One woman had only left her car parked in the underground parking area of Nevada Shopping Centre for 25 minutes, but it was long enough to have it stripped.

When she returned to where it was she at first had trouble recognising it because it was missing so many parts, amongst them the numberplate.

She had made a note of the parking bay, but even so, she though that what was in front of her was not her lovely car, so she hunted around for it before accepting the truth – somebody had stolen lots of parts off the front. In fact, it wasn’t until she went to the back of the car and saw the number plate that she was convinced that the wreck was hers.

The whole front area up to the bonnet was missing, including the fog lights and indicators, etc, as were the side mirrors

When she reported what had happened to the police they said that it was the first time that they had seen anything like this kind of theft anywhere in Granada. The Guardia Civil consider that the thieves wanted the parts to sell or to replace damaged parts on a car involved in a minor accident.

The thing is that the culprits did it in plain daylight, in a busy, shopping centre car park on a Saturday when the shopping centre is at its busiest. Also is surprising the speed in which the culprits worked – less than 25 minutes – try and get your car mechanic to work that fast where manhours are involved!

In fact, the thieves must have been completely tooled up because nothing was broken removing the parts.

After informing the police and they had inspected the scene of the crime, she phoned for a breakdown lorry because she couldn’t legally drive it because it would not be considered roadworthy if stopped and she also had no idea of what else, less obvious, was missing.

(News: City & Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)