Authorities from the Calp Civil Guard ROCA Team detained a couple, aged 28 and 27, residents of Riba-roja de Túria, on charges of stealing more than 62,000 meters of electrical cables used for public lighting from multiple municipalities in the Marina Alta and Camp de Túria areas in Valencia. A scrapyard worker in Valencia has also been questioned for helping to move the copper stolen by the pair.
The Civil Guard accuses them of 19 counts of theft and robbery, 4 crimes of extortion tied to their personal situation, and 1 offense related to road safety. A Security Court ordered the arrest of the woman and ordered four search warrants and imprisonment. The investigation began in October 2021 after complaints from several towns and reports of robberies in Xàbia, Teulada-Moraira, Dénia, Benissa, and Casinos (Valencia).
Investigators identified a consistent method across the incidents, suggesting they were carried out by the same group. The thieves used a crowbar or a similar tool to pry open the access points of lighting vaults, then detached the underground power cables running between utility poles in the next section. This pattern helped detectives recognize how the crimes were executed and who might be responsible.
Law enforcement noted patterns in when and where the robberies occurred, which allowed them to pinpoint the vehicles used in the operations. In several cases, a vehicle belonging to one of the suspects was employed. Depending on the quantity and size of the material to be stolen, the group sometimes employed multiple large-capacity pickup trucks that they rented for the job. This detail indicated careful planning and resource management on the part of the criminals.
The couple under investigation had a lengthy criminal history, and authorities discovered that the woman had even impersonated another person to obstruct ongoing investigations and avoid possible arrest in related cases. This serious behavior drew heightened scrutiny and contributed to the breadth of charges faced by the pair. TRUE [Cited: Civil Guard].
During the investigation, a third individual emerged: a 42-year-old man of Ukrainian nationality who worked at a junkyard in Valencia. His role was to facilitate the sale of the stolen copper, seeking to minimize suspicion and ensure the material could be moved smoothly to buyers. The Civil Guard conducted an inspection of this third member’s business and recovered 200 kilograms of copper cable that had been stolen from a residential development in the town of Casinos (Valencia).
On June 9, the two thieves were arrested on a street in Riba-roja de Túria. An investigator testified that the man at the junkyard had received the stolen goods, confirming the network’s operational links. In addition to the copper recovered at the junkyard, authorities retrieved more than 3,000 meters of electrical cable and over 1,500 kilograms of copper electricity-related material stolen from a residential development in Xàbia and the Les Rotes de Dénia promenade, as well as material stolen from a construction site along a road leading to Benissa. These recoveries underscored the scale of the thefts and the ongoing impact on public utilities and local infrastructure. [Cited: Civil Guard]