The Civil Guard has arrested a man and a woman accused of at least 93 robberies in churches in 82 towns, the majority in Cantabria but also in Asturias and Palencia.
This couple took the collection and objects from the temples, according to what the Government delegate in Cantabria, Ainoa Quiñones, told this Monday when reporting on the “Sanandrés” operation.
Accompanied by the Bishop of Santander, Manuel Sánchez Monge, and the person in charge of the Civil Guard in the region, Antonio Orantos, Quiñones has shown the 140 objects from churches intervened by the Civil Guard.
The couple, aged 41 and 45, residing in Villacarriedo, were looking for temples far from urban centers and used up to four different vehicles “to avoid the action of the Civil Guard.”
The main objective of the robberies was money and in one of them, in the Sanctuary of Valvanuz in Cantabria, they stole 1,000 euros from the donations of the Christmas nativity scene.
Of the robberies, 88 were allegedly committed in 77 towns in Cantabria; 4 in 4 towns in Asturias and one in Palencia.
They stole everything from the churches
This couple also took ecclesiastical objects for later sale, such as iconographies, keys, pianos, radios, loudspeakers or even church chairs, all without much market value.
They also stole images, cases with oil paintings, small chests with keys to tabernacles, reliquaries for oleas, temple keys, two carved wooden bases for coffins, as well as “a large number of small-value coins from church collections and beggars.” ”.
The woman was supposedly the one who was studying the area of the temples, “in which considerable damage was caused.”
Taking advantage of the Lebaniego Year
In addition, the Civil Guard suspected that, before the Lebaniego Jubilee Year began in the Santo Toribio monastery, with the increase in pilgrims and donations in the churches located along this road, thefts could increase again.
The operation arranged for the security of Camino Lebaniego allowed a patrol to stop the suspicious vehicle in the town of Tama during one night.
Days later, in Quijas, another Civil Guard patrol identified the same couple carrying tools similar to those of Tama in the vehicle.
With all the evidence and suspicion of a new wave of robberies in churches, an operation was arranged that allowed the identification of the man driving a vehicle in which he hid tools that could be used to steal, and he was arrested.
Your home, your hideout
The woman was located at her home in Villacarriedo, who was arrested, and in the house the civil guards found a large number of effects from the robberies carried out in the churches.
The couple had various tools that could be used in robberies such as crowbars of different sizes, a hydraulic jack, screwdrivers, pliers, and a night vision.
The proceedings have been forwarded to the Investigating Court number 2 of Medio Cudeyo, which has released the couple with charges.
The Bishop of Santander has affirmed that these robberies have kept the ecclesiastical community “in suspense” and has asked the priests to reinforce security in the churches.