National Police break up two burglary gangs, with one raid in Sagunto
Spain's National Police have dismantled two travelling burglary gangs, including a raid on a home in Sagunto, arresting seven people linked to 32 break-ins across the country.
A home in Sagunto was one of the addresses searched in a National Police operation against two travelling gangs dedicated to house burglary across several Spanish provinces. The operation ended with seven arrests — five of them already in pre-trial detention by court order — and helped solve 32 break-ins committed in different parts of the country.
The first gang, made up of four members, had two safe houses used as a base: one in Arganda del Rey and another in Madrid, from where it planned trips around Spain. The Sagunto raid is part of the investigation into this group. According to police sources, roles inside the group were divided: the two women handled logistics — finding safe houses, managing vehicles (switching between rental cars and cars registered to other people to make tracking harder) — while the two men carried out the burglaries themselves.
To get inside without being noticed, the gang used a method called "impressioning", which opens certain locks without leaving visible damage. Within the locksmith trade, it is considered one of the most complex and delicate techniques: making a working key directly from the inside of the lock, without an original copy. Together with lock-picking, drilling and "bumping", it is one of the key-less entry methods a locksmith can recognise and advise on how to protect against.
The two men in the group were eventually caught red-handed in A Coruña, right after committing a burglary. They were carrying jewellery, cash and specialised door-forcing tools, hidden on the underside of their car with a powerful magnet. Days later, the two women were arrested during the home searches — including the one in Sagunto — where officers seized jewellery, more break-in tools and a high-end car. This organisation is linked to 18 house burglaries.
The second gang used a different method: injecting nitric acid into locks with syringes, corroding the mechanism so it could be forced open with simple tools. Before acting, members marked doors with a thin thread of glue between the door and the frame, a way of checking whether the home was still occupied. The group focused its activity on weekends and holiday periods, when more homes were likely to be empty. Police noticed a rise in break-ins with this pattern in Valencia and Zaragoza, which eventually led them to the group, now linked to nine burglaries. Its three members were caught red-handed as they were about to break into another home; officers found break-in tools, a bottle of nitric acid and several syringes among their belongings, and found that one lock in the building had already been disabled and several doors marked as targets. All three face charges of burglary, belonging to a criminal organisation and assaulting a police officer, plus two outstanding arrest warrants.
This second gang's pattern — targeting weekends and holidays, when homes empty out — matches the summer period Camp de Morvedre (the district that includes Sagunto) is going through now, as many residents leave their homes for several weeks. That is why National Police used the case to repeat some basic advice: watch for odd marks on doors — glue threads, small plastic tags, putty or bits of paper that could signal the home is being watched — install clearly signposted CCTV, simulate someone being home with timer-controlled lights, and avoid leaving blinds fully closed during long absences, since that can signal an empty house.
Camp de Morvedre combines a historic centre in Sagunto and a coastal area in Puerto de Sagunto, two zones with very different occupancy patterns in August, when many homes — both primary residences and holiday homes — sit empty for days or weeks at a time. If residents notice any sign that a home is being watched, they can call 112 (the emergency number) or contact the Municipal Police directly, without waiting for a break-in to happen. The advice matters especially in a town where densely populated neighbourhoods sit alongside more scattered residential areas, which tend to be more exposed simply because fewer people are around during summer.
Neither of the two dismantled gangs acted at random: both studied the area, chose their moment carefully, and only entered once they had confirmed a home was empty. That is why police advice focuses less on one-off alarms and more on everyday awareness of the surroundings — noticing cars that do not belong on the street, repeated visits from strangers, and small marks, like the ones these groups used, that someone may have left without realising it.
The investigation remains open to solve further crimes and identify the owners of recovered items. According to El Periódico de Aquí — Sagunto / Camp de Morvedre, with additional background from Wikipedia on locksmithing techniques.