On the 9th of September there was a news article in the Ideal about how three young men had allegedly faked an armed robbery. The following day the same paper revealed that one of them was the Youth Councillor and Vice-Mayor in Píñar.

So, what exactly happened. As we said, the original article spoke of three young men caught reportedly trying to simulate a robbery. According to their original account, they had been sitting in a bar when four masked and armed men burst in brandishing unhealthily sharp knives. Before their incredulous eyes, the villains broke into a gambling machine, as well as a cigarette one. They then made off with the takings of both and a further booty of freshly liberated cigarettes.

But one of them – the 22 year-old councillor – got cold feet and confessed to the Guardia Civil that his statement was a complete lie. He and his two friends had broken into the machines and pocketed the money, under the influence of generous amounts of alcohol. There had been no masked intruders. Simply put, when he got over the hangover, his conscience returned and he confessed.

They had been drinking around town all day and decided to finish up at the bar of the councillor and drown themselves in free-to-hand cubalibres. Apparently, the young councillor was giving a kick-boxing exhibition and put his foot through the glass of the gambling machine. His first, hazed thoughts, were that his mother would kill him and tossing up between confronting his mother or the Guardia Civil, he opted for the latter – who wouldn’t, at least, murder him on the spot?

Anyway, the three young men have spoken to the gambling and vending machine owners and promised to make good the damage.

Well, he’s 22 and you can do some pretty silly things at that age (ask Prince Harry), can’t you? He didn’t try to claim on insurance, (i.e., he didn’t try to make money from his actions) there was no robbery and nobody was hurt. However, making a police statement is a criminal offense. We shall see.

(News: Piñar, Metropolitan Granada, Granada, Andalucia)