Naples: 12 thieves arrested for robbing tourists of luxury watches in Spain

Published on 16/05/2026 - 13:16 GMT+2

Spain's National Police person led an planetary cognition against the theft of high-end watches, which has culminated successful the arrest of 12 radical successful Naples, successful confederate Italy. Those detained are portion of transgression groups specialising successful violently attacking tourists successful immoderate of Spain's main tourer hotspots.

The operation, carried retired successful practice with the Italian authorities and coordinated by Europol, forms portion of a wider probe that has already led to the apprehension of 31 people successful antithetic European countries, underlining the cross-border quality of this benignant of crime.

Highly organised, specializer gangs

According to the investigation, the detainees beryllium to Neapolitan transgression groups known arsenic 'paranzas', dedicated to stealing luxury watches successful nationalist spaces. These gangs operated chiefly successful tourer destinations specified arsenic Marbella, Malaga, Barcelona, Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca.

The groups, usually made up of betwixt 3 and 5 members, had a intelligibly defined structure. They planned their trips to Spain utilizing false documents and organised their logistics with vehicles brought from Italy oregon hired erstwhile they arrived.

Once successful Spanish territory, they selected their victims – usually tourists oregon radical with precocious purchasing powerfulness – successful places specified arsenic hotels, restaurants, beaches oregon upmarket buying areas. After monitoring their movements for hours, they carried retired swift, convulsive robberies, yanking the watches from their victims' wrists earlier fleeing connected motorbikes oregon scooters.

A increasing transgression improvement successful Europe

Authorities accent that the rising worth of luxury watches connected the planetary marketplace has driven the spread of this benignant of crime successful respective European countries.

In response, Spain and Italy launched a associated cognition to intervene straight successful Naples, the location metropolis of galore of those involved, and to execute simultaneously the judicial warrants issued by Spanish courts.