Two men raided a gaming hall in Salobreña, threatening staff with a pistol, which turned out to be a toy one.

Consequently, the Guardia Civil arrested two suspects, aged 32 and 43, both with criminal records, who could face charges of armed robbery (even if the gun wasn’t a real firearm).

The robbery took place a few minutes before midnight on the 1st of February. Both individuals burst into the establishment wearing hoods and supposedly armed with a pistol.

However, the employee present at the time refused to be intimidated and confronted them. Because of this unforeseen resistance, the two robbers fled empty handed.

A Guardia Civil patrol from Otívar, who were close to hand, arrived at the gaming hall just two minutes after the raiders had left. The employ gave descriptions of both men, one of whom was wearing a grey scarf with black letters on it, a grey jacket and dark, tracksuit bottoms of a well known clothes brand.

The officers quickly set off to search the area and came across the suspects in a nearby street pushing a moped/scooter. The clothes matched the description the officers received. As the officers believed the robbers to be armed, they followed the procedure for these situations; i.e., approached them with their issue firearms drawn and cocked.

The thieves did not offer any resistance to being handcuffed and searched, which is when they found what turned out to be a toy pistol. Realising that the game was up, the two suspects then began to blame each other.

The officers also found out to whom the 49cc scooter belonged; the suspects allegedly stole it just before entering the gaming hall, not more than 500 metres away. The Guardia Civil contacted its rightful owner, who had not even realised that it was missing. The officers returned the vehicle and informed the owner that he should now report it as having been stolen – unless he did, then the robbers could not be charged with having stolen it.

Both men were remanded in custody in Motril pending appearing before a judge.

Editorial comment: It’s all very confusing: if a crime takes place in Otívar, it’s the Salobreña Guardia post that sends  out a patrol, because the Otívar post is rarely open, yet here we are with a crime taking place in Salobreña and it’s the Otívar boys who are patrolling down there…

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