The Mossos d'Esquadra arrested on Thursday two teenagers aged 14 and 15 accused of seven assaults on elderly women in the Mariola neighborhood, in Lleida. The investigation links the minors with robberies committed by the snatch-and-grab method in the surroundings of Mercè street, an area where the attacks were concentrated since the beginning of March.
The first assault dates back to March 5. The victims were mostly elderly women and among them were two 91-year-olds. Two of the assaulted women suffered injuries and had to be admitted to the hospital. The perpetrators acted in groups of between two and four young people and escaped in the direction of Blocs Joan Carles.
The investigation remains open in La Mariola
The Mossos keep open the investigation to identify other minors allegedly involved in these events. The investigations focus on clarifying the participation of more young people in a series of robberies that had generated concern among the residents of this sector of the neighborhood, especially among the older population.
The police action occurs after several reports of snatchings in public thoroughfares, all of them committed within a radius close to street la Mercè. The pattern detected by the investigators points to rapid actions, in groups, and with immediate escape towards the area of the Blocs Joan Carles.
Another early morning arrest in the Blocs Joan Carles
In parallel, the Guardia Urbana arrested yesterday morning a 47-year-old man for an alleged crime of robbery with force also in Mariola. The arrest occurred at 2:05 hours, when the individual was surprised in full pillage in a dwelling in Blocs Joan Carles that had caught fire last Monday.
That fire left seven people injured. Among those affected were a 16-year-old boy and a 71-year-old woman, both with burns and transferred to Arnau hospital. The arrest of last dawn occurred in that same building, still marked by the consequences of the fire.
With these two episodes, Mariola is once again in the police spotlight in just a few days, with open investigations both for the assaults on elderly women and for the alleged robbery with force detected at dawn in the Blocs Joan Carles.