She reveals her approach every summer. They use the night to mark the houses they believe are empty with an adhesive or silicone thread between the front door and the frame or on the frame. If after several days the glue is still intact, they conclude that no one has entered the house during this time and that the apartment is not occupied because the tenants are on vacation, and they break in at dawn and steal the valuables. These are groups of Georgian mafias that operate in different neighborhoods of Seville – although they have branches in other major cities – and are much more active in the months of July and August. This summer, the National Police dismantled seven of these gangs and arrested 22 of their members, according to the force’s assessment on Friday. A total of 27 robberies are attributed to them.
The investigation is ongoing and the police are not ruling out further arrests or solving previous robberies. Of the 22 people arrested in July and August, 10 were held in makeshift prisons. The most recent operation took place on August 23, when police stopped six members of one of the gangs from breaking into a house in the middle of the night. Among those arrested were two senior members of the organization they call Vor v Kazone, or law thieves. It is his tattoos that show his membership in the mafia clan and also his rank in it.
According to the police, the Georgian mafias that operate in Seville – and which are also present in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia – have strong structures and are organized in a pyramid shape. At the top are the law thieves who tattoo various symbols to set themselves apart from the rest. The groups are divided into cells of two to four members – all between the ages of 25 and 40 – who select their targets at random, as police believe they do not follow a previous pattern, and steal from buildings in all neighborhoods.
Demanding infrastructure
Detail of the silicone thread used by Georgian mafias to mark empty houses. / MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR
The infrastructure they surround themselves with is so sophisticated that they have extensive coverage to commit crimes: false documents, new identities, vehicles equipped with niches and hiding places in which to hide their prey , tools to force the houses – always using techniques that leave no trace -, accommodation – often of a hospitable nature – and money from the organization, known as obshchak, to cover the costs. Its members are specialists in various techniques for opening houses, such as B. Picking, Impression (making a copy of the lock key without owning the key), Bumping (introducing a special key that causes all lock pistons to jump at the same time). or slipping (inserting a card between the latch frame and the door). There were no attacks on people in any of the robberies, as the thieves always first ensure that no one is in the houses.
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The presence of this mafia in Seville was first discovered in 2013, when the police became aware of the sporadic actions of organizations made up of citizens of Eastern European countries, dedicated to the theft of apartments throughout the city, especially in the summer. In addition to the actions of the agents, the cooperation of the citizens was essential. In recent months, the National Police have sent out alerts about the way the gangs mark the doors so that if a citizen spots them opening their home and if they hear noises or notice the presence of people, they can contact the authorities who are not neighbors of the building should be reported in the early hours of the morning.