Thief throws himself off a cliff in La Herradura to avoid arrest

Guardia Civil officers have arrested a forty-six-year-old man with a long police record who tried to flee a patrol and avoid being caught by throwing himself off a cliff in Marina del Este, in La Herradura-Almuñécar.

An officer currently stationed at the Motril post, who was off duty at the time and had been scuba diving in the area, managed to stop him and drag him to the shore, where he was eventually restrained by uniformed officers, not before he had assualted them as he tried to flee again.

The detainee was not only wanted by the Guardia Civil as the alleged perpetrator of two recent robberies in the area, but he was also wanted by a Motril criminal court, which had ordered his arrest and his imprisonment to serve a sentence.

The Guardia Civil had deployed a security operation in La Herradura because in recent days there had been several burglaries in homes and investigators in Almuñécar suspected that the arrested man was responsible, as they had evidence that he had participated in two of the burglaries under investigation.

Officers knew that this individual usually travelled by bus or taxi, so they were on the lookout for these public service vehicles, and at around 8.30pm on 5 June, in Carretera de la Playa in La Herradura, they saw the suspect in a taxi. When they stopped the taxi, the alleged thief fled in the direction of Marina del Este, reached a street where the only way out was a cliff and the sea, and the individual did not hesitate to jump into the water.

The off-duty officer who had been scuba diving in the area witnessed the scene and jumped into the water to arrest the fugitive; he swam to him, managed to immobilise him and pull him to the shore, where his uniformed colleagues were waiting.

Although this individual has been remanded in custody, the Guardia Civil continue to investigate his involvement in the latest robberies reported in La Herradura and Almuñécar.