The sequence of thefts began in Izmir and continued along the coast near Postiguet Beach in Alicante. A thief approached a group of tourists and stole a mobile phone from someone who had left their device among towels laid out on the sand. One of the French travelers noticed the theft, alerted friends nearby, and together they pursued the suspect while demanding the return of the phone.
The criminal responded with violence, smashing a glass bottle against a fence to threaten the pursuing group and creating a terrifying moment on the beach. Fear spread quickly among the bystanders, and the thief managed to escape into the crowd and vanish from sight.
Alarma swept through the area and a citizen security patrol arrived to assess the situation. Officers began interviewing the victims and collecting details about the suspect and the sequence of the robbery. A nearby team was dispatched to search the wider area, and one unit spotted a man who perfectly matched the descriptions provided by the witnesses from the Postiguet incident.
As the police closed in, the suspect threw a black shoulder bag to the ground, along with a mobile phone and a beach towel. A short time later, a local worker with a van parked nearby approached the officers and explained that a black shoulder bag had been stolen from him while he briefly looked away. The worker confirmed that the bag he had seen on the ground matched what the officers had just found and that it belonged to him. The workers’ testimony helped confirm a direct link between the items and the suspect:
With the group of victims identifying him as the man responsible for the beach theft, the crowd of onlookers also recognized the phone thief when the device was recovered on the pavement beside the bag. The identification by the victims was a crucial factor in establishing the chain of events on Postiguet Beach and linking the various items recovered from the ground to the suspect.
The initial arrest had been made on the basis of the beach robbery, but moments later two nearby homeowners came forward. One owner reported a man trying to enter their home from the terrace, claiming to have stolen a beach towel during the attempt. He also tried to scale the perimeter wall but fled when he noticed the owner’s presence. The second homeowner corroborated the attempt, stating that the man attempted to enter through the veranda but was deterred by a fire inside the residence. The owner then reviewed footage from a cell phone camera and presented it to the patrol, which confirmed the identification of the suspect.
Following these events, the detainee was brought before the Alicante security court. He was held in custody with release on provisional terms pending trial, reflecting the ongoing judicial process linked to the multiple incidents recorded in the area. The coordinated response by law enforcement and the testimonies of victims and bystanders together established a detailed account of a day that began with a disruptive theft on a crowded beach and culminated in a broader investigation involving neighboring properties and multiple lines of evidence. This case illustrates how rapid patrol deployment, witness cooperation, and the use of security footage can work in concert to resolve incidents that unfold in public spaces and threaten community safety. (Alicante authorities)