The Civil Guard has arrested 9 teenagers on the Orihuela Costa and is investigating another 4, for 7 crimes of robbery with force and 3 crimes of theft. The gang, all residents of Torrevieja, specialised in stealing bicycles from inside homes. They have all now been released on bail following their appearance before the courts last week. The group are said to be of different nationalities, and between 15 and 19 years of age.
The modus operandi of the group was always the same. They would travel into the Orihuela Costa, in small groups of between 3 to 6 people. Once there, they walked around the different urbanisations and selected the homes from where the robberies were to be carried out.
One or two of them would then jump over the fence of the house while another would remain on the street and act as look out.
They took bolt cutters with them in case of it being necessary to cut the locks or chains securing the bikes. When they had stolen enough bicycles for everyone, they rode back to Torrevieja. They even competed to see who could get hold of the most bicycles.
On the night of Halloween, and taking advantage of this celebration, the youngsters dressed in masks, so as to avoid being recognised by security cameras.
The operation concluded with the arrest of 4 Spaniards, 2 Germans, 1 Romanian, 1 Venezuelan and 1 Moroccan, however a further 4 teenagers, 2 Spaniards, 1 Briton and a Ukrainian, are being investigated sepeartely.
So far a total of 17 bicycles have been recovered.
