“She dropped a euro…” and they stole 500: 10 arrests by the Rho Carabinieri

They stole the money that their elderly victims had just withdrawn from the counter and moved around in rental vehicles that were never returned

Rho – Maxi operation by the Carabinieri of the Operations Section of the Rho Company which, on the morning of May 30, 2024 they intervened in the provinces of Milan, Monza, Mede and Brindisi to arrest 10 people of South American origins2 women and 8 men, held responsible in various capacities for the crimes of aggravated theft in competition And receipt. The men and women of the force thus executed the precautionary custody order issued by GIP of the Court of Milan.

The group had now developed a specific method for conducting the thefts, and had also selected a specific type of victim: elderly people who had just withdrawn from the ATMa place that the criminals constantly kept under surveillance.

The investigations

In detail, the Carabinieri investigations, started in the month of February 2024have made it possible to ascertain that the criminal group with an operational base in Milan had planned and committed 27 aggravated thefts perpetrated from September last year to the end of May throughout Lombardy and Piedmont. The seriality of the “hits” scored was characterized by the following aspects:

The typology of victims: always older people;

The place where the thefts were perpetrated: always close to ATMs;

The modus operandi: the suspects commit crimes for each crime they positioned themselves near the banking institutionthey selected the victim – precisely because of his age and therefore greater vulnerability – they “surrounded” him in a discreet manner and after distracting him, throwing small denomination coins or banknotes on the groundthey deftly took possession of the sum of money that had just been disbursed.

Attempts at misdirection

There were numerous expedients that the group put in place to evade investigations including the continuous change of cellular usersthe interchange of roles between the various members of the association in the different phases of commission of crimes e the use of rented cars through frontmen, which they misappropriated without proceeding with the return upon expiration of the contracts.

The Carabinieri had already managed to do so on 8 May 2024 arrest 3 members of the criminal group red-handed and immediately return the stolen money, 500 euros, to the victim: a 79 year old man.

Following the execution of the precautionary measure, two subjects were associated with the Monza Prison5 other members at the Milan San Vittore Prisonone at the Vigevano prison and the last one near the Bollate prison.

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