Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.
Arrest at Alicante-Elche airport
National Police officers have arrested a 23-year-old man at Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport as the alleged perpetrator of a robbery with violence and fraud, after he stole a tourist’s mobile phone and accessed crypto assets worth around 28,400 euros. The incident took place in the south of Gran Canaria.
According to the Senior Police Headquarters of the Canary Islands, which reported the news this Wednesday, the suspect was arrested in Alicante, where he was brought before a judge, after arriving at the airport on a flight from France. As part of the investigation, officers have also identified and investigated a 30-year-old woman in connection with the movement of the digital assets.
New Year’s Eve robbery in Playa del Inglés
The events occurred in the early hours of 31 December last year at a shopping and nightlife centre in the resort town of Playa del Inglés, following a complaint from a foreign national who said he had been robbed while in one of the establishments in the commercial area. According to his account, two young men approached him and struck up a conversation until, at a given moment, they snatched the mobile phone from his hands, with one of them kicking him, before fleeing the scene.
Minutes later, back at his hotel, the victim logged into his laptop intending to block the stolen device, at which point he discovered that a transfer of all his crypto asset funds – a total of 33,000 Tether (USDT) – had been ordered to a private wallet. At the current exchange rate, those 33,000 Tether are worth around 28,400 euros, although the value of this type of crypto asset is highly volatile.
Trail of transactions leads to organised group
Following the complaint, National Police officers launched an investigation to determine the destination of the digital assets and identify those involved in their movement. This revealed that the funds had been transferred to various crypto exchange platforms and that some had subsequently been converted into euros, with numerous payments detected at food, leisure and travel establishments in Alicante and Madrid.
During the course of the investigation, officers identified an organised group linked to robberies committed in various tourist areas of Valencia, Málaga, and the south of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, specialising in the theft of cryptocurrencies. It was established that members of the group sometimes resorted to violence and, on other occasions, used substances added to victims’ drinks in order to diminish or nullify their will.
Investigation led by Las Palmas UDEF
The investigation has been carried out by officers from the UDEF (Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit) of the Provincial Judicial Police Brigade of Las Palmas, while the arrest was made by Judicial Police officers at Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport. The case is now before the courts in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, the police force confirmed in a statement.
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