Alex Trelinski
A DOZEN organised gangs are robbing foreign tourists ‘daily’ at motorway service areas in the Valencia and Murcia regions, according to the Guardia Civil.
Thefts and violent robberies have risen during the summer at rest areas on the A-7 and AP-7 motorways.
There have been 75 arrests in the last two years and most are repeat offenders using fake identities.
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The Guardia Civil says the largest criminal group consists of several related families originating from a small Romanian town called Chitila.
The gang is based in Malaga and cities in the Valencian Community- specialising in service area robberies at night.
Since 2021, 43 alleged members of the Chitila gang have been detained, while three other groups of Romanian thieves with criminal records in Spain have also been operating.
Three other motorway robbery gangs are made up of Algerians and a further three consisting of Kosovar Albanians who also target victims at shopping centres.
A Guardia Civil criminal intelligence report says those arrested or identified for robberies on the A-7 and AP-7 accumulate a ‘large number’ of arrests for constant offending.
Many of them started breaking the law in Spain before 2010 while others have formed itinerant groups and have criminal records in several European countries over the last five years.
Most of the victims are either European tourists who spend the summer in the Valencian Community or citizens from either Algeria or Morocco who are using the motorway.
Since the summer of 2021, the Guardia has noted a big uptake in motorway robberies and believe that non-Spaniards are a perfect target.
That’s because if they’ve been a victim of crime they will have language issues in providing accurate descriptions of gang members- something the criminals bank on.
Foreign number plates are an instant giveaway for the thieves who also regularly use ‘shuttle’ cars to distract police officers from chasing their colleagues who committed a crime,
