Arrests for breaking the lockdown
Security services continue to patrol to catch offenders
HUNDREDS more cases have been reported of people who are refusing to obey the state of emergency laws.
Offenders face fines and even prison if they continue to leave their homes without a valid reason.
In Torrevieja a 22-year-old man has been jailed on remand for a series of breaches. A Guardia Civil spokesman noted that a judge had sent him to prison after he was arrested for a second time, following four previous fines.
The 22-year-old Spaniard was found on the last occasion ‘a long way from his home’. He fled on foot and a 10-minute chase ensued before he was finally cornered.
The suspect has been charged with ‘serious disobedience’ for the continued infractions.
The force spokesman explained that a number of people have been caught on repeated occasions in the town and if fining is not working then they will be deprived of their liberty.
National Police in Alicante arrested three men who were going to a barbecue in El Campello.
Officers stopped a car with a single occupant on Avenida de Dénia at around 12.30 on Saturday, and noticed a large bulge under a blanket on the back seat.
Not only was there another man hidden under the blanket, but a third man was found in the boot of the car, along with beer, food and firewood they had just bought to have a barbecue.
The three suspects turned out to have made several unauthorised journeys, from El Campello to pick the other people up, then to buy the supplies from various shops in Alicante, and were on their way back to El Campello when they were stopped.
Since they had repeatedly broken the confinement restrictions of the state of emergency, they were all arrested for disobedience and taken to make statements at a police station before being released on charges.
A 41-year old Spanish man from Cartagena was fined three times and eventually arrested after National Police officers spotted him in three different places over the course of two hours .
He had been stopped in a park and again a few minutes later, when he was bothering a street cleaning worker.
He gave all sorts of excuses to the police to justify why he was not at home, but was fined twice for breaking the lockdown.
The man was then stopped by a security guard in a supermarket for allegedly trying to steal some items, and was eventually arrested and fined again by the National Police.
Among the average of 30 to 50 people Dénia police catch breaking quarantine almost every day, two of them were found sunbathing on Els Molins beach and another grabbed a rubbish bag from a wheelie-bin and pretended it was his.
A cyclist in full biking gear and carrying a towel was caught on his way to the beach to go for a swim, and another two riders claimed they were heading to the supermarket – despite being several kilometres away from where they lived.
Local police in the town also pulled up a cyclist who claimed he was taking out the rubbish, but who had been seen pedalling in the direction of Els Poblets.
Two local residents in the same car told police they were on their way to an internet café to make a phone call – one of them was carrying a knife.
A 'nervous-looking' driver, who was unable to explain where he was going, was found to have drugs hidden in his car.
Two people in the same car – which is banned, unless the passenger is in the back and only in certain circumstances – said they had travelled to Dénia from Villajoyosa to work, which turned out not to be the case.
Officers pulled up drivers in Dénia from Oliva, Pedreguer, Orba and Alcalalí who said they were in the town for shopping, and another from Els Poblets claimed to be checking up on three properties they owned in Dénia.
A walker was booked when he said he had just come from the supermarket, despite it having closed two hours previously, forcing him to admit he had been at a friend’s house.
Officers were tipped off by residents on Avenida de Valencia, the Ondara road, that their neighbours were having a party – and found three people drinking beer, one of whom did not live there.
Some of those caught said they were visiting friends or family, which is not allowed.
In Gandía a woman who was very drunk and wandering aimlessly told police she didn't feel like going home,, and a man simply said that he ‘felt like going out for a walk’. Both ended up arguing heatedly with the officers.
A couple caught in their car on Oliva's Les Bassetes road began swearing, pushing and shoving the officers when they were ordered to go home, and they have ended up being given a four-month suspended prison sentence.