a gun, to obtain a loot of more than half a million euros, the National Police has reported. Higher Police Headquarters of Madrid in a press release.
They acted in pairs, using a firearm to intimidate their victims and fled on motorcycles with false license plates to avoid being tracked.
Five individuals have been arrested and are charged with eight crimes of robbery with violence and intimidation and membership in a criminal group, among others.
The investigation began at the beginning of the summer, after becoming aware of a series of thefts of these exclusive and high economic value effects that followed the same pattern.
In the first investigations carried out, investigators detected the existence of a criminal group, made up of several individuals, who acted in a coordinated manner.
One of them detected his victims and notified two other members of the group who were traveling to the scene on a motorcycle and used a firearm to commit the robberies.
As the investigation advanced, they began to reveal their 'modus operandi', detecting that the group never acted in its entirety, but rather was made up of cells of two to four authors, with a clear distribution of functions. One man acted as a marker, another as a driver and others were executors.
The investigators discovered that they were facing a perfectly structured criminal group. At the top was the 'marker', the most experienced member and in charge of selecting the victim based on the value of his watch; He was able to quickly distinguish an authentic piece from an imitation.
On the other hand, there was the 'driver', with the mission of circulating through the area of action without attracting attention, ready to go quickly to carry out the robbery and flee the place with enough skill not to be hit.
Finally, there were the 'executors', with the task of taking the watch from the victim by any means. They used intimidation at first and did not hesitate to quickly turn to violence or show a firearm if necessary, to ensure success in a few seconds.
The dismantling of this hierarchical criminal group occurred with the practice of four entry and home searches and the arrest of its five members as alleged perpetrators of eight crimes of robbery with violence and intimidation, illicit possession of weapons, injuries, falsification of documents and belonging to criminal group. Those arrested were placed at the disposal of the judicial authority, decreeing their immediate imprisonment.
