Emergency services received 26 calls about the robbery, the first at 15:07. The raid began at around 15:00 on Thursday, 12 November, at the José Luis jewellery shop in Cartagena’s Espacio Mediterráneo shopping centre, near the entrance. Onda Regional de Murcia also reported that more than 20 emergency calls were received.
Three masked men entered the shop and smashed two display cases, according to witnesses who spoke to LA VERDAD. RTVE reported that the robbers used a mallet to break a display case and were inside for about three minutes. The centre’s director, José María Pascual de Riquelme, said the men appeared to take the gold they found and were gone within three minutes. The value of the stolen items is still being calculated.
Recordings from surveillance cameras and mobile phones indicate that at least four people took part. The fourth reportedly waited outside in a car with its engine running while the others went into the shop. The Guardia Civil is reviewing security-camera footage and trying to identify and locate the suspects; no arrests had been reported at the time of publication.
Accounts of the weapon initially described an object resembling a pistol being pointed at the employee, while investigators checked whether it was a firearm. COPE reported, citing sources it consulted, that the assailants carried blank-firing weapons and that there had been no shooting. Some callers said they heard shots; the sound may have come from the display cases breaking. Onda Regional de Murcia reported that the men escaped in a blue car.
The shop was cordoned off while officers examined the scene and gathered evidence. They also took statements from witnesses. Broken glass covered the interior, and items scattered near the display were left in place. The employee was reported to be unhurt; relatives and friends had visited, as had colleagues. She also said the jewellery chain had experienced similar robberies elsewhere in Spain.
Investigators said the stolen goods included different kinds of jewellery, much of it gold, and warned that it could be melted down and sold by weight on the black market if it is not recovered. A separate Madrid teachers’ strike covered by RUSSPAIN.COM is unrelated to the Cartagena investigation.
The Guardia Civil has not ruled out the possibility that the robbers belong to an organised or itinerant group. Officers are keeping different lines of inquiry open as they search for those involved.
