Alex Trelinski
A VENEZUELAN gang wore posh suits to enter up-market Madrid restaurants to suss out potential victims wearing luxury watches.
They then snatched items from victims in the street before escaping on motorbikes.
Five people aged between 20 and 30 years have been arrested by the Policia Nacional.
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Two of them were caught during an assault on a businessman in a restaurant in the La Moraleja urbanization.
They have been charged with four robberies in which they stole watches worth €100,000.
The head of the specialist Crono police unit, Angel Sanchez, said: “It was, without a doubt, one of the most violent groups we have faced who had no hesitation in assaulting victims.”
Officers recovered two motorcycles with stolen licence plates used in the robberies as well as a gun hidden in a secret compartment.
The police probe started in September when two people on a motorcycle stole a watch and a gold chain valued at over €30,000 from a man inside an underground car park.
The victim was threatened with a gun and assaulted.
Two other robberies under similar circumstances happened in November and another crime was committed on February 3, when two men on a bike snatched a watch- again intimidating their target with a weapon.
Another ruse used by the criminals was for one of them to dress up in a suit and go into an expensive restaurant in up-market districts of Madrid.
His job was to identify a diner wearing a high-end watch and then provide his accomplices with a description of their latest target.
They then waited outside the restaurant to rob him with their faces hidden by motorcycle helmets
The stolen watches were sold on the black market in Spain, with third parties taking them out of the country.
