Agents of the Mossos d’Esquadra have arrested four men suspected of two crimes of theft, one of them attempted theft. Apart from this, two of those arrested are also accused of another crime of robbery with violence. All the robberies took place last weekend on the AP-7 motorway, when it passes through the Girona area. The thieves used the same modus operandi in all the incidents. They pretended that their car had broken down while they were distracted in order to stop the driver and steal all the money and valuables in the car.
He simulated a breakdown in order to stop and rob the victims
The first robbery took place on Saturday, 13 May and the victims were a foreign couple traveling in the direction of Barcelona. Shortly before reaching the Figueres exit, they saw a vehicle stopped on the side of the road and several people gesturing to them to stop. Once he did, the men explained to him that he had a fault with the right side of the car. When the victims realized that they had been cheated and robbed, they tried to stop it, but were pushed and thrashed by the robbers. However, they escaped without taking anything.
The next day, on 14 May, a driver driving on the AP-7 within the municipality of Sils alerted emergency services that he had seen two vehicles parked on the shoulder and the drivers fighting among themselves. A patrol of the Mossos d’Esquadra went to the indicated point, but when they arrived no one was there. Shortly afterwards, as the motorway passed through Macanet de la Selva, a Catalan police patrol observed a robbery in progress. The thieves used the same method as the day before, simulating a breakdown of a foreign-registered car stopped in order to rob its occupants while they were distracted. However, on this occasion, the Mossos discovered them and arrested them.
Once the thieves were arrested, Mawson did the proper investigation and found that they were the same people he saw arguing over the shoulder of AP-7 in Sills. On that occasion, they managed to steal $10,000 and 6,000 euros from another foreign couple. Furthermore, two of them can also be linked to events that happened the day before in Figueres. The detainees, all men aged 28, 49 and 51, have multiple police records for similar incidents. After going to the court this Tuesday, the magistrate has released him on temporary release pending trial.
