Serving Marbella police officer and former colleague detained for armed robbery and attempted kidnapping

A Local Police officer from Marbella and a former colleague of his are in provisional detention on suspicion of an armed robbery targeting a Chinese business owner, who they also allegedly tried to kidnap by force. The incident happend in a hair salon, located on Paseo de los Tilos in Malaga, one year ago.

As SUR reported at the time, the two suspects, alongside a third individual, entered the premises armed and wearing hoods, pretending to be police officers and acting as if they were carrying out a police operation. According to the investigation, they had installed a tracking device under the victim's vehicle in order to trace his movements and plan the robbery.

They used the moment he went to the hairdresser's salon as a customer to commit the robbery. They also attempted to abduct the business man, but he resisted and managed to escape despite being hit multiple times. They, however, managed to grab his bag, which contained 4,000 euros in cash.

Among the suspects are a serving Local Police officer from Marbella and a former colleague of his. The investigation, named Operation Sifu, led to searches of the two main suspects' homes, where several items of clothing implicating them in the robbery were found.

The investigators also seized several firearms, ammunition, transmission equipment, police badge holders and mobile phones, most of them found in a vehicle belonging to a foreigner, who had left his keys in confidence with his neighbour - the Local Police officer. The car owner has no connection to the crime.

All three suspects are now in pretrial detention by court order.