In Europol's list of the twenty most active airport robbers in Europe, two of the ten arrested this week by the Mossos d'Esquadra were in prominent positions. Two individuals who settled in some occupied apartments on Romans street in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, one for eight months and the other only two, and who together with the rest of the criminals made up a criminal group that every day also stole suitcases, telephones and everything they had on hand in tourist areas throughout Barcelona.
The investigation unit of the Gràcia police station went on the trail of the suspects in January after verifying through the data generated in the so-called Pla Tremall that the suspects were arrested practically weekly and that a parallel investigation had to be carried out to stop them not only for specific robberies, but for belonging to a criminal group, as it has been.
The nine men and one woman had acted in France, Belgium and Germany, where they accumulated numerous police and judicial records. In fact, some were even banned from entering France.
The members of the group used stolen electric scooters to move to the center of the city and, once there, they committed thefts and robberies and then quickly fled and took refuge in the occupied apartments. None of the victims suffered injuries, although they did not hesitate to use force and act violently if the targets put up some resistance.
The coordinated work of the investigators and public security agents from the Gràcia police station made it possible to intercept one of the gang members and recover 12 stolen mobile phones.
After the arrest of the person who carried the telephones and the investigation efforts, the rest of the members of the group and their main leaders were identified.
On March 27, a police device was organized that allowed the arrest of the rest of the members of the group at their homes.
Inside the apartments, some thirty stolen mobiles were recovered, eight electric scooters, an electric bicycle, a multitude of electronic devices, documentation of victims, money, clothing and accessories used to commit the criminal acts.
The ten detainees, nine men and one woman, were released with charges after going to court. The ten returned to the occupied buildings where they lived. On Thursday, two of them went to the Gràcia police station to ask the investigators to return three of the mobile phones they had when they were arrested, those for their private use. The police told them to claim the return in court.
