Weekender Alicante North Issue 108

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FRIDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER 2019 7
Hidden gang caught
by Alex Trelinski
A GANG of bank robbers
that wore a variety of disguises
and stole all round
Spain, including from offices
in Alicante and Murcia,
have been arrested by the
Guardia Civil in Almeria.
The three men and a
woman have been charged
with 20 counts of robbery
and identity theft, with
authorities not ruling out
further charges.
The crooks operated since
July 2018, and also struck
in Granada, Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya,
Burgos, Pamplona, Valencia,
La Rioja, Zaragoza,
Pontevedra and La Coruña .
The exact locations where
they carried out their robberies
locally have not been
revealed by the Guardia.
They are said to have
amassed over 200 thousand
euros, and worked on the
basis of carrying out distraction
robberies, without using
any violence or weapons, and
with frequency jammers to
block mobile phone reception.
The gang had an array of
wigs, sunglasses, and baseball
caps to hide their identities,
and they would spend
time carrying out surveillance
on a bank they wanted to rob.
They would research what
was the busiest time at their
latest target, and then their
Funerals are no laughing
matter, says bishop
JULIAN Ruiz Martorell,
the bishop of Huesca, has
written a decree about the
celebrations at funerals in
his diocese.
This includes limiting music
played to that within the
Christian canon - so no My
Way or Always look on the
Bright Side of Life then (the
UK’s favourite, apparently).
by Simon Russell
operation would begin, as
one of them, in disguise,
would go in and pretend to
be a customer.
As a teller was distracted,
The bishop also wants to
stop the practice of reading
out farewell letters or thank
you letters, biographical
speeches and various other
modern day practices.
He said “Christian funerals
should clearly reflect the
Easter meaning of the Christian’s
death (where eternal
life follows)” and should not
be seen as a final goodbye or
heartbreaking experience.
However the practice is
not as widespread as in the
UK, where the most common
send-off songs played also
include “Angels” by Robbie
Williams and, bizarrely, the
Match of the Day theme tune.
another disguised gang member
would pop in and grab
any money they could lay
their hands on, as the crooks
then beat a hasty retreat.
Disguises
displayed
Cars to be
banned
after facelift
THE proposed redevelopment
plans for Valen-
by Simon Russell
cia’s Plaza Ayuntamiento excluding local residents and
include the banning of deliveries.
private vehicles, the initial
report this week has cided about whether public
It has not yet been de-
shown.
transport will still be using
Along with Plaza Reina the streets surrounding the
this is Valencia’s most important
square, well known more bike lanes and an en-
square, while there will be
for its flower stalls and fountains
in the heart of the old Valencia Town Hall has
hanced pedestrianised area.
town.
made it clear they are trying
to tackle the problem
The €400,000 facelift has
yet to be signed off and there of city centre traffic but are
are a number of different reluctant to take the option
proposals on the table. in Madrid of banning nonresidents,
which was con-
However it appears that
the council is keen to ban troversially reversed earlier
private traffic in the area, this year.
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