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Palma.—The Guardia Civil reported yesterday that a total of six people have been arrested as a result of the operation, five here in Palma and the sixth in San Sebastian.

The gang were experts are cracking open safes in hotel rooms, receptions and hotel offices.
They were also experts at breaking into warehouses on industrial estates.
The Guardia Civil first became aware of the gang in April and mounted a major investigation.
They soon confirmed that the leader of the gang lived here in Majorca while the rest would remain on the mainland until peak season, which is when they would come over to Majorca, as they did in the middle of May just as the island was starting to get busy with tourists. Their modus operandi was that one of the gang members would check into a hotel using false documentation and spend a couple of days locating all the hotel safes, monitoring the security systems and the staff rota.

When it came to breaking into warehouses, they would simply blast their way through a wall of the roof.
It also appears that the gang had a network of local residents on the pay roll who would provide extra information and assistance on the ground here in Majorca where they would move about the island in hire cars, rented using false documentation again.

During the raids on a number of properties in Majorca and San Sebastian, the Guardia Civil found large quantities of money in various currencies, tools, lap tops, ski masks, gloves and fake identification documents.

The operation was mounted by members of the Guardia Civil's serious crime squads based here in the Balearics and Alicante.