Spanish police detain celebrity hotel thieves

Spanish police have detained two men who specialized in stealing from hotel rooms occupied by singers and athletes by pretending to be the celebrities, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

Among their victims were Grammy Award-winning US violinist Joshua David Bell, Brazilian singer-songwriter Michel Telo and Argentine tennis ace Juan Ignacio Chela, it said in a statement.

One of the suspects would convince front desk staff that they were the victim or a member of their staff and would obtain a room key.

“Once inside the room he would pretend to have taken a shower and, wearing only a towel, would call the front desk to ask that they help open the room’s safe because his key did not work,” the statement said.

“In this way, and with total naturalness, they managed to avoid any suspicion and would make off with a bounty worth between 20,000 and 50,000 euros per theft,” it added.

The suspects would usually time their operations to coincide with when the celebrities were either giving a concert or taking part in a sports competition.

They are suspected of having carried out thefts from hotel rooms in Murcia, A Coruna and Zaragoza.

Police are also looking into the possibility that they were involved in the theft of goods from hotel rooms occupied by American rapper Pitbull and Puerto Rican pop singer Chayanne in Mexico as well as from a room occupied by Venezuelan salsa musician Oscar de Leon in Peru.

The authorities began their investigation in February after thieves made off with a laptop, expensive watch, cash and other property belonging to Bell from his Zaragoza hotel room while he was performing in the eastern Spanish city.