The Policia Nacional busted a gang of pickpockets who specialized in the elderly – the 17 arrests made were nine men and eight women.

These arrests were carried out as part of a wider police operation targeting mobile or roving, criminal gangs; i.e., ones that are not based in a particular area but move from one place to another.

The arrested gang members, all of whom are Romanian and aged between 21 and 40, are suspected of having operated in the City of Málaga and Marbella recently.

The modus operandi was for female members of the gang to approach the victim and pretend to know them, they embraced the victim, normally an elderly person, using the bodily contact to fleece the victims. The Spanish term for this kind of pick-pocketing is robo con cariño; i.e., affectionate theft.

Another tactic was to approach in a car, normally with a male driver and two female passengers; one in the front, one in the back, and call the victim over to ask them directions for a hospital for example. The crooks would ask the person to point the location out on a map and when they reached in to do so, the villains would yank off a watch or necklace and then speed off.

Along with the individuals arrested, the police also impounded six vehicles used in these thefts. Furthermore, upon searching two flats in Almuñécar the police discovered high-priced, stolen watches and 1,325 euros in cash.

Police enquiries discovered that the gang had been operating all over Spain, frequently changing their base of operations to foil local police investigations. In fact, some of the gang members even have court summonses against out against them in cities across Spain.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)