To get the Lock Down to work has required a much larger presence of the police on our streets and roads, although some criminal elements haven’t twigged about this.

But this isn’t about petty criminals bringing disaster down upon themselves. No, this is about a man from Latvia who has lived for the last 22 years in Torrox under a false identity

The Policía Local in Torrox came across the suspect last Sunday who identified himself as a Lithuanian citizen but cross checking turned up that he was in fact Latvian and had been living here for over two decades under this false ID.

During this time he had managed to obtain authentic Spanish documents such as La Residencia and Seguridad Social.

The man had the misfortune to bump into a policeman who is an instructor on a European level for ID forgeries and document examination. The said police officer spotted inaccuracies in the ID card and soon established that it was fake. The suspect was also carrying authentic documents such as his national-health card (tarjeta sanitaria) and his NIE.

Back at the police station he explained that he had bought and sold properties, cars and had three Spanish bank accounts and a mortgage in his assumed name.

The police are still trying to find out his true identity although he did confess that he had over 30 arrests in his own country but after living in a new country with a new identity he had turned over a new leaf.

He also said that he had written three books on his previous and present life, for which he was trying to find a publisher.

Finally, after such a long period of time, the crimes that he had committed back in Latvia have probably expired owing to a statute of limitation, meaning that he might only face charges of document forgery here. For this reason after appearing before a magistrate he was released pending trial.

(News: Torrox, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)