Two Ukrainian refugee families, totaling 27 people, were staying at a hotel in Alicante when they received Red Cross assistance last weekend. They were robbed during the night by a 22-year-old suspect who was promptly apprehended by the National Police. Most stolen items were recovered after the suspect was caught red-handed, but the cash sum remains missing. Investigators have not ruled out the possibility of an accomplice who may have fled before police arrival.
The incidents occurred around 4:30 a.m. last Saturday, in two rooms facing the street at the Daniya hotel on Denia Street. The two affected mothers told this publication that they were asleep with their children when the intruder entered through a window.
In the first break-in, the thief took a tablet, a mobile phone, and a purse containing about 150 euros and 700 Czech crowns, along with bank cards and other personal items. The victim described being unaware of the thief’s presence before the intrusion through the window.
After the initial robbery, the intruder exited and soon entered another room where a Ukrainian refugee slept with her daughter. The thief, barefoot in socks, reportedly knocked two phones from the nightstand and fled as the victim woke. With the help of a translator, she recalled that she saw a young man leaving through the window while screaming for help.
The scream alerted a neighbor in the hotel. That neighbor looked out and observed the thief fleeing; the witness later confirmed that the other victim had not only heard screams but also identified the same individual as the person she had seen running away. She then returned to her room to discover her own belongings had been stolen.
Several people left the hotel and, together with a passing taxi driver, helped locate the young man nearby. He was arrested for robbery after being found in possession of items from the two rooms. He claimed to have previously encountered the police while attempting to sell a bicycle, and he left a backpack containing documents and shoes under a car when spotted. The items recovered included two intact phones; one phone in the other room was damaged during the incident, but it was returned to the two women who were assisted by the Red Cross and local authorities. Excluding the 150 euros, other belongings were recovered. The two victims described a lack of cooperation from a hotel employee who did not seem to take their reports seriously. These refugee families are hosted through a government-supported program overseen by the Red Cross, which coordinates aid for Ukrainians and other refugees in this region.