The Spanish Guardia Civil, with the support of the Portuguese GNR and PJ, dismantled a criminal group suspected of robbing jewelry stores in the north of Portugal over the last 15 years, detaining suspects in both countries, the Spanish police force announced.
In a statement, the company revealed that it had arrested five suspects during a robbery at a jewelry store in Valença do Minho, when they tried to steal jewelry valued at 400 thousand euros. In Spain, four alleged members of this group were arrested.
The operation, entitled Alpina-Rasteiro, began at the end of January this year, after the investigation of several robberies at jewelry stores located in Portugal.
According to the Spanish police, an organization was identified, formed by a traveling group of Italian citizens who traveled to Spain to rob jewelry stores in Portugal, with the support and infrastructure of other Spanish members.
Specifically, the Spanish elements of the group provided all the logistical support necessary to commit the crimes, renting houses and vehicles and even providing firearms and tools. In addition, they participated in the search for jewelry stores of interest, in planning the robberies and in monitoring the establishments during the robberies.
On November 14, GNR agents in Braga arrested five individuals belonging to this criminal group, three of Italian nationality and two of Moroccan nationality, when they carried out an armed robbery in a jewelry store in Valença (Portugal).
During the robbery, two people were seriously injured. The store owner was attacked by the robbers and one of the robbers clashed with GNR agents and suffered gunshot wounds. The stolen jewelry, worth more than 400 thousand euros, was recovered.
Following these arrests, and pursuant to European investigation and arrest warrants, four Spanish individuals belonging to the organization were arrested and searches were carried out in a hotel establishment and six other residences.
These searches took place in the towns of Redondela, Pazos de Borbén, Porriño and Vilanova de Arousa (Galicia) and led to the seizure of cell phones, documentation and money worth 118 thousand euros.
After the operation, a criminal group was dismantled, with the arrest and imprisonment of all its members, and five of them were placed in pre-trial detention in Portugal and the other four in pre-trial detention in Spain, after being linked to the robberies that occurred in at least 23 jewelry stores in the north of Portugal for more than 15 years.
The investigation was carried out within the scope of Europol, by the Heritage Group of the Judicial Police Unit of the Guardia Civil of Pontevedra and by agents from the GNR and the Judicial Police of Braga.
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