Operation Twilight ended with a high-risk pursuit to apprehend a burglary-focused criminal gang from Alicante. The accused members of this clan were apprehended in a coordinated operation by the Civil Guard and the Local Police in the Region of Murcia, where this incredibly dangerous escape attempt occurred.

The officers were able to predict the movements of this criminal group based in Alicante, from which they travelled to the area of the Guadalentín Valley, after an investigation by the Guardia Civil of Murcia revealed an increase in robberies in homes in the municipalities of Lorca and Puerto Lumbreras.

Three members of this purported network were arrested a few days earlier. Civil Guard investigators discovered that the suspects’ vehicle was in the municipality of Lorca. After spotting this movement, the Local Police quickly teamed up with several departments to set up a monitoring system in the region, which paid off.

When the suspects’ car was going towards Lorca along the Águilas route, the Civil Guard found it. The car’s occupants left quickly after the authorities stopped it, driving carelessly and endangering other drivers.

The suspects intentionally struck many police cars during their escape in an effort to evade capture. The officers, however, stopped the vehicle before it could pose a bigger risk to the police and civilians in the vicinity of the incident.

Following the operation, the three car occupants were arrested on suspicion of committing the following crimes: assaulting an authority figure, burglary, damage, membership in a criminal organisation, and license plate counterfeiting. Although their authorship of other crimes and the involvement of more individuals in the now-explained illicit activity are not ruled out, they are suspected of being the authors of about twenty criminal acts.

This Alicante-based criminal organisation allegedly committed home robberies in the cities of Lorca and Puerto Lumbreras in the Guadalentín Valley, raising social panic among the local populace. Agents from the Civil Guard were alerted to the robberies and started looking into it.

The Murcian agents’ thorough technical and visual inspections, together with other investigations, yielded a wealth of information about the perpetrators and methods of the crimes.

After conducting an initial reconnaissance of their targets and verifying that no one was inside the residences, the accused criminals broke through the perimeter fence and forced open security features like closed-circuit televisions and window and door bars.

The criminals swiftly examined every room in the building after entering in order to take cash and valuables, while they also took some tech equipment in some of the crimes.

Other crimes committed by the same criminal group occurred concurrently with the investigation, which gave investigators the opportunity to determine the behaviour of the offenders in terms of their routines, methods of operation, and areas of activity. This also helped them predict the criminal group’s movements.

Requested resources

Following their discovery on the Águilas road and subsequent arrest, the Civil Guard officers confiscated a variety of items and belongings that the criminals were allegedly transporting in order to carry out the house invasions.

Among them, a hydraulic shear, used to cut bars; crowbars, used for leveraging; screwdrivers, to force locks; walkie talkies, to communicate within the criminal group; caps and tubular scarves, to hide their identity and thus avoid being identified; and several sets of license plates used to make it difficult to link the vehicles to the criminal acts they committed. In addition, more than 3,000 euros in cash have been seized from them.