White-gloved thieves who burgled luxury villas in Malaga arrested
National Police officers are investigating other crimes on the Costa after detaining the two young Albanian men who, despite their age, are considered to be specialists in burglary
Officers from the robbery unit of the National Police force in Malaga have arrested two Albanians, aged 22 and 23, who, despite their young ages, are regarded as specialists in breaking into homes. The suspects had been caught on security cameras with a curious feature in their disguise: striking white gloves instead of the usual black ones favoured by burglars.
A series of crime reports lodged around 15 August, in the middle of the Malaga fair, gave rise to the investigation. Although in different neighbourhoods, all the cases had common denominators that suggested the same perpetrators. The burglaries always took place in the early hours of the morning, in a very specific area, taking advantage of the fact that the residents were asleep, which generated even more alarm among the victims.
The thieves’ modus operandi involved scaling the perimeter fences of the properties to gain access to the interior. They would walk along the roofline to evade security cameras and to find the weakest point of the house’s doors or windows, which they forced open with screwdrivers and even with their bare hands.
Finally, once inside the house, they would creep around using torches and without the inhabitants realising that, while they slept, their homes were being burgled. In fact, most of the victims discovered the burglary the next morning when they saw the interior in disarray and saw on the security cameras that they had been visited by intruders.
Officers from the robbery unit focused their investigations on the Albanian gang. The criminals, aware that the National Police were on their heels, stopped operating in Malaga and left for other towns in Spain. But, after a while, they returned to the province. The police, who suspected that they were going to start a new campaign of burglaries, managed to locate and arrest them.
Police investigations have so far attributed 11 burglaries from villas in the areas of El Candado, Guadalmar and Cortijo de Mazas, in Churriana to them . However, the sources consulted said that many other reports are still being analysed in the belief that they have committed more crimes in other parts of Malaga city and probably in the province. The case remains open.
