British expat probed after causing bomb scare in Spanish shopping mall

Atlantico Shopping Centre — EVACUATED: Shopping centre

A BRITISH expat is being investigated after sparking the evacuation of a Spanish shopping mall by leaving a suitcase in its toilets.

The unnamed 43-year-old has been told by cops he could face a public order charge over the scare at the Atlantico Shopping Centre in Gran Canaria on Sunday.

More than 2,000 people were ordered to leave the centre by police just after 6.30pm after security guards were tipped off about the suspicious package.

Bomb disposal experts were called in to assess the suitcase, but they soon found it only contained food and not explosives.

The shopping centre, a 15-minute drive from the popular tourist resorts of Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles, was reopened around 8pm.

The reason he left the case in a first-floor toilet is not known.

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Laurence Dollimore

Laurence Dollimore is a Spanish-speaking, NCTJ-trained journalist with almost a decade’s worth of experience.
The London native has a BA in International Relations from the University of Leeds and and an MA in the same subject from Queen Mary University London.
He earned his gold star diploma in multimedia journalism at the prestigious News Associates in London in 2016, before immediately joining the Olive Press at their offices on the Costa del Sol.
After a five-year stint, Laurence returned to the UK to work as a senior reporter at the Mail Online, where he remained for two years before coming back to the Olive Press as Digital Editor in 2023.
He continues to work for the biggest newspapers in the UK, who hire him to investigate and report on stories in Spain.
These include the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Mail Online, Mail on Sunday and The Sun and Sun Online.
He has broken world exclusives on everything from the Madeleine McCann case to the anti-tourism movement in Tenerife.

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