Man, 22, arrested over armed robbery at El Mirador shopping centre jewellery store in Gran Canaria

Officers from the National Police have arrested a man on suspicion of involvement in the robbery carried out at a jewellery store in the El Mirador shopping centre in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which took place on the evening of Tuesday 7 July. The arrest was made public on Thursday 9 July, according to the National Police.

According to the Canarias Police Headquarters, the man arrested is a suspected perpetrator of robbery with violence and intimidation. The newspaper La Provincia reports that he is a 22-year-old with a prior criminal record for theft and robbery with violence. He was taken to a police station for the processing of proceedings, which will be referred to the competent judicial authority.

How the raid unfolded

According to the police account reported across multiple sources, several hooded individuals entered the premises and used a fire extinguisher and blunt objects to smash several display cases and steal a quantity of jewellery. During the raid, the shop's employees managed to leave the premises without sustaining any injuries.

The initial report by Canarias7, published on 7 July itself, placed the robbery at the Joyería José Luis in the Jinámar valley, and added — citing eyewitnesses — that four hooded attackers entered the store, that one of them sprayed the interior with a fire extinguisher "or smoke bombs", and that they carried hammers with which they struck the glass of the external shop window. According to the same report, high-end watches were also taken along with the jewellery. The figure of four attackers matches those given by eldiario.es and Diario de Avisos.

The perpetrators fled in a vehicle that had been reported stolen in the Ojos de Garza area, which was located shortly afterwards by officers as part of the policing operation launched after the alarm was raised. Inside the car, items connected to the robbery were found: jewellery tags, a display stand, a fire extinguisher and other objects of interest to the investigation.

La Provincia reports that the same individuals, according to the investigation's findings, had stolen three cars the previous Monday from a car rental company at Gran Canaria airport: a Mazda Skyactiv found on Tuesday morning, a Volkswagen Taigo not yet recovered, and the Cupra Formentor used in the raid. The make of that getaway vehicle, a Cupra model, had already been mentioned by Canarias7 in its first report.

Open investigation and other raids

The work that led to the arrest was carried out by the Judicial Police Group of the Southern District Police Station, within an operation directed by the Provincial Judicial Police Brigade. The investigation remains open with the aim of fully clarifying what happened, recovering the stolen items, and determining the role of the remaining individuals involved.

According to La Provincia, National Police have already identified the remaining participants — three people who remain at liberty — and at least two of them are believed to be linked to other violent raids on commercial premises on the island over the past six months. The same outlet connects the group to a robbery at a supermarket in Tafira Alta in May, in which the attackers entered armed with machetes, and to the assault on a jewellery store at the Cita shopping centre in Playa del Inglés in June, which ended in a car chase with three arrested suspects who crashed into a building under construction. Investigators are also looking into whether the group is responsible for a jewellery store robbery in Carrizal in April.

The National Police note that these incidents, which share similar characteristics, have caused significant alarm among traders and residents, and have not ruled out further arrests in the coming days as the investigation progresses.