The criminals arrived in the city by train or bus and then went into action at night
The Florence State Police, following a complex investigative activity coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office, carried out 12 pre-trial detention orders (11 in prison and 1 at home), issued by the GIP at the Court, against 12 Albanian citizens - aged between 20 and 47 - members of a gang of expert commuters in apartment thefts.
From the investigations carried out by the policemen of the Flying Squad, it emerged that at least 29 were stolen in all of Tuscany while the victims slept unaware within their homes.
The policemen of the Flying Squad were investigating a series of shots in the apartment when, last summer, an important turning point in the investigation arrived: a car stolen during a home burglary was found in the outskirts of the city with inside a cell phone - also theft proceeds - probably forgotten in charge by one of the suspects.
The subsequent investigative investigations, supported by complex and sophisticated technical activities, have allowed the acquisition of serious circumstantial evidence against a criminal group, composed of young Albanian citizens, held responsible for at least 29 home burglaries scored in several Tuscan Municipalities among such as Lastra a Signa, Signa, Pontedera, Pontassieve, Rosignano Marittima, Cecina, Castagneto Carducci, Cascina, San Miniato, Pistoia, Poggibonsi and Montelupo Fiorentino, as well as 14 episodes of receiving precious or mobile devices.
However, the investigators do not exclude that the suspects may also be involved in other similar incidents, for which investigations are ongoing.
According to what emerged in the investigations, the recipients of the measure would have taken various precautions to be able to get away with it, thus demonstrating a consolidated criminal technique found in various criminal episodes: young Albanian citizens, for example, never moved in cars or vehicles owned by them or usually in use but reached the areas to be "raided" by traveling by train or bus, partially misrepresented and always wearing gloves, thus trying to leave as few traces as possible of their passage. Another precaution frequently adopted was to turn off the cell phone before taking action, while others left it on purposely in their "home" - mostly abusive or makeshift.
Once the chosen objectives were achieved, the criminals "operated" while the hosts slept, often taking advantage of the windows left open during the hot summer nights. On other occasions, thieves have also forced open doors and windows, sometimes reached by climbing walls and gutters. The blows, in almost all cases, were consumed in the presence of the unsuspecting victims who, upon awakening, could not help but notice the bitter surprise.
There have been episodes in which the shots were not limited only to what was contained inside the ransacked apartments: often the subjects appropriated the keys of a car to quickly return to the base, probably aware of the fact that at least for a few hours - that is to say, until the unsuspecting victims awakened - the stolen car would not have been reported "among those to be searched" by the police.
The investigations of the Crimes Section against the Heritage of the Flying Squad had also already led to the identification and detention of criminal offense of 2 of the suspects, found in possession, last September, of precious and mobile devices of stolen origin.
The recipients of the measures also include the suspected “serial” fence of the group, as well as a woman (also both Albanian citizens) who, if necessary, was called to “recover” the thieves who had no other means to return.