Agents of the National Police, in a joint operation with EUROPOL, have carried out an operation against organized Neapolitan groups dedicated to the theft of high-end watches.
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In total, 35 people have been arrested who were acting throughout Europe, although in recent months they have committed these criminal acts in the most tourist cities in Spain.
The criminal network chose its victims in luxury restaurants and hotels, who were subjected to exhaustive surveillance until the moment they decided to commit the theft of the watches, using violence if necessary.
In the last phase of this operation, carried out by the Italian Polizia di Stato, agents of the National Police together with police from Austria, Germany and France, have participated in the operation organized by Europol in the city of Naples that has resulted in the arrest of eight people, all of Italian nationality, who join the 27 previously arrested, most of them detained in Spain, and who belonged to this criminal network of Neapolitan origin.
The members of this criminal network acted in groups of three or four people. They monitored their potential victims in luxury hotels or restaurants and once they identified a person who had a high end watch, they followed them until the moment they committed the robbery, for which they used force if necessary.
Sometimes, the alleged perpetrators attacked the victims, ripping the watch from their wrist and fleeing, usually on a motorcycle.
The fact that thefts of high-end watches were being committed under the same modus operandi throughout Europe made the authorities of different European countries suspicious, who transferred the investigations to Europol, which identified the same pattern of organized crime.
Thus, Europol, based on the information it had, issued different European arrest warrants for the eight remaining Italian suspects based in Naples.
The investigation and operation has been supported by the @ON network and has been financed by European Funds from the European Union Commission through the Internal Security Fund and has been directed by the Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (DIA).
The operation remains open and more arrests are not ruled out. ■