An officer of the local police of Marbella (Málaga, 150,000 inhabitants) was arrested for the attempted kidnapping of a Chinese businessman together with another former officer of the same police and a third party involved. The three attacked the victim who was wearing a police badge, who resisted and was beaten, as well as having a bag with 4,000 euros that she was carrying with her at the time stolen. The authors were arrested by the State Police for their alleged responsibility in the crimes of robbery with violence or intimidation and usurpation of public functions. After being brought to justice, all of them were sent to prison. The investigations remain open pending the arrest of the other people involved, according to police sources.
The events occurred in November last year in a beauty salon in the Cruz del Humilladero neighborhood of the city of Malaga, where the Asian businessman had gone to have his hair cut. There, three men who had observed him after installing a tracker on his vehicle, tried to take him away by force, simulating a police intervention and pointing a gun at the victim. They wore civilian clothes, but wore the badge on their chest that made them pass as police officers.
The man resisted and the fake agents failed to achieve their objective. However, after the frustrated kidnapping attempt, the attackers hit him several times with great violence and snatched a bag where he kept 4,000 euros.
After the report, officers from the Robbery group of the Malaga Provincial Police Station launched an investigation to clarify the incident. The images taken by the beauty center’s video surveillance system facilitated the identification of the perpetrators of the crime, where a physiognomic study carried out by the Scientific Police was also of importance. Other cameras made it possible to reconstruct the attackers’ escape route. All this led to the arrest of three people for their alleged responsibility in the crimes of robbery with violence or intimidation and usurpation of public functions, as the case may be.
In the operation, called Sifu, searches were carried out in the homes of two of the suspects, located in Marbella, seizing several items of clothing that would have implicated them in the attack, as well as ammunition and telephones. Most of the seized items include three guns, broadcasting equipment, chains and police badges. These were found in the trunk of a vehicle owned by a foreign citizen who spends long periods abroad – unrelated to the conspiracy – and who entrusted the car keys to his neighbor, an active Local Police Agent. According to investigations, the car in question was used as a weapons depot.
The case was coordinated by the Investigative Court number 5 of Malaga, which decreed the provisional detention of the three arrested. The investigations remain open with the aim of arresting the rest of the people involved in the attempted kidnapping.
