Five men wearing helmets, gloves and knives broke into the Sportium business yesterday afternoon but were surprised by Mossos d’Esquadra patrols
Five men attacked yesterday Thursday afternoon the establishment of sportium sports betting, located on Carrer de Sardenya in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, according to sources consulted by EL PERIÓDICO. The five suspects burst into the premises protecting their faces with helmets, their hands with gloves, and brandishing knives.
They forced the business employee to take tickets from the vending machine €4,700 in cash. However, they could not collect all of them because they were surprised by a patrol of the Mossos d’Esquadra. The worker had been able to activate the alarm and the security company, through the security cameras, saw live that the establishment was being robbed and alerted the Mossos.
The arrival of the agents caused the stampede flight of the five robbers with a booty of 2,500 euros. Two of the authors fell right away. A third was arrested within minutes. The fourth and fifth involved are still in unknown location.
The third was arrested at the end of a chase by agents of the Proximity Area –who usually carry out the functions of liaison between the commercial fabric and neighborhood associations with the police– who also received the help of another constable who was off duty but witnessed the race on the street and joined the capture. The fugitive was finally found inside a store that he had entered trying to go unnoticed.
Two of the police officers who participated in the arrest of the three suspects were injured: one of the officers received a cut on his hand caused by one of the robbers’ knives and another injured his knee during a struggle.
The Mossos recovered 800 of the 2,500 stolen because they were in the hands of the three detainees. The other two, presumably, have the rest of the meager loot, 1,700 euros.
The Catalan police have opened an investigation, which will assume the Central Unit of Atracaments (UCA)and that it should clarify if the group had carried out similar assaults before, as suspected.
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Next to the bookmaker, the police located two motorcycles that had been stolen to commit this robbery and that were sent to the municipal deposit before the owners of the vehicles were contacted to tell them that they can now pick them up.
The investigators requested the presence of agents from the scientific unit because it is believed that perhaps one of the escapees left fingerprints by mistake by taking off a glove during the robbery and leaning on one of the windows while fleeing.