Police have dismantled a criminal gang based in Barcelona comprising a woman and two men, one of whom was the woman’s underage son, suspected of committing dozens of break-ins across villages in Salamanca, Leon, and Zamora.
The arrests occurred in the Salamancan town of Alba de Tormes as the suspects returned from committing two burglaries in Villaquilambre (Leon) and Benavente (Zamora). The investigation, dubbed Operation ‘Aurisa’, began a month ago following a spate of break-ins affecting Salamancan localities.
Investigators discovered the group maintained their residence in Barcelona whilst periodically relocating their operational base to holiday rentals, using false documentation to rent both accommodation and vehicles. Their modus operandi involved targeting individual dwellings to minimise the likelihood of detection.
After forcing entry, the thieves employed alarm signal jammers before stealing easily transportable items, particularly jewellery and cash. During Saturday’s search of the gang’s rented accommodation in Alba de Tormes, officers recovered cash, stolen jewellery, and a gold purity testing kit used to assess stolen precious metals.
The case highlights the sophisticated methods employed by modern criminal enterprises, which exploit regional boundaries and false identities to evade detection whilst systematically targeting rural communities.
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