27 detenidos en Barcelona por robar relojes de lujo a turistas

Barcelona, June 12 (EFE) - The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have arrested 27 repeat offenders, who together have 250 police records for stealing luxury watches from high-net-worth tourists in Barcelona. The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) reported that the thieves, 14 of whom are in prison by court order and the rest are free on bail, seized the watches with great skill, without the owners noticing. However, if the theft became complicated and the victim resisted, they did not hesitate to resort to violence. The victims were mostly tourists who frequented hotels, bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues frequented by high-net-worth clients. The thieves watched their potential victims in the vicinity of these establishments or luxury jewelry stores in Barcelona, also frequented by tourists. They watched for luxury watches that might interest them, followed them, and, when they found the right moment, robbed them. To do so, they approached the victim, touched their arm under any pretext, and, with great skill, stole the watch without them noticing, although on several occasions they used violence when they were discovered. The Mossos d'Esquadra estimate that the total value of the stolen goods is 312,000 euros—some pieces ranged in price from 500 to 120,000 euros—and that the watches were subsequently sold in countries in the Middle East and the northern Maghreb, where there is a high demand for these types of products. The police operation was carried out by the Mossos d'Esquadra's Multi-Repeat Offenders Group and began in October 2016 after detecting an increase in the theft of high-end watches on public streets, especially in the Ciutat Vella and Eixample districts. The detainees, all men who operated in groups of four or five people who exchanged information but were not part of a hierarchical criminal organization, are of French and Belgian nationality and lived in Paris and London, from where they traveled to Barcelona to commit the robberies. Four of them were arrested "in flagrante" on March 9, when officers located them monitoring a victim whom they subsequently attempted to rob, at which point they were arrested. The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have reported that these 27 arrests are part of the first phase of an operation against this type of repeat luxury watch thieves, and that a second phase is underway. efe, robberies, watches, tourists