Police have recovered €100,000 of perfumes and other items from the robberies carried out recently in Nerja, Antequera, Vélez-Málaga and Rincón de la Victoria and have arrested five Rumanians thought to be responsible for the thefts.
The shop in avenida Castilla Perez, Nerja, was robbed on March 31st.
Police in Marbella received information that a gang based in the town could be involved in supplying top of the range perfumes to various shops and surveillance of several individuals was initiated. Two properties being used by the gang were identified.
Three of the individuals under surveillance headed to Marbella bus station to catch a train to Madrid and when officers inspected their luggage they discovered 128 bottles of perfume, clothing and shoes. Unable to account for the origin of the perfumes and providing contradictory statements, the three men were arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen goods.
Police then checked with the shops that had been robbed and labels and codes corresponded to items stolen from the shop in Nerja. Obtaining a warrant to search the homes of the detainees, police found a further 1,347 bottles of perfume and various other items from the robberies.
Two more people were then arrested, one of whom has also been identified as the individual who rented the van used in the Nerja robbery.
The five detainees, all Rumanian nationals, have been charged with alleged crimes against property.