A group of climbers were scaling the canyon just before you get to Vélez de Benaudalla when they saw thieves ransacking their parked car below. They were not impressed as there was nothing that they could do to stop them.

These cliff faces, known as the Tajo de los Vados, are highly popular with climbers, leaving their cars parked just off the road; something that has not escaped the attention the light fingered.

So, there were the climbers half way up the vertical wall when they saw two people breaking into their car and removing expensive climbing equipment.

However, fortunately, they hadn’t left their mobiles in the car and had them on them up, so they phoned the police, describing the thieves’ car. This was one afternoon at the end of May.

Around 18.30h one of the alerted Guardia Civil patrols spotted a car answering to the description given, at kilometre point 184 on the N-323 – the same road that passes through the canyon.

They pulled the car over and after questioning the passengers they proceeded to search the car, finding the missing backpack with climbing gear inside

Without further ado, they arrested the occupants – a 42-year-old Italian woman and a 24-year-old Bosnian man. The man has a criminal record and has gone under three different names.

The suspects had seen a car parked off the road with nobody about – they forgot to look up, so they allegedly smashed a side window to loot the inside.

Note: The climbers in the photo are not those involved in the incident but the photo does give a good idea of what the article describes.

(News: Velez de Benaudalla, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia – Photo: www.xploraalmeria.com)