The Mossos d'Esquadra have dismantled a criminal group allegedly specialized in violent robberies in shops in the province of Tarragona and Conca de Barberà, in an investigation that has resulted in four arrests in L"Espluga de Francolí, Tàrrega and Cervera. The arrested individuals, aged between 25 and 39, are attributed crimes of belonging to a criminal group, robberies with violence and intimidation, theft and use of vehicles, and damage by fire.
The investigation places the group in assaults directed mainly against tobacconists and supermarkets, where they acted with violence and intimidation. The assailants used large knives and masks and relied on electronic devices to interfere with the immobilizer system of the vehicles they stole to commit the robberies.
Several blows in two days
One of the investigated incidents dates back to March 16, when a robbery occurred in a supermarket in Montblanc from which the perpetrators took nearly 1,500 euros. The next day, March 17, the group allegedly committed three robberies in tobacconists in Belianes, Bellpuig, and Anglesola in less than 15 minutes, a sequence that reinforced the hypothesis of a coordinated action.
That same March 17, the investigated individuals would have set fire on the outskirts of Tàrrega to the vehicle used in the assaults to eliminate traces. Later in the afternoon, a fourth robbery was carried out in a supermarket in Verdú. Investigators maintain that the gang also had a second support vehicle for counter-surveillance tasks.
Search in L'Espluga and new arrests
The progress of the investigations allowed action on March 31, when after the authorization of the court of Cervera, a property was searched in L'Espluga de Francolí. In that search, the Mossos seized electronic devices for car theft, mobile phones, clothing used in the robberies, and allegedly stolen objects.
In the framework of the operation, two arrests were also carried out in Tàrrega and the support vehicle that, allegedly, the group used was seized. The investigation continued open until April 9, a fourth person involved was arrested in Cervera.
Backgrounds of two arrested
The four detainees are between 25 and 39 years old. Two of them accumulate more than thirty criminal records. The Mossos consider them alleged perpetrators of a chain of robberies committed in different municipalities of Ponent and the surroundings of Conca de Barberà, with a pattern of action based on speed, the use of stolen vehicles and their subsequent burning.
The operation declares the group dismantled, while the case continues its judicial course to determine the exact scope of the investigated facts and the specific participation of each of the arrested.