‘Off-the-wall’ theft in broad daylight

Costa Blanca

THIEVES have stolen a factory in Sagunto, police report. The bizarre robbery involved taking the building apart, leaving only the frame behind.

THIEVES have stolen a factory in Sagunto, police report.

The bizarre robbery involved taking the building apart, leaving only the frame behind.

Not even the windows, nor the machinery inside, was left after the metal walls and roof were taken off.

They even took the air conditioning, reveals owner Vicente Ferruses, who had planned to move the company’s head office to the now-disappeared building.

And even more astonishing is the fact that the culprits carried out their dirty deed in broad daylight, during typical factory opening hours of 7.30am and 2.30pm, without arousing any suspicion from other workers on the industrial estate.

Police say the robbery must have taken around four or five days to complete.

Given that the Sepes industrial estate is often deserted and the factory was not yet in use – its owner merely visiting once a week – the thieves probably passed for builders carrying out renovations, say officers.

Ferruses discovered the strange theft entirely by accident, as he was driving past the industrial estate one day and saw nothing but four pillars left where his soon-to-be head office used to be located.

“How on earth did they manage to take apart and steal a three-storey building?” Asks Ferruses, perplexed.

“They would have had to have used a small crane or a cherry-picker.

“The building was worth over 200,000 euros.”

Police are searching for the culprits.