Instrument thief snared after band launches ‘spectacular’ Facebook campaign for help

FACEBOOK has helped to reunite a Malaga rock band with their stolen equipment after a ‘spectacular’ response from the site’s users.

The Free Soul Band, who have been performing locally since 1999, had instruments and equipment stolen from their van while parked in a garage beneath one of their apartments.

But after reporting the theft to police, they had no leads to go on and felt completely played out.

It was then that one of the members issued a last-ditch appeal over social networking site Facebook.

Band members said the results were ‘spectacular’, with users immediately sharing the post and within minutes one spotted an item for sale on second hand website milanuncios.com which looked suspicious.

A band member arranged to view the item – accompanied by a plain clothes police officer posing as a friend – and discovered the seller, a 50-year-old man, had most of their equipment.

When confronted by police, the seller claimed he had found the equipment discarded in a skip.

The one missing item, a valve amplifier, had already been sold but the post office managed to successfully intercept the package.

The band posted another grateful message on Facebook that night: “Sound equipment of the Free Soul Band recovered… a million thanks. We did it together.”