The Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia has arrested the four alleged perpetrators of the theft of 24 copper wiring hoses from a quarry in Yecla, valued at more than 20,000 euros. Those arrested are accused of the crimes of robbery with force, usurpation of marital status and belonging to a criminal organization.
The so-called ‘Operation Goldenstone’ began last July, when the Civil Guard learned of the theft of abundant copper wiring from a quarry, located in the municipality of Yecla and currently without activity.
The agents carried out a visual inspection of the establishment and found that the stolen material was stored in a room made of stone blocks, without a door, although the quarry had a private security service.
The evidence obtained and the images from the security cameras revealed that the robbery took place over several days, when a group of people entered the premises and left aboard a vehicle in which they allegedly loaded the material.
After finding out the identity of the suspects, it was learned that the hoses were transferred to an address near the quarry, where after extracting the copper, the material was chopped up and burned to prevent its traceability and to be able to sell it without raising suspicions. The investigations carried out made it possible to find out that part of the material was sold in metallic waste management establishments in the Alicante municipalities of Villena, Novelda and Elda, where sales delivery notes were obtained on behalf of third parties, some of whom were unaware that their identity had been used for such purposes.
The investigation ended when the Civil Guard linked four people, one of them employed as a security guard, with the alleged responsibility for the criminal acts. According to the investigation, the person guarding the quarry was the one who presumably flanked the other detainees, even erasing the tread marks of the vehicle used to transport the copper in order to eliminate their traces. The detainees and the investigated proceedings are already at the disposal of the Yecla Investigating Court.
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