Masked robbers carry out two raids in quick succession in Alcorcón and Pinto
A group of four armed individuals wearing balaclavas carried out two robberies in less than an hour at different locations in the Madrid region, using stolen cars for their movements.
Masked robbers carry out two raids in quick succession in Alcorcón and Pinto
A group of four armed individuals wearing balaclavas carried out two robberies in less than an hour on Monday afternoon at different locations in the Madrid region, using stolen cars for their movements. Police forces are investigating whether these same perpetrators committed a third robbery several days earlier at a similar establishment in Móstoles.
The first incident took place at 18.37 hours at a second-hand goods shop located on Paseo de Castilla in Alcorcón. According to persons close to the investigation, the four men burst in carrying firearms and covering their faces. The shop owner attempted to repel the attack with a fan, which triggered the anti-theft system to release artificial smoke throughout the premises to blind the intruders. Thanks to this reaction, the raiders were only able to make off with some bracelets before running towards a dark-coloured BMW saloon car that they had previously stolen and which had folded number plates.
From there, the fugitives headed along the Badajoz motorway towards the capital. At the junction with Calle de los Yébenes in the Latina district, they abandoned the BMW and approached the driver of a grey Mercedes, threatening him with what appeared to be a silver-coloured short firearm. They forced him to get out and took his vehicle heading south.
Shortly after seven in the evening, the same men appeared at the Plaza Éboli shopping centre in Pinto, an area under the jurisdiction of the Civil Guard. They were dressed in the same clothing as in the first raid and headed directly to a jewellery shop located in the shopping galleries, which at that moment had a considerable number of customers and staff. They smashed the display cases, collected all the gold jewellery they could in raffia sacks and left the premises in just a couple of minutes. During their withdrawal they fired shots in the air, believed to have been from replica air guns, in order to prevent anyone from attempting to intercept them. The National Police's Condor helicopter was involved in the pursuit operations.
Judicial unit number XIII of the Madrid Police Headquarters is directing the investigation into the robberies at the second-hand goods shops. These same officers recently arrested the organisation nicknamed the "Vatican gang", led by a Peruvian known as "El Gringo", which is attributed with five assaults on jewellery shops and a failed attempt against a bank in the framework of Operation Samurai. Investigations are being conducted to establish whether both criminal groups are connected, although at present the working hypothesis is that these are independent cases.
In the Móstoles incident, which occurred on Tuesday 23 June and also close to seven in the evening, the thieves stole gold, beat the manager with a sledgehammer and escaped in a stolen Audi bearing different plates on the front and rear axles. Information from ABC
Source: ABC