Alex Trelinski
A family gang that robbed supermarkets and large stores across the Costa Blanca has been arrested by the Policia Nacional.
Two Armenian men and a woman aged between 27 and 47 years had existing police records for similar crimes in northern Spain.
The trio hit multiple towns in the Costa Blanca region and concentrated on stealing perfumes, cosmetics, medicines, food, and alcohol in a multiple series of break-ins.
The crooks had worked out that pilfering a low value total of goods from each store meant that their actions could not be technically be classified under Spanish law as a “Serious Crime of Theft”.
The Policia Nacional said they robbed on a daily basis believing that the quantities stolen would not attract much interest from the authorities, or if caught, any punishment would be light.
The burglars entered the shops with a set of pliers placed into a specially shielded bag to stop any anti-theft device going off at the entrance.
They then used the pliers to disable the security alarm before helping themselves to a small selection of items.
Despite the ploy of going for low value goods, the robbers were identified and tracked by the police, who then caught them red-handed leaving a shop with their latest booty and their shielded bags.
Over 200 stolen items were discovered in their cars, but despite the fresh charges brought before an Alicante court, the trio were released on bail.
