- Region
- Águilas
- Alhama de Murcia
- Jumilla
- Lorca
- Los Alcázares
- Mazarrón
- San Javier
-
ALL AREAS & TOWNS
- AREAS
- SOUTH WEST
- MAR MENOR
- MURCIA CITY & CENTRAL
- NORTH & NORTH WEST
- TOWNS
- Abanilla
- Abarán
- Aguilas
- Alamillo
- Alcantarilla
- Aledo
- Alhama de Murcia
- Archena
- Balsicas
- Blanca
- Bolnuevo
- Bullas
- Cañadas del Romero
- Cabo de Palos
- Calasparra
- Camping Bolnuevo
- Campo De Ricote
- Camposol
- Canada De La Lena
- Caravaca de la Cruz
- Cartagena
- Cehegin
- Ceuti
- Cieza
- Condado de Alhama
- Corvera
- Costa Cálida
- Cuevas De Almanzora
- Cuevas de Reyllo
- El Carmoli
- El Mojon
- El Molino (Puerto Lumbreras)
- El Pareton / Cantareros
- El Raso
- El Valle Golf Resort
- Fortuna
- Fuente Alamo
- Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
- Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
- Isla Plana
- Islas Menores & Mar de Cristal
- Jumilla
- La Azohia
- La Charca
- La Manga Club
- La Manga del Mar Menor
- La Pinilla
- La Puebla
- La Torre
- La Torre Golf Resort
- La Unión
- Las Palas
- Las Ramblas
- Las Ramblas Golf
- Las Torres de Cotillas
- Leiva
- Librilla
- Lo Pagan
- Lo Santiago
- Lorca
- Lorquí
- Los Alcázares
- Los Balcones
- Los Belones
- Los Canovas
- Los Nietos
- Los Perez (Tallante)
- Los Urrutias
- Los Ventorrillos
- Mar De Cristal
- Mar Menor
- Mar Menor Golf Resort
- Mazarrón
- Mazarrón Country Club
- Molina de Segura
- Moratalla
- Mula
- Murcia City
- Murcia Property
- Pareton
- Peraleja Golf Resort
- Perin
- Pilar de la Horadada
- Pinar de Campoverde
- Pinoso
- Playa Honda
- Playa Honda / Playa Paraíso
- Pliego
- Portmán
- Pozo Estrecho
- Puerto de Mazarrón
- Puerto Lumbreras
- Puntas De Calnegre
- Region of Murcia
- Ricote
- Roda Golf Resort
- Roldan
- Roldan and Lo Ferro
- San Javier
- San Pedro del Pinatar
- Santiago de la Ribera
- Sierra Espuña
- Sucina
- Tallante
- Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
- Torre Pacheco
- Totana
- What's On Weekly Bulletin
- Yecla
- EDITIONS: Spanish News Today Alicante Today Andalucia Today
Date Published: 17/05/2023
Malaga hugger muggers pose as tourists to rob cruise ship passengers
In the Andalucía city, 99% of the pickpockets are women and robberies are “continuous”
Meet the latest career criminal on the Costa del Sol: this 29-year-old woman used three different identities to dodge the 11 courts across Andalucía that were searching for her in relation to ‘hugger mugger’ crimes against the elderly.
The Police had already arrested her 20 times for similar pickpocketing crimes, but her rap sheet was far more varied: Marbella, Vélez-Málaga and Cádiz had all issued search and arrest warrants against her for crimes against property committed between 2018 and 2020. After years on the run, the fugitive has been hunted down again, this time in Alicante, but the nerve centre of her work, like so many other pickpockets, is the Costa del Sol and its thriving cruise tourism.
Hugger muggers are a new breed of thief and in Malaga, the vast majority of them are women. The robbers dress and act like tourists and get up close, ‘hugging’ their victims and swiping jewellery, watches, wallets and phones. On the Costa del Sol, the authorities have warned visitors that these criminals are constantly on the look-out for victims on commuter trains in wealthy areas.
“Here they have an operational base and they rent apartments, in which four to seven people can live. One day they travel to Marbella and another to Fuengirola... They have a lot of mobility along the coast,” a Police spokesperson explained.
“Ninety-nine per cent of them are women, dressed as another foreigner to blend in with the crowd. They wear a tank top, shorts, a cap and even have long blonde hair that allows them to pass for any Scandinavian,” he added. But their passport gives them away, since most are actually Romanian or Bulgarian.
Pickpockets are especially prevalent in the Port of Malaga where droves of tourists disembark daily from cruise ships, while the Plaza de la Marina y de la Aduana, Calle Granada and the vicinity of the Cathedral are other black spots.
In these busy hubs, the thieves usually creep up behind their unsuspecting victims and filch wallets and other valuables from backpacks and pockets.
Generally, around seven or eight of these pickpockets are nabbed by Police on a daily basis, but the criminal activity, according to the source, is still pretty “continuous” in the historic centre of Malaga.
Image: Freepik
Loading
Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox
Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)
OR
you can sign up to our FREE weekly roundup!
Read some of our recent bulletins:
25% Discount Special Offer subscription:
36.95€ for 48 Editor’s Weekly News Roundup bulletins!
Please CLICK THE BUTTON to subscribe.
(List price 3 months 12 Bulletins)
Read more stories from around Spain:
Contact Murcia Today: Editorial 000 000 000 /
Office 000 000 000