A gang believed to be behind a spate of burglaries of homes in Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been put out of action by police in the island’s capital.
Acting on a steep rise in reports of thefts from flats in three residential districts of the city in recent times, police stepped up surveillance of the areas and identified four men they associated with the burglaries, in which the thieves targeted jewellery and small items made of gold. While several gang members accessed the homes, another remained on lookout outside in case the owners returned or police passed by.
Three of the quartet, which was described as a well-organised gang that used sophisticated techniques to access the targeted properties without leaving signs of breaking and entering, were detained as they were trying to fly out of Tenerife North Airport to Barcelona, while the fourth member is still at large. A significant amount of jewellery and gold was recovered in searches of their address in Tenerife and has been reunited with its owners.
All four men are originally from Georgia and police believe they are part of a much bigger organisation that has been operating for several years in Spain and now appears to have set its sights on the Canaries.
Back in October, a joint police and Civil Guard operation led to the arrest of 30 individuals, almost all of them from the former Soviet republic, alleged to have been responsible for burglaries in over 200 flats in Madrid.
Photo credit: Policía Nacional
