Suspected ringleader of footballer home robberies arrested: hit Joan García's house and watched Koundé's

Catalan police have arrested two men, aged 58 and 42, both with prior criminal records, for their alleged role in a wave of burglaries at high-end homes. Among the targets was the residence of FC Barcelona goalkeeper Joan García in the Baix Llobregat area. Investigators have identified Arsim Blaku, an Albanian-Kosovar offender with a long criminal history, as the suspected leader of the group.

• Arsim Blaku is considered the leader of the group behind the break-in at Joan García's home.
• The burglary took place on January 10 while the goalkeeper was playing in the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.
• The gang also carried out surveillance on Jules Koundé's residence, though they never entered.
• Investigators link the group to other burglaries in Peralada, Agullana and Sant Pere de Ribes.
• The two arrested men have been jailed and a third person, a woman, is under investigation.

Break-in at Joan García's home during the Spanish Super Cup

The burglary at the Barcelona goalkeeper's home took place on January 10, a date that carries particular weight because the player was in Saudi Arabia representing his club in the Spanish Super Cup. With the athlete away, two individuals entered the property he shares with his partner and searched the inside.

Security cameras captured the intruders moving through the house, apparently unaware their actions were being recorded. The alarm was triggered, setting off a joint response involving local police, Mossos d'Esquadra and the private security team that the club assigns to protect its players' residences.

The gang that watched Koundé and carried out other Catalonia burglaries

The investigation extends well beyond the Baix Llobregat break-in. Mossos d'Esquadra detectives place the crew at the scene of surveillance operations on the home of Jules Koundé, García's teammate at Barcelona. In that case, the suspects reportedly prepared a potential burglary, but the plan was never executed and nobody entered the French defender's property.

Authorities also tie the arrested men to a string of burglaries at high-value properties across different parts of Catalonia. Peralada, Agullana and Sant Pere de Ribes appear as locations of other break-ins attributed to the same network, illustrating a clear pattern of targeting luxury homes.

Court measures and additional suspects

The judicial case is not limited to the two arrested individuals. A third person, a woman, is under investigation in the proceedings, though she was released after appearing before a judge. The two men taken into custody, by contrast, have been placed in pretrial detention.

The gang did more than execute burglaries: they also carried out prior surveillance, as happened with Jules Koundé's house, where they ultimately never got inside.

Who is Arsim Blaku, the suspected gang leader

Arsim Blaku is not an unfamiliar name to Catalan police. He had already surfaced in major earlier investigations. Notably, he was linked to the 2006 assault on the Tous family home in Sant Fruitós de Bages, an episode that ended with the death of one of the attackers and marked a turning point in Blaku's criminal career. He is now seen as the visible head of a network specializing in high-status properties.

Why footballers are prime targets for these gangs

Burglaries at footballers' homes have become a recurring problem in recent years, particularly in Catalonia. Competition calendars take squads away for international tournaments and preseason trips, and those gaps provide an ideal window for organized groups. The Spanish Super Cup, held in Saudi Arabia since 2020, offers a long and perfectly predictable absence for players.

FC Barcelona has long maintained its own private security operation to monitor the homes of its players. That structure, combined with alarm systems and Mossos d'Esquadra coordination, proved decisive in triggering a rapid response in the case of Joan García's house.

Frequently asked questions about the footballer burglaries