10 Arrests Made as Criminal Gang on the Costa del Sol is Accused of 57 Robberies Across Different Churches and Businesses

National Police officers have dismantled a criminal group dedicated to robberies with force in establishments and churches in the province of Malaga, especially in Benalmadena and Torremolinos, by breaking doors or padlocks.

SO far they have attributed 57 robberies to the group in these two locations as well as Antequera, Mijas, Torrox and Malaga. The investigation of operation Atlanta remains open and new arrests are not ruled out.

Operation Atlanta has seen the arrest of, nine men and one woman aged between 19 and 27, eight of Spanish nationality, two Filipino and one French, who were arrested as alleged perpetrators of the crimes belonging to this criminal group, which included robbery with force and drug trafficking.

The investigation began last September following several complaints from establishments about robberies in the towns of Torremolinos and Benalmadena, totalling more than 40 robberies from September to November. Seemingly, other similar robberies were happening in other locations such as Antequera, Mijas, Malaga and Torrox.

The common links these robberies had was that they all employed a similar method and timeframe, predominantly when establishments or churches were closed to the public. They carried out these crimes by forcing the locks or access doors and subtracting all valuable items. From then on, the police began to launch an operation to locate and arrest the perpetrators.

After numerous efforts, the investigators managed to identify some of the members of this criminal gang. The use of sophisticated techniques used to carry out their crimes, such as the use of frequency inhibitors, micro cameras etc pointed to the fact that these crimes were all committed by the same network of people.

At the end of the investigation the police identified a villa in Benalmadena, which was dubbed as a squat house, with all of the stolen evidence such as  – safes, tobacco machines, cash registers, etc. All members took many precautions to avoid being arrested such as constantly changing their addresses and vehicles.

The network was very well structured, and each member had their own role to play like the organiser, the driver or the manager. For example, the manager had created a group in a social network through which he contacted the other members and called them to commit thefts. Furthermore, the profits obtained by selling the stolen artefacts were often invested back into the criminal business by buying narcotics and then selling them.

This investigation has seen over 50 robbery cases closed and five police searches have been made in which they found three stolen vehicles, a cash register, a safe, 14 mobile phones, various electronic devices, €5,000 in cash. Police also intervened two vehicles which were used to commit these robberies, as well as tools like a frequency inhibitor, a cylinder extractor kit, picks, a micro camera, two electric pistols, a precision balance, and a money counter. Police also seized 266 grams of hashish.