The Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested a 23-year-old man as the alleged perpetrator of 18 burglaries with force in vehicles parked in a private parking lot in the Eixample district of Barcelona. The investigation began in February, when the police detected an increase in complaints about this type of incident in the same facility.
The case concentrates an unusual recidivism in a single scenario. The arrested man has about thirty police records in the last year and another ten registered by the National Police, while police sources indicate that he resumed criminal activity just after being released.
Cameras identified the suspect after several nocturnal entries
The surveillance camera footage from the parking lot allowed the alleged perpetrator to be identified. Investigators place him entering the parking lot at night and breaking car windows with a fire extinguisher to access the interior.
In the robberies, the man took everyday objects that drivers had left inside their vehicles. Among the stolen items are clothing, footwear, house keys, and other personal belongings.
The pattern of action concentrated the incidents in the same parking lot in the Eixample, a detail that allowed complaints to be grouped and a single line of investigation to be followed since February. The arrest comes after weeks of investigations focused on the recordings and the repetition of the same method.
The detainee had about 40 records between two police forces
The arrested man's police record weighs heavily in the case. The Mossos attribute about thirty records to him in the last year, mostly for property crimes and burglaries inside vehicles.
To this record is added another ten records registered by the National Police. The accumulation of incidents, combined with the repetition of the same type of robbery, paints the profile of an alleged repeat offender highly focused on parked vehicles.
Police sources add that the man resumed criminal activity immediately after being released. The arrest attributes 18 burglaries with force committed in a private parking lot in the Eixample to him.