Well, whether it was technically a ransom or not is questionable but it cost a couple that much to get their two mutts back.

The young couple had stopped at a service station near Albolote to have something to eat – they had holidayed in Almería and were on their way back home to Sevilla.

When they returned to the car, it had been broken into to and their luggage and two dogs, Naya and Asia, had disappeared – a criminal choice of dog names, admittedly.

This was on the 22nd of June.

Anyway, they covered Albolote and nearby towns with ‘missing’ posters and hired a group of people to scour the metropolitan area of Granada.

They are obviously not short of a bob or two (money) and published a notice in the Ideal regional newspaper, offering a thousand euros reward for information leading to the return of the animals.

This had a small army of individuals out turning the city upside down in the hope of receiving the monetary morsel, but the couple had also been following up some leads of their own which led them to the seedier side of the city (Almanjaya) and a particular address where the money was exchanged for the dogs – no questions asked, sort of thing.

Hell, for a thousand euros, you can call Dave and Martin, Naya and Asia and they’ll bark convincingly, for this small pecuniary consideration!

(News: Albolote, Granada, Andalucia)