Lockdown helps police crack down on crime
Suspects caught due to increased scrutiny by the security forces
THE SECURITY services have arrested a string of suspects around Alicante province as the lockdown has made it increasingly difficult to commit crimes.
Two people who dodged a National Police roadblock in Alicante city were caught after a chase and found to have drugs in their car.
When officers ordered them to stop to ask the reason for their journey, the driver had first slowed down as if he was going to obey but then quickly accelerated and sped off.
Several police cars chased after the vehicle, which ran red lights and went the wrong way up streets but soon ended up crashing into a garage door.
The occupants ran off but local residents who were on their balconies were able to guide the officers through the streets where the fugitives had gone, and to the doorway they had entered.
The suspects, who are Spanish and aged 20 and 24, were arrested inside and found to be carrying various quantities of cocaine and hashish in separate wrappers.
It was also discovered that the driver did not have a licence and he had taken the vehicle without permission from an ex-girlfriend who had a restraining order against him for abuse.
Rojales
A young Spaniard was arrested for drug dealing after he was caught with two other people in a car in Ciudad Quesada, Rojales, reported the Guardia Civil.
Officers stopped the vehicle and asked the two men and a woman inside why they were not in their homes.
The occupants seemed nervous and gave different and contradictory excuses, claiming ‘we were only talking’, ‘we met up for a cigarette’ or ‘they were bringing me money’.
The officers decided to search the car and found a box containing 14 wraps of cocaine.
The driver has been charged with a public health offence for the drugs and all three were issued with fines for violating confinement.
Almoradí
Guardia Civil in Almoradí solved several crimes when they decided to investigate a 47-year-old Spaniard who had been caught walking the streets no less than five times.
On the last of these occasions he had acted aggressively towards the officers and incited a dangerous dog against them.
This led to him being arrested for assaulting an officer and disobedience, but the investigation linked him with various offences over the past week.
The suspect is accused of stealing from a vehicle and burgling a house and a shop.
In this last case he had cut open the grille and taken a pressure washer, and was filmed by several residents who saw him dragging it through the town in broad daylight.
Calpe team
Two men were caught stealing oranges and lemons from an orchard in the area of La Llosa de Camacho.
The Guardia Civil rural crime team (ROCA) based in Calpe was alerted to a possible robbery and officers surprised the men as they were picking the fruit and loading it into the boot of a car.
When they were asked why they were not in their homes, one of them replied that he is ‘only ruled by the universal law’ and claimed the rules and regulations of the Spanish state do not affect him because ‘his law is above everything’.
The suspects argued that because they had not seen any sign saying the area was private property, they understood that the fruit belonged to everyone and so they could take it from the trees.
They have been charged with theft and issued with fines for violating the state of emergency, while a total of 30 kilos of oranges and lemons have been returned to their legitimate owner.