14th May 2025
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21 arrested as Spanish police dismantle ‘hugging pickpockets’ gang

Spain’s National Police – in an operation carried out jointly with police in Romania and coordinated by Europol – have arrested more than 20 people involved in a criminal network that carried out robberies by first ‘hugging’ their victims in a ‘loving embrace’.

According to the police, the hugging technique was used to catch victims unaware, with the thieves approaching in a friendly demeanour, before assaulting their victims with a hug and then robbing them.

Members of the criminal organisation carried out their thefts near bank branches and cash points, and in many tourist areas.

13 arrests were made in Murcia and eight more in Madrid. Sixteen house searches were carried out in which evidence of 46 alleged crimes against personal property were discovered.

The gang was based in Madrid but operated throughout Spain. Stolen jewellery, cash and high-end vehicles were seized by the police, and 56 bank accounts belonging to the suspects were frozen.

One of those arrested was reportedly responsible for making express trips from Madrid to the crime scenes across Spain to collect the stolen items, and then send them by courier to Romania.

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