The Mossos have dismantled a criminal group specialized in forceful robberies of companies to which they attribute eight assaults and one crime of damage for causing sabotage in communications infrastructures. The police have arrested three people between 23 and 31 years old.
The organization had high technology. He cut the wiring of previously selected telecommunications towers with radials to cause supply cuts to the companies he wanted to attack. Thus, it inhibited possible alarm signals.
On October 16, entries and searches were made in Blanes (Selva) and Llinars del Vallès (Vallès Oriental). The agents seized frequency jammers, tracking systems and other tools to commit the robberies.
The arrests and identifications are the result of two police investigations initiated following complaints of sabotage in communications towers in the Girona area that took place in August, and eight forceful robberies in companies between July and October of this year at companies in the Girona, Bages and Maresme area.
On the one hand, an investigation by the Information Area was able to determine that the alleged perpetrators of the sabotage in the towers were a 23-year-old man and woman who have been arrested for a crime of damage.
They cut all the wiring with radials to disable the signal, causing problems in the reception of radio and television stations and also the Internet. Thus, they damaged mobile phone coverage and inhibited the alarm signals of the companies where the group wanted to operate.
For their part, agents from the Criminal Investigation Area concluded that the perpetrators of the eight robberies were part of a highly specialized criminal organization. According to the Mossos, the thieves inspected the area beforehand, carefully chose the access and exit routes, caused supply cuts to the companies, used frequency inhibitors and made sure that the alarms were not activated. In addition, they had electronic tracking systems to monitor the movements of the victims.
The agents arrested three people, the two previously described and another 31-year-old woman, as alleged members of a criminal group and as perpetrators of eight robberies. In addition, they identified three other people, who are being sought and captured for the same reasons.
On October 16, with sufficient evidence collected to prove the participation of those investigated, the exploitation of the case was carried out. Two entries and searches were carried out in Blanes (Selva) and Llinars del Vallès (Vallès Oriental) where telephones, radios, drills, a welding station, oxygen cylinders, a pellet gun, signal inhibitors, saws, shears, parrot beaks, various tools, OBDII devices, volumetric devices, locators, GPS tracking devices, hard drives, computers, photography cameras with lenses and a safe.
The detainees were brought to justice on October 19 before the Figueres investigative court for the robberies and on October 20 before the Olot investigative court for the damage to the telecommunications towers. The investigation remains open waiting for evidence of the participation of those investigated in more events, or of other people, to emerge.
The head of the Criminal Investigation Area of the Mossos in Girona, Carles Martínez, explained that the investigation first led them to suspect some people who were using a van. These clues led them to investigate the occupants of a home and, after a few days of monitoring, they determined that some of them were part of the criminal gang.
Furthermore, Martínez points out that they were thieves who had a history of similar acts. All of this led the investigators to carry out two entries and searches at homes in Blanes and Llinars del Vallès. Among the items seized were construction and construction materials, as well as safes where the affected companies have declared that they had around 40,000 euros in cash.
The head of Investigation of the Mossos in Girona has acknowledged that there are objects that have been stolen and that can no longer be recovered, either because they have been sold on the black market - they are highly sought after items - or because the gang has sent them to their country of origin.
Finally, Martínez stressed that the impact on companies was "very important", but also on citizens. And by sabotaging the towers, they cut off communications for hours, until the company managed to repair it. Some repairs that the Mossos have explained were relevant, both in terms of economic and personal cost.
