Montefrio in the Poniente of Granada is undergoing a plague of break-ins and everyone has just about had enough – they want justice and they want it now.

For the last two and a half months six locals have allegedly been robbing and terrorising their neighbours – everybody knows who they are. The Guardia Civil has arrested them on four different occasions, but no sooner as they are charged and released pending trial, the break-ins start back up. One of the arrested men was actually caught red-handed inside somebody’s house.

This gang, aged between 20 and 30 have reportedly broken into 30 homes, a church, two business premises and three municipal buildings, yet they are still free do carry out more.

A total of 400 locals demonstrated at noon on the 1st of July and all local businesses closed until one o’clock in support.

The local barber, for example, told of how they entered through the bathroom window, ransacking the premises to walk off with only 180 euros – the damage caused was greater than the amount stolen.

In the case of the Casa de la Juventud, which is a municipal building, CCTV recorded the faces of the burglars as they didn’t even bother to cover them, such is the impunity with which they operate in this small town of just under 7,000 inhabitants.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when the church was broken into and the Virgin’s crown stolen along with the small amount of cash in the collection box.

With corruption rampant in the ranks of politicians and even the King’s son-in-law allegedly guilty of embezzling, coupled with petty thieves and burglars operating with seeming impunity, is it any wonder people feel that Justice is a beast on the verge of extinction?

(News: Montefrio, Poniente de Granada, Andalucia)