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Blackmailing burglar arrested
A
burglar who forced his victims to be photographed naked has been arrested in Alicante. The thief used social media to befriend his victims, most of whom live in the Alicante region. The man’s modus operandi was to initiate contact with women on social networking sites and after a period of contact they would arrange to meet. After he had
gained the trust of the victim, he would be invited to their home where he would threaten the women with a large knife, forcing them to strip naked to be photographed by him. He would then proceed to rob their belongings, threatening meanwhile that if they reported the crime to the police, he would publicise the naked photographs. The National Police made the arrest of the 41 year old Spanish man after learning of at least three such burglaries in the Alicante zone. The arrest was backed by two existing judicial notices for false imprisonment, robbery with violence and intimidation and fraud, said police. Officers began to look in to the man’s
movements in mid April after receiving several separate reports of robberies in the area, each of which had significant similarities in how the robbery was carried out. The perpetrator is thought to have used a number of different names on various social networks in order to gain his victims’ trust online and establish personal contact with the women. Once he had their trust, he would push to meet them at their own homes. As soon as the man gained access to the victim’s home, he would draw a large knife and the threats would begin – forcing each to strip and be photographed. He stole personal valuables by ransacking the house and
Tuesday 23rd - 29th May 2017
also took bank cards, forcing the victims to reveal the pin number. Once he had taken all that he could find, the man would threaten that he would put the photographs online if they went to the police to report the crime and that if they had given him a false pin number, he would come back to kill them. He then took the keys of the house and all mobile phones, leaving the victims locked inside their own homes while he went to the bank to withdraw cash with the stolen cards. Following extensive investigation and surveillance, officers from the Organised Crime Group of the Provincial Commission of Alicante were able to make the arrest earlier this month and this week, it was ruled that the man be sent to prison for his crimes. In court, it emerged that he has numerous police records for violent robberies, threatening behaviour and fraud from all over Spain.
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