Alex Trelinski
FOUR members of an organised pickpocket gang have been arrested by the Policia Nacional for stealing valuables from public transport passengers and pedestrians in Valencia.
Two men and two women of various nationalities have been charged with 49 thefts on buses and trams, along with eight cases of fraud after using stolen bank and credits.
The travelling gang would blitz Valencia before moving onto other parts of the country or even out of Spain before returning when they thought the police had forgotten about them.
The police investigation attributed 73 thefts committed by the gang in the city between November 2022 and March 2023.
Two wallets, €940 in cash, various personal documents, several credit cards and four mobile phones have been recovered.
All of the thieves had criminal records and as complaints piled up, the Policia Nacional launched a special operation in March to catch them.
They discovered that seven people were involved and always struck when the city was busy.
Besides operating on buses and trams, they’d also take advantage of large crowds to approach a target virtually unnoticed to steal belongings before blending back into the hoards.
Three of them were detained during the March’s Fallas celebrations but news of the arrests was not made public as the police probe continued, resulting in a fourth arrest.
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