The Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia has completed Operation Garruchal, which has led to the dismantling of a criminal group involved in sheep thefts. Six individuals have been implicated in this investigation, of whom five have been arrested. Authorities believe this group is responsible for the theft of more than fifty head of cattle, with an estimated value of nearly one hundred thousand euros. Some of the livestock has been recovered and returned to their owners. ROCA Team officers, in collaboration with specialists from the Nature Protection Service, began the investigation in March of this year after detecting an increase in thefts from livestock farms in the Campo de Cartagena and Mar Menor regions.

Initial indications pointed to a similar modus operandi in various thefts, where force was used to gain access to livestock enclosures. Investigators verified that the thefts occurred on farms in Cartagena, Torre Pacheco, and San Javier, and that the stolen livestock were quickly moved to other nearby farms.

There, the thieves manipulated the identification tags, making them difficult to detect. Given this situation, a broad inspection operation was carried out on suspicious farms, leading to the location of a corral in the Murcia capital where more than fifty stolen sheep were found. In addition to recovering the livestock, authorities have detected various health and administrative violations related to the criminal group. Although six people have been implicated to date, it is not ruled out that they are linked to more crimes of this type in the region. The Civil Guard continues its investigation to fully clarify all the related criminal acts.