The gang that robbed the villa of ex-footballer Ronaldo Nazario on Ibiza had a notebook with documentation of their previous robberies and also with some of their targets for the immediate future. Six of these notes, which included names, coordinates or addresses, according to CASO ABIERTO, Prensa Ibérica’s investigation and events channel, were the houses or villas that two politicians from different parties and several high-level sportsmen have in Mallorca, Malaga and Madrid.
Agents from the Grupos de Robos of the PolicÃa Nacional discovered this documentation during the search of the house of one of those arrested in the Mare Nostrum operation, a Spanish citizen living in Malaga. In it one can read some annotations in which they make reference to the houses already robbed, like the one of the ex-football player of Barcelona and Real Madrid Ronaldo Nazario, and which have a annotation of “ok” next to them; others had even been crossed out.
Ronaldo Nazario was robbery number 16
The gang dismantled by the police, led by two Albanian brothers, had committed at least 15 robberies since October 2021, in different locations in Murcia (San Javier, Pozo Estrecho, La Alberca), Málaga (Torremolinos, Benalmádena), Ibiza and Mallorca.
A camera captured two of the thieves leaving a robbery in Malaga.
Their latest heist was the robbery of Ronaldo Nazario’s villa on Ibiza. The night of the robbery, on June 26th, the Italian footballer Marco Verratti and his wife were at the luxurious villa, along with other friends. Sources of the investigation explained that the assailants entered through the roof (as seen in the video published by CASO ABIERTO).
Hooded theives
They took watches and jewelry valued at almost three million euros while Verratti, his wife and some friends were celebrating a barbecue in the gardenof Ronaldo Nazario’s villa. In fact, it was the PSG footballer’s wife who surprised the thieves when she heard the wooden floor of the second floor of the villa creaking. When she went upstairs, she saw a hooded man come out of the room.
Verratti’s wife heard noise upstairs and surprised one of the burglars, who fled
At the time of the robbery there were three security guards at the villa, two of them with dogs and one more who was in charge of monitoring the security cameras. Those images show how the assailants go up to the roof and wait calmly, even smoking at one point, for the moment to enter Verratti’s house.
Looking for the “saint”
In fact, the police are investigating if in this, as in other assaults, the gang had the collaboration of “saints”, as it is known in slang to people who have been working in the house and who could have provided them with information on how, when and where to hit.
Two of the gang members were arrested when they got off the ferry in Denia (Alicante). They had hidden the loot in the airbag and other places in the car. Police sources confirm that they specifically rented that model of car because “they had studied” that it was the ideal one to hide the loot from the robbery.
A gold and diamond Rolex
Police recovered Verratti and his wife’s watches and jewelry, including some of their purchase receipts that had been taken by the thieves. For example, that of a Rolex purchased in Monaco for 62,000 euros and that of a jewel purchased in Paris and valued at another 17,600 euros. Another of the watches recovered, gold with diamonds, is valued at about 400,000 euros.
The police investigation started at the end of 2021, focused on old and similar robberies that had occurred in the province of Malaga. The quickly put the magnifying glass on a Spanish couple linked to thefts in 2014 and 2015. Then they used gas to put the owners of the houses they robbed to sleep.
Winter in Austria
But the inquiries suffered a hiatus because, like many other gangs of apartment thieves in Spain, the group of Albanians rested and went to their country. “Between February and June they left. They spent time in their country, but they also spent their winter season robbing villas in Austria and Greece.”
“In the Spanish robberies they use luxury cars as shuttles, to go in front and behind. They double the license plates of stolen luxury cars. After one of the robberies, in which they were driving an Audi A5, the Guardia Civil chased them and they changed that model for an Audi A3″, explain sources of the investigation. They are daring assailants, they have even robbed the same villa three times because they had not obtained the loot they expected.
Witnesses and survivors had spoken to investigators of assailants with an Eastern European accent. The police investigation pointed to the same group that had “worked” in Malaga during 2014 and 2015. And phone taps led to the discovery in June that “the boys” were going to return to Spain for the summer season.
“Burn” Ibiza
The police then discovered they were preparing to arrive at the end of June. Their destination is Ibiza. “They were going to burn the island”, say the investigators. They organize logistics and accommodation. They rented apartments until July 28th, in two batches. They paid about 6,000 euros for the first twenty days of accommodation while they searched for their targets and struck their first blows on the island.
The investigation into the robbery of Ronaldo Nazario’s villa is still open. There are also several unsolved robberies on the island in which complaints were not even filed. The victims are tourists with high purchasing power who were put to sleep with gas, the old method of the Albanians, to rob them.
The Police have prevented the summer campaign of the gang of the two Albanian brothers. And it has saved the homes of politicians, sportsmen, celebrities and other rich but anonymous people from robberies. But the members of this gang are not the only ones who want to work this summer in Spain. “We have detected that the two brothers who lead this group have connections with many Albanians living in Barcelona. These gangs that rob luxury apartments and villas divide up the areas of Spain and even the seasons to rob. Right now there is another one that is hitting hard in Navarra and the Basque Country“, they point out.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.