The Guardia Civil have arrested three young men in connection with a spate of 13 burglaries at cortijos in the Salobreña area. The three men are from Salobreña, Molvízar and Ízbor.

The arrested men, aged between 19 and 21, were allegedly caught in the act of attempting to stash the booty from their last robbery in a cortijo belonging to one of them.

A patrol from the Guardia Civil unit, Seguridad Ciudadana had been watching in the Minchal area of Molvízar when they spotted a car stopped near a cortijo, with its lights on, at 03.00h. They decided to approach to find out what was the cause of this activity at such an hour of the morning on the 12th of December. As they did, one man ran off.

They first thought that the man had been attempting to break in, but when they reached the cortijo and entered, they found two men inside busily trying to hid several valuable objects. According to the police the two men explained that they were not committing a burglary but were hiding booty from a nearby cortijo, which they had burgled. The also explained that the cortijo in which the police had found them belonged to the family of the man who had run off.

It took 45 minutes to track the fleeing man, running him to ground in Molvízar. At the moment of detention the thieves were wearing gloves, so as not to leave fingerprints, in possession of a crowbar and a blank-firing pistol (starting gun) which was loaded. Furthermore, with the vehicle that was parked in front of the cortijo they found more stolen items.

During further investigation and interrogation, it became clear, according to the police, they they were responsible for at least a dozen other burglaries along the Coto 200 area of Molvízar and the Coto 100 area of Salobreña.

Amongst the stolen items that were recovered were three air rifles, farming tools of all kinds, domestic appliances, and bottles of alcoholic spirits. These objects were returned to their rightful owners once identified.

None of the arrested men possesses a criminal records.

(News: Salobrena/Molvizar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)