Security Guard Arrested for Stealing from the Site He Was Supposed to Protect in Fuerteventura

The total value of the thefts amounts to €67,795 and they were carried out in Red Eléctrica facilities.

The ROCA team of the Civil Guard Command of Las Palmas has closed an investigation following the arrest of a man suspected of committing several property crimes at substations of Red Eléctrica de España (REE) in Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, as well as a document‑falsification offense, with the value of the stolen items and damages amounting to €67,795.

The arrest came after the company filed a complaint a few months ago reporting unauthorized accesses to several substations since August 2025, according to a press release from the Civil Guard.

The thefts affected facilities located on the islands of Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, indicating a repeated and planned criminal activity.

Consequently, once the facts were reported, agents of the ROCA team launched an investigation that included systematic checks at metal‑recovery centers in the province, as well as analysis of security‑camera footage, successfully identifying and detaining the suspected perpetrator.

They found that the individual was an employee of a subcontracted security company who, taking advantage of his access to the facilities, temporarily disabled the video‑surveillance systems to steal metallic material that he later sold to local scrap yards, obtaining a financial profit.

During the investigation, agents managed to recover part of the stolen material, but the remainder could not be located due to the time that had elapsed, as it had already entered the ordinary processing and recycling stream for waste management.

The total value of the stolen items, together with the damages caused, amounts to €67,795. It was also established that the detainee had used forged authorizations, bearing the seal of the security company he worked for, in order to conceal the true origin of the stolen material and facilitate its sale to metal‑waste handlers.

The offenses have affected critical electric‑supply infrastructure, considered “essential” for the provision of services of general interest.