Despite the recent arrests of several minors and some young people in Playa Honda and Arrecife, new robberies have been registered this week in the capital of Lanzarote - in Fernando El Católico and El Greco streets, among others - and just 15 days ago the last episode took place in Costa Teguise, on Panamá street. For its part, the residential area of Playa Honda has not escaped the action of these burglars either: on January 21, numerous complaints were filed for robberies in neighbors' houses, both at the Civil Guard barracks in San Bartolomé and at the Local Police Station.
Testimonials
Ana is one of the many victims who have felt this fear of being at home. On December 21, when her husband and children were sleeping in their terraced house in Costa Teguise, like any other day, someone entered her home in the early morning. "We woke up around seven in the morning because we were going on a trip that day. At first we didn't notice anything. We hadn't heard anything strange during the night either."
The first indication that they had been victims of a robbery against their property was experienced by Ana herself, precisely when getting into the taxi that came to pick them up to take them to the airport. Upon leaving the house, she realized that a wallet was missing from her purse. At first, she thought she had lost it the day before, when she went to make an appointment with the taxi driver. However, her husband soon missed a mobile phone and a TDT device, which they had purchased to enjoy the new digital television.
"Ana, we've been robbed." The cold but accurate phrase from her husband immediately caused terror to seize this family. Her children burst into tears upon understanding what had happened, and without worrying about the effects that could have been stolen, the feeling of helplessness and insecurity seized this young couple.
"We believe that we left the living room door poorly closed, as they did not force any locks or windows, we think they entered through there and left through the main door of the house." Since then, an alarm guards the security of their home. But the feeling of insecurity has now moved to their own home. "To be at home we have to disconnect the alarm, and that is why when we feel most insecure is precisely when we are at home. I feel a constant insecurity, a lot of fear that a stranger will invade my security and that of my family. If they have entered once, they can do it again."
Unfortunately, this family missed the flight they were planning to take that same morning. After almost two months since they filed the corresponding complaint with the Civil Guard of Costa Teguise, to this day they say that neither the Armed Institute nor the Local Police has officially communicated anything to them. "They only told us that they had arrested someone from Cádiz, but the robberies have continued afterwards. The Civil Guard was at home. They did not check if they had left fingerprints, they simply took a look inside the house and commented that they would arrest them."
One of the neighborhood complaints lies in what they describe as a "disproportionate" absence of police officers in the area. "We have been told that the Local Police of Teguise has only two agents for the entire area of Costa Teguise. If so, that's very few."
Modus operandi
Although at first the possibility was considered that this wave of robberies was the result of the organized action of some kind of gang from Eastern Europe, official sources have assured this media that the investigation that the Civil Guard maintains open so far focuses on the hypothesis that the perpetrators are two or more experts in robberies inside homes.
Official sources consulted by this media explained that it is impossible for this series of robberies to be the work of an organized gang. "These groups are the ones that carry the greatest risk. They steal money, jewelry and documents, and sometimes act on commission." The most obvious proof that the authorship of these robberies cannot be attributed to a gang is based on the reaction of some of these individuals whom more than one owner has caught red-handed in their home. "When the victims confront them, these gangs do not hesitate to use violence," contrary to what has been happening in the recent robberies registered on the Island.
In one specific case, Ana, a resident of Costa Teguise, recounts how one of her friends, who lives in another complex in the urbanization, recently came face to face with one of these burglars. "What are you doing here?" - asked the neighbor in a state of shock. -"Doesn't Loli live here?" - asked the thief to the surprise of the resident. The story, fortunately, ended with the criminal fleeing at full speed from the kitchen.
On the other hand, there is a fairly widespread belief that the technique used by these specialists to perpetrate home robberies is based on the manual removal of aluminum windows and doors, which they easily manipulate and dislodge at will without making strident noises.
Multiple cases
But this is by no means the only case that has occurred in the urbanization of Costa Teguise. Ana herself explained to LAVOZ that these friends of others' property have already entered several homes on Panamá street and El Golf avenue, as well as in six terraced houses that belong to Los Helechos street. "In less than a month, the company Ferlanza has installed about fifty alarms in the area," she says. Fifty only with this company, an amount to which would have to be added those installed by competing companies.
Another of Ana's friends was entered "on purpose." "They had probably been watching her, they knew perfectly well that she was working at those hours" and they completely stripped the house. "From the jewelry and money she had in the house to the blankets on the beds," she explained.
