The investigation, as part of 'Operation Computer26’, carried out by the ROCA Team of the Guardia Civil in Motril, began on 1 August when a patrol from the Salobreña station discovered numerous laptops and chargers on the back seat and in the boot of a vehicle during a routine inspection in Ítrabo. A total of 81 devices were seized, the origin of which the driver was unable to prove.

Following the operation, the officers took investigated the origin of the computers and contacted the brands concerned, who reported that the equipment had been shipped from the Netherlands to a distribution company with a logistics centre in Madrid. That company confirmed that 159 laptops, valued at 80,000 euros, were missing from a recent consignment and noted that, during internal checks, it had detected irregularities in some of the pallets in the shipment.

Although no external anomalies were observed in the consignment at the time of receipt, they subsequently verified the presence of empty boxes inside several pallets belonging to the same consignment, which is why they reported the laptops as missing.

A detailed analysis of the data enabled the Guardia Civil to establish that one of the drivers who had been involved in the international consignment was the same person who had been intercepted by the Salobreña patrol with the 81 devices.

The alleged perpetrator is said to have taken advantage of a stop made by the lorry en route to its destination to tamper with the seals on several pallets and steal the computers, before repacking the empty boxes and placing them back inside to make the load appear normal. The suspect appeared in court in Motril on Monday 31 August.