Five people, a woman and four men aged 19, 20, two aged 26 and one aged 34 and of Algerian, French, Swiss and Moroccan origin have been arrested and all have been provisionally jailed.
According to the police , the suspects have been charged with four robberies with violence against tourists, from whom they stole luxury watches worth up to 100,000 euros, and an alleged involvement in a criminal group.
The first robbery took place at the end of March, in Palma, when a man attacked a tourist couple from behind, grabbing the man’s hand and pulling it hard, taking his watch, valued at more than 11,000 euros, and wounding the victim.
The second incident occurred 15 days later, also involving a couple of tourists who were walking around the centre of Palma. Suddenly, an individual grabbed the man by the arm at wrist level, managing to cut the strap of a watch worth more than 12,000 euros.
The third robbery took place a few days later, also in Palma. One of the thieves grabbed the tourist’s wrist from behind, initiating a struggle and managing to steal the watch, in this case valued at 100,000 euros.
The National Police Robbery group began an investigation and verified the similarity of the three robberies, in areas close to the centre and in a reduced time slot, this being the ‘modus operandi’ used by the thieves, following the victims through the streets of Palma until they found the best moment to commit the robbery.
The police found that several people were involved in the robberies and that they divided up the tasks. They focused the investigation on a criminal group based in Catalonia that travelled to Palma from time to time, forming a criminal structure dedicated to the theft of high-end watches not only on the island, but also throughout Spain.
The police identified five people, two of them based in Palma to provide cover for the rest of the members of the gang, maintaining security measures at all times to avoid being seen together and camouflaging themselves as tourists, staying in hotels and using false identities.
While the investigation continued, a fourth robbery took place, also against a tourist couple, on 28 April. The thieves followed the victims, who went to pick up a car in a public car park in the city. At the moment when the woman was paying for the ticket, a person pounced on her and ended up stealing her watch, valued at 50,000 euros, injuring her and running away from the place.
On the same day as the fourth robbery, the Robbery Group and the Prevention and Reaction Unit (UPR) carried out a raid in Playa de Palma, where the suspects were staying, managing to arrest them when they were together in the street.
Subsequently, they carried out two house searches, recovering the four high-end watches.
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I don’t wear wealth when I am away.. I have two Armani Watches circa E15 each bought from a Lanzarote market in Playa Blanca… the rest of my wealth stays in the UK away from the likes of the Mallorca criminals.. where I live in the Uk has a lower crime rate than Mallorca and I ain’t siting Shagaluf or El. Alamein
I still do not understand why wealthy people wish to flaunt their expensive watches and jewellry , along with exclusive hand bags , clothing etc. They are asking for trouble wherever they go.