Six church robbery suspects arrested

PALMA
NATIONAL Police have arrested six people in Palma suspected of belonging to a gang which has been robbing items of value from churches around Majorca.
According to the Historic Heritage Robbery Squad, the security forces have also successfully recovered the altarpieces valued at 600'000 euros stolen from Montesion Church in Palma in August. The arrests of five Spaniards and a Cuban, said a spokesman, were the culmination of the so-called “Operation Don Simon” which had been in progress since the middle of last August.

Police had surmised that the detainees belonged to a gang which was very well organised and which allotted specific tasks to its members. One of the “jobs” had been to assess the interiors of selected churches around the island and judge what items would be easiest - and most profitable - to steal.

Once taken from the churches, the artefacts would then be sold on a black market both on Majorca and at other locations across Spain.
As well as the recovery of the valuable religious items from the Church of Montesion, police also recovered 30 wooden candelabras of varying sizes embossed in gold leaf, possibly hand-crafted at the beginning of the last century which had been stolen from the Church of San Salvador in the Palma suburb of Genova earlier this month.