A GANG specialising in stealing duty free goods from Alicante-Elche airport has been convicted of theft.

Three men and two women- all of Romanian nationality- bought cheap flight tickets to access the airside section of the facility.

They were each given one-year prison sentences by an Elche court which also banned them for 40 months from being within 500 metres of the Costa Blanca airport.

ARRESTED THIEVES

The Guardia Civil launched an operation in January 2024 after a significant rise in tobacco and perfume thefts was reported at the airport’s duty free stores.

They collated evidence that an organised criminal gang was running a sophisticated operation.

Members of the group acted in small teams and bought plane tickets to nearby destinations in order to pass through security controls to access the duty free shops.

Once they plundered a business, they left the terminal without taking a flight.

In some cases, they made a day of it by boarding a plane and stealing at a destination airport.

If they thought they were under suspicion, they gave it some time before trying to steal again before leaving the Alicante-Elche terminal.

The way they operated made it difficult for authorities to identify them.

Items stolen in Alicante had a total value of over €7,600.

The Guardia Civil managed to identify them and spotted three of the crew at the airport who had bought tickets for Palma de Mallorca.

They helped themselves to duty free items and boarded the Palma flight where they were arrested after landing.

Two of their colleagues were intercepted and detained before leaving Alicante-Elche airport after stealing €1,125 of cigarettes, which were returned to the shops.