A gang of car traffickers falls in Tarragona

The Mossos d’Esquadra and the Civil Guard they have disarticulated in Salou (Tarragona) a band dedicated to robo and to illicit vehicle traffic with the arrest of its five members and the recovery of 18 cars with a total value of one million euros. As reported by the regional police on Monday, the group was highly specialized, its components had great technical expertise and they acted in an itinerant way to commit the robberies in Madrid, Valencia and Catalonia.

The dismantling of the gang culminated on Sunday 19, when agents of the Mossos of the Tarragona and Reus investigation units, together with the Heritage Unit of the Barcelona Civil Guard Command, they arrested four men and a woman, between 30 and 57 years old, of Russian and Ukrainian nationalities.

Belonging to a criminal group

The detainees, four of them resident in Salou (Tarragona) and the fifth residing in Russia, have been accused of the alleged crimes of membership in a criminal group, 17 robberies with force of vehicles, document falsification and illegal traffic of vehicles.

The investigation started last summer, upon detecting a series of thefts of new vehicles and of a certain brand in the regions of Tarragonès and Baix Camp. In the first steps, we had the collaboration of the local police of Salou and Cambrils.

Another detainee in October

During the initial phase of the investigation, last October a man has already been arrested of 25 years of Ukrainian nationality and two stolen vehicles of the same make were recovered. This arrest made it possible to verify the existence of a criminal group formed by citizens of Eastern Europe which was based in Tarragona. In addition, the Mossos coincided in the investigation with agents of the Civil Guard and a joint team of work.

As the investigation progressed, it was found that the gang was operating also outside of Catalonia, its members, their hierarchy within the group, were identified and a series of homes and a garage were located where those investigated kept stolen vehicles.

During this investigation phase, the police officers recovered five vehicles that they had been stolen in Catalonia and Madrid.

Falsify documentation

The group had the tools and the capacity to falsify traceability elements of the stolen vehicles, so that they committed the thefts of cars in Valencia, Madrid or Catalonia, they took them to Torredembarra (Tarragona) and, in a short period of time, they were able to manipulate them and falsify their documentation to put them into circulation without raising suspicions.

Thus, by specialized tools, templates and other utensils, a specialist was able to modify the frame and engine numbers in such a way that the falsification it was practically undetectable.

Entries and records

On the 19th, the investigative teams launched a operative and they arrested the members of the band, and the following day the entries and searches were made in four buildings, three homes in Salou and a garage in Torredembarra. In these records, four geolocators, frequency inhibitors, documentation, specialized tools to modify vehicle traceability elements, cloned license plates, five OBD devices (vehicle diagnosis system), several specific tools to commit car theft and a total of 12 vehicles.

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Of the 12 recovered vehicles and that they were recorded as abducted, the detainees they had already manipulated 6 to be able to put them into circulation since, in addition to manipulating them, they had carried out document forgery. In addition, the investigators intervened a high-end vehicle used by the members of the group, valued at more than 100,000 euros, and which is pending confirmation, via Interpol, if it appears as stolen abroad.

The five detainees passed on Wednesday at the disposal of the investigating court acting as guard of Tarragona and the judicial authority decreed their freedom with charges.

Reference-www.elperiodico.com

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