Alex Trelinski
A LOCKSMITH has been arrested in Madrid for stealing cash and jewellery valued at €1.5 million from a safe that he repaired months earlier.
The safe expert, 35, and another Spaniard, 47, were detained by the Policia Nacional on June 26 but details were only made public on Friday.
Investigations ran for months following last autumn’s theft from a luxury apartment in the capital’s Salamanca district.
READ MORE:
- Two members of Europe-wide hotel safe robbery gang arrested on Spain’s Costa Blanca
- Rapper Daddy Yankee will receive €1m in compensation from a hotel in Spain’s Valencia over a 2018 robbery
- Police in Spanish capital catch luxury hotel thief who even stole the room safe
The police said the suspects had a history of committing similar crimes.
The locksmith is said to have prepared for the robbery a year ago after the apartment owner hired him to do maintenance work on the safe.
He is accused of obtaining all the information needed to rob it at a future stage and was paid €3,000, which has also led to him being charged with fraud for excessive charging.
Three months after his visit, the property was robbed when the occupants were not at home.
The police tried to access security camera footage from the concierge service of the apartment block, but officers discovered that the robbers had stolen the recordings.
The arrests were made last month, with one of the men having in his possession a watch that was stolen from the home.
