In the complex ecosystem of leisure and gambling in southern Gran Canaria, security is the most valuable asset. However, between July and August 2023, a well-oiled criminal organization jeopardized the tranquility of gaming arcades and bingo halls in southeastern Gran Canaria. The Las Palmas Public Prosecutor's Office has now filed its indictment, which Maspalomas24H has obtained, with the Court of Instruction No. 6, requesting a trial against a network of nine people accused of robbing establishments using a scorched-earth tactic.
The group's strategy, allegedly led by YADG and YDV, was notable for its operational sophistication and brutality. To avoid detection, the gang used rental vehicles—ranging from Volkswagen T-Crosses to Audi A1s—which they constantly replaced after each heist. Since the ringleaders either lacked driver's licenses or didn't want to be named on the contracts, they relied on "necessary collaborators": vulnerable individuals who, in exchange for a mere 40 or 50 euros and doses of crack cocaine, rented the cars at Gran Canaria Airport.
This hierarchical structure allowed the perpetrators, CDAG (specialist in intimidating victims with large knives) and YFTH (responsible for emptying the cash registers), to act with surgical speed while the leaders watched from the outside. Their targets included well-known establishments in the industry such as the Arinaga Casino, the Arucas Bingo Hall, and gaming halls in Vecindario, Telde, and Santa María de Guía, netting a total haul exceeding €35.000.
The analysis of the events reveals an "almost religious precision" in the preparation—even using metal bars and balaclavas—reminiscent of the industrial meticulousness we mentioned earlier with the Heaney butter metaphor. However, in the criminal world, overconfidence is often the breaking point. After the robbery of the Sportium in Cruce de Arinaga on August 16, 2023, the gang was intercepted at a Civil Guard checkpoint while attempting yet another vehicle swap. In the trunk of the new white Hyundai, the police found the definitive proof: the license plate of the car used in the previous robbery and more than 3.500 euros distributed among the accused.
The prosecution has shown no leniency in the face of the leaders' recidivism. For the ringleaders and perpetrators, it is requesting sentences totaling nine years and six months in prison for repeated offenses of armed robbery, membership in a criminal organization, and traffic violations. Those who facilitated the rentals in exchange for drugs face sentences of four years and six months, underscoring the seriousness of providing logistical support for organized crime.
In addition to prison sentences, the defendants will have to pay joint and several compensation for the stolen money, notably the €17.104 from the Arinaga Casino and the €10.000 from the Infinity Hall. This case underscores the vulnerability of a sector key to local consumption and how cooperation between the National Police and the Civil Guard has dismantled a network that, had it continued, could have posed a systemic risk to the perception of safety in the island's commercial areas.
