Four young men arrested for knifepoint muggings at Malaga fair

Police have arrested four youths for allegedly mugging people at knifepoint during the annual Malaga summer fair.

Officers were first alerted at 6am on Thursday 17 August when two men in their 20s approached a police patrol to report that they had been robbed by a group of youths at the Cortijo de Torres, the site of the Feria's nighttime festivities. According to the description they gave to the officers, the youths ordered the two men to hand over everything they had on them or risk being stabbed.

The victims ran away, but the assailants caught up with them and allegedly punched one of the men in the face, and cut his arm with a knife. It is not known whether they managed to steal something, or whether it was an attempted mugging.

Shortly afterwards, Local Police officers then came across another victim. This time it was a man in his 20s who claimed to have been mugged by the same group while he was walking in the same area. They had only taken a few coins from him. Then, another man approached patrols with another attempted mugging claim.

After a few minutes, two patrols located the four young men in the area, who had split up when they fled. They are aged between 16 and 22 and were arrested for the alleged violent thefts. Two of them had apparently taken the lead in the and were recognised by the victims who were still at the scene. Two of those arrested confessed and handed over two knives.

Meanwhile, National Police officers were forced to intervene in 98 brawls during the fair, and arrested 38 people. There were also 52 reports for the possession of weapons. In total, National Police filed 664 complaints during the recent festivities in Malaga city, between 12 and 19 August.