The Guardia Civil in Guadahortuna (northern Granada) arrested four youths, in connection with a violent robbery and illegal detention last month.

The incident took place on the 13th in the afternoon when the four suspects broke through the fence around a cortijo in the Aranceles area of the town. They entered the building where the owner was at the time and assaulted him to subdue him and then tied him up.

With his head covered by a sack, they set about thumping and kicking him before taking his watch, wallet, mobile phone and car keys and leaving the premises in his car, later abandoning it.

The victim manage to drag himself along the floor and out of the building in order to cry for help. Luckily a neighbour heard him and came to his assistance.

All told there were five youths present, four of whom are minors and one who had his 18th birthday on the day of the attack.

Three of them were arrested the next day, brought before a minors magistrate and released into the custody of their respective mothers.

In the meantime, the Guardia Civil were busily searching for the other two, who were later spotted on a street in Guadahortuna but fled over fields when they saw the police approaching. Only the ringleader (the 18-year-old was caught – the other got away)

The ringleader already had two warrants on him from the minors court in Granada and although caught on one occasion, he managed to escape from the  patrol car.

The fifth member of the gang was still at large at the time of writing.

(News: Guadahortuna, Montes, Granada, Andalucia)