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Date Published: 24/01/2022

ARCHIVED - Armed robbers who targeted banks in Alicante and Murcia arrested in Orihuela

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Staff and customers managed to foil an armed robbery in progress at a bank in Alicante

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Armed robbers who targeted banks in Alicante and Murcia arrested in Orihuela

The National Police have arrested five members of a violent Italian itinerant gang that allegedly held up banks in Alicante and Murcia, threatening staff and customers at gun point and restraining them with cable ties.

The arrests took place in Orihuela, Barcelona and at a toll booth on the AP-7 motorway, and efforts are ongoing to try to locate a sixth suspect.

All of those currently in custody have previous convictions for similar offences in Spain, Italy and Belgium.

A police investigation began in October, following a robbery at a bank in Murcia during which the armed gang tied up staff and customers before making off with 344,335 euros.

Detectives immediately noticed similarities to an earlier foiled heist at a branch in Alicante a month earlier. Two gun-wielding suspects entered an undisclosed bank but left empty-handed after employees and customers resisted their violent attempts to intimidate them. One of the alleged robbers was quickly arrested.

"The perpetrators didn't hesitate to use firearms to intimidate employees and customers. They displayed a calm attitude and were in perfect coordination with each other at all times," said police in a statement.

After analysing bank CCTV during the robbery in Murcia, and speaking to witnesses and victims, police established the gang spoke Spanish with a foreign accent, "remaining calm and managing to control all the people inside the bank with apparent ease in a short period of time".

As part of the investigation, searches were carried out in Orihuela, Barcelona, and Marbella, during which clothes and "other items" used during the robberies were seized, along with 49,000 euros in cash.

Earlier this month, the Guardia Civil in Valencia launched a manhunt after a bank in La Torre was held up by armed robbers who threatened staff at gunpoint before fleeing with more than 140,00 euros.

Image: Policia Nacional

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