They stole vehicles which they then broke into businesses to take proceeds from slot machines, Iberian products and luxury bicycles. And their activity was so frenetic that they looted up to four shops in the same night. A joint operation by the National Police and the Guardia Civil has stopped the criminal drift of a gang based in Seville to which 25 robberies are attributed in three months in various provinces in southern Spain, such as Seville itself, Cadiz, Córdoba, Huelva and Badajoz. Investigators arrested seven people, all with a history of property crime, of whom five were remanded in custody. They are under investigation for crimes such as belonging to a criminal group, robbery with the use of force, robbery with violence and intimidation, possession of weapons or crimes against public health.
The investigation began last August, when investigators began following the trail of a stolen vehicle in the Sevillian town of Lebrija. That car was used to rob four businesses. The gang’s main targets were bars and restaurants, because they had the opportunity to steal recreational machines, especially slot machines, given their high economic value.
The arrests in the investigation, called Tragaleones-Marinara, were made in early November. In the last phase of the investigation a change was observed in the band’s tendency in choosing objectives. Gourmet grocery stores dominated, where one sought out high-value Iberian products, such as strips of loin or ham, as well as shops selling high-end bicycles. They also stole from sporting goods stores. The researchers do not link this change to the fact that these products might have a better market on the black market, but rather to the fact that the gang did not shy away from any possible target. This hyperactivity has led researchers to consider them “one of the most active gangs of aluniceros in southern Spain”.
During the operation, agents of the Civil Guard and the National Police carried out searches in several homes in the capital of Seville and in the towns of the metropolitan area of Dos Hermanas and Alcalá de Guadaíra, where a considerable number of pieces of Iberian products, bicycles of high economic value and recreational cars were seized. They also found a wide variety of tools and clothing used to commit the robberies, vehicle start and alarm devices, long firearms and a plantation. indoor with more than 290 marijuana plants.
The arrested were brought to justice at the civil and investigative section of the court of instance number 2 of Lebrija, which ordered their entry into provisional prison.
