The Guardia Civil have arrested two Romanian men suspected of carrying out numerous acts of theft on the Costa Tropical as well as inland within the province.

The two individuals, aged 30 and 60 respectively, are thought to have stolen expensive mobile phones in establishments specialised in them in Lanjarón, Almuñécar, Salobreña, Castell de Ferro, Gualchos, Moraleda de Zafayona and Loja.

Investigation into these thefts began last November with the theft of an expensive mobile phone from a shop in Lanjarón.

One of the suspects had entered the shop with some sheets of paper in his hand, asking for directions from one of the female attendants, letting the papers fall on top of a phone on the desk. The phone was worth 1,700 euros. When he picked the papers up again, he did so with the telephone without her noticing.

When she did realise what had happened, the thief had already disappeared in a car where his accomplice had been waiting for him.

The Officer in Lanjarón examined security-camera images from a nearby premises and saw footage of the two men in a Skoda. However, even with this information it was difficult to track them down because they have no fixed abode and operate all over the country as part of a criminal organisation specialised in selling stolen phones in other countries.

The ruse was the same one used in Almuñécar, Salobreña, Castell de Ferro, Gualchos, Moraleda de Zafayona and Loja, some of which occurred before the Lanjarón incident and some after it.

They were caught, however on the 12th of February when a Guardia Civil patrol car came across them in the said car on one of the roads in the Alpujarra Granadina and pulled them over when they reached Lanjarón.

The suspects were arrested and a photo of them was shown to the shop assistant who made a positive recognition of the one who had entered the shop. The police also found clothing in the car that matched the description given by the victim at the time.

(News/Noticias: Lanjaron, Alpujarra, Granada, Andalucia – source article: Ideal)