Email
April 27
Dear Editor,
I want to warn residents and tourists in Guardamar to be very vigilant after my wife was subjected to an incident at the Paseo del Mar in Guardamar. It happened last week as she was sitting on her own, reading a book. It was noon. She was sprayed from behind with stuff that a south American couple in their 40s claimed was seagull dropping.
It’s the classic distraction trick used for this type of crime. The couple – who looked well dressed and spoke fluent Spanish – pretended to help clean my wife’s clothes and hair but she felt the man’s hands on her shoulders and soon realised her gold necklace had gone.
She grabbed the man’s arm and shouted ‘ladron, ladron’.
This led the two to drop the necklace on the floor and walk away. The bystanders and coffee staff did nothing, as one would expect these days. The fake seagull droppings turned out to be mud mixed with mayonnaise and vinegar.
My wife called the Guardia Civil and I went to their office but we soon realised nothing could be done after all. A couple of days after our reporting the incident, we noticed the Guardia Civil driving around the area. A bit late but welcome nevertheless.
No doubt these two individuals would thereafter have moved to some other Costa Blanca resort for their activity, but I wouldn’t exclude their return to Guardamar or copycat crimes on old people (my wife and I are in our 70s).
I’d be grateful if you would write a few lines of warning in your paper and advise vulnerable people never to sit alone but spare a euro or two and sit at the table of a busy café.
Name withheld
