The Policía Nacional in Motril arrested a 28-year-old man for making a false statement concerning the theft of 500 lottery tickets.

The coupon seller claimed that he had been waylaid by three individuals who stole 500 tickets, worth a total of 950 euros and 350 in cash that he had on him.

He went on to explain in his statement before the police that one of them had slapped him in the face whilst another hand swiped his lottery tickets. This exchange of ownership was reinforced by a nasty looking knife, he claimed.

After a bout of police investigation it turned out that the man had left the tickets on his car roof, together with his wallet. In desperation, he hit upon the idea of claiming that he had been mugged to justify the loss of the tickets and the 350 euros in takings.

It didn’t help matters that he has a criminal record – who was going to believe him?

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)