A GANG who defrauded account-holders out of around 400,000 euros by cloning their bank cards has been broken up in Valencia.

National Police say the accused parties, who had an entire laboratory in their 'headquarters' in the city, installed micro-cameras in the card-slot of various cashpoints to enable them to copy the magnetic strip and the user's PIN number.

A 'perfectly structured group with an organised hierarchy', the six men would send the cash they amassed to other gang-members in Romania.

During a raid on a flat in Valencia, police found more than 400 cloned cards, various fake ID documents, and technology for copying and reproducing PIN numbers.

They have arrested five Romanians and a Spanish national, all aged between 21 and 42 years.