Criminal organisation in Torrevieja broken up

The National Police used the invisible thread approach to break a criminal organisation that specialised in home burglaries. The organisation was centred in Torrevieja and carried out burglaries throughout Murcia, Albacete, and Alicante.

The investigation, which began in Murcia last June in response to a significant increase in home burglaries with the start of the summer and holiday season, led to the identification of one of the organisation’s members, who was allegedly in charge of selecting buildings and locating homes where he would place a thread of transparent glue on the door frame to detect the occupants’ entry or exit.

Hours later, other members of the criminal organisation, who specialised in opening doors and had extensive technical knowledge of locking mechanisms, returned to the targeted addresses and, using bumping, magic key, or impressioning techniques, managed to manipulate the lock without causing visible damage or making any noise that would alert the neighbours, gaining access to the interior of the home.

National Police investigators set up numerous surveillance devices to better understand the criminal organisation’s operations, the distribution of duties among its members, and its itinerant nature, verifying how they moved through various towns on the Levantine coast as well as the provinces of Murcia and Albacete.

Searches of a Torrevieja home and hotel rooms in the province of Alicante resulted in the recovery of numerous stolen belongings, a large amount of jewellery, and €9,000 in cash, as well as highly specialised tools used to commit burglaries and several vehicles used by the organisation for travel and home burglaries.

Finally, the National Police has proceeded to arrest the four members of this criminal organisation, charging them with at least ten burglaries in homes in the provinces of Murcia, Alicante and Albacete, considering their high level of specialisation in committing robberies and the use of complex techniques with specific tools to be especially relevant, decreeing the judicial authority the immediate provisional imprisonment of the two main suspects and leaders of the

Bumping

It is a burglary method for opening a door without using the owner’s key or forcing the security lock. Inserting a manipulated key into the lock cylinder and striking it causes the plungers to wobble. When the key is struck, the cylinder’s plungers spring at the same time, allowing the key to turn and so unlock the security door. The door may be opened in half a minute and does not damage the security door’s locking mechanism.

Magic Key

The Magic Key is made up of a handle with a small grip and prongs shaped like a lock. Using a specialised technology and the precise tension and movements, the prongs (prongs) take the shape of a key, allowing it to open locks in seconds.

Impressioning

The impressioning method is a two-step process: first, the offender places a malleable aluminium sheet within the lock, such that when the key is inserted, the key’s teeth are imprinted on the aluminium plate, forming a mould of the key.

After the impression is produced, the second procedure begins, in which they create an identical copy of the key from the retrieved mould. This allows them to get in quietly, without forcing the lock, and with little evidence of tampering.

Author: Derek Appleton