Alex Trelinski
TWO members of a ‘love-hug’ gang that travelled around Spain robbing elderly people have been jailed.
Four Romanians- aged between 28 and 31- rented a house in the Murcia region to act as a temporary base.
The male ringleader and a woman were imprisoned after an extensive record of previous arrests for similar crimes.
The criminals approached victims to give them a hug or even offer them sex as a distraction to snatch jewellery like gold chains or watches.
Stolen items were then sold to people they knew rather than to legitimate businesses.
Four ‘love hug’ robberies were committed in Los Alcazares and El Algar, as well in Monovar(Alicante province).
The Policia Nacional started investigating the robbers in January when an elderly man had an expensive watch torn off him.
A young woman approached him by his car window when he was about to park his vehicle at his garage.
She offered him sex and when he refused, a man and another woman appeared and grabbed him to take his watch.
They drove away, but the victim pursued them in his car for a time and provided the police with important information about their car and a good description of the offenders which enabled them to be linked to similar robberies around Spain.
In most cases, the female gang members approached their targets with their two male colleagues waiting inside a hire car for a quick getaway.
Vehicles were changed frequently to hinder police investigations and were always obtained using documents with names of deceased people.
The crew also rented properties in rural areas to help them go unnoticed and then went to nearby towns to look for elderly people to rob
A police search of their Aljucer rental home led to the discovery of stolen jewellery, as well as high-end mobile phones and a large amount cash.
The investigation remains open to identify further crimes and to find more gang members.
The Policia Nacional has warned people to be wary of any strangers trying to get too close to them in the street which might precede a hug and grab.
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