The Guardia Civil of Alicante, within the framework of the Alga operation, in collaboration with the Local Police of Albatera, and with the support of the Local Police of Orihuela, arrested three people for the theft of carob beans in various farms. The alleged perpetrators, three men who worked in coordination, stole the carobs from Albatera productions, and sold them to businesses in the province of Alicante and the Region of Murcia.
A few months ago, the rural robbery team (ROCA) of the Guardia Civil of Torrevieja, within the framework of the fight against crimes that occurred in agricultural and livestock farms, took charge of the investigation of several complaints about the theft of carob beans, committed in the town of Albatera. These facts were alarming the owners and workers of the farms, who felt that production was threatened.
As a result of the inquiries, and thanks to the close collaboration with the Albatera Local Police, it was possible to identify one of the suspects, who was surprised by the Local Police during one of the robberies.
After this first intervention, the Guardia Civil and the Albatera Local Police began a joint investigation, managing to locate the identified perpetrator.
After arduous investigative work, the investigators found out that the author was not operating alone, managing to identify two others involved. It was a group in which each one had their mission. They collected the fruit when there were no workers on the farms, and later hid it in the undergrowth in large sacks. Using several cars, they later collected the sacks and travelled to stores selling this product, to which they sold the stolen carob.
As soon as the agents managed to collect all the necessary evidence, in mid-November, they proceeded to arrest two of the authors in Albatera, making the third arrest in Orihuela on December 1, 2022, for which they had the support of Orihuela Local Police. Those involved are charged with the crimes of theft and belonging to a criminal organisation.
The proceedings have been made available to the Orihuela Court. After going to court, the three detainees, three men between the ages of 30 and 50, were released with charges. They have numerous records for crimes of various kinds.
Inspections have been carried out in the stores where the authors sold the stolen carob, located in different towns in the provinces of Alicante and Murcia. 500 kilograms of stolen beans have been seized.
The Guardia Civil has seized numerous documents proving the gang’s illegal activity. The agents have been able to verify that the alleged thieves would have obtained profits of almost 9,000 euro with the sale of the stolen fruit.
