A FAILED kidnap attempt on a Chinese businessman has exposed an astonishing corruption plot within the Marbella Policia Local that links to a mysterious foreign national.
The chaotic snatch took place at 4pm on a busy afternoon in Cruz del Humilladero, when the victim, heading for a haircut, walked straight into what appeared to be an official police operation.
Several men in civilian clothes stormed the barber shop, some flashing police badges on their chests while another levelled a pistol at his head. Others wore balaclavas, adding to the terror.
What the businessman did not know was that the gang had planted a GPS beacon under his car to track him and had chosen that moment to strike.
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Their plan was to drag him into a waiting vehicle and disappear. Instead, the victim twigged that something was not right and fought back with everything he had.
He grappled, pushed, twisted and refused to be forced out the door, even as the men rained punches on him.
The assault was so frenzied that the failed kidnappers abandoned the snatch attempt entirely.
Before fleeing, they seized the bag he was carrying – stuffed with €4,000 in cash – and sprinted out, leaving the shaken victim bruised and battered on the salon floor.
The attackers’ mistake was assuming the disguise of authority would protect them.
CCTV inside the salon captured clear images of their faces, while investigators quickly pieced together details of their getaway vehicles and escape route.
What came next stunned even veteran officers.
A Policia Nacional robbery squad traced the suspects to Marbella and arrested three men – among them a serving Policia Local officer and a former officer from the same force.
During raids on two homes, detectives seized clothing that matched the attackers.
But the biggest haul emerged from the boot of a car belonging to a foreign national who, according to the Policia Nacional, spends long periods outside Spain.
The vehicle, entrusted to a neighbour while the owner was abroad, was being used as a full weapons depot.
Inside, officers found three pistols, police-style radio kits, handcuffs, GPS tracking devices, fake police identification plates, a multi-tool knife and more than 100 rounds of ammunition of various calibres.
The neighbour with access to the car turned out to be the serving Marbella officer now under arrest.
The Policia Nacional have called the botched kidnapping a ‘false police intervention’, intended to terrorise the victim into giving up more wealth or information.
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Scientific Police specialists carried out facial analysis to match the faces captured on video with known profiles, allowing investigators to put names to each man involved.
All three suspects have now appeared in court in Malaga’s and have been ordered into provisional prison on charges including violent robbery, impersonating law enforcement and, depending on individual roles, attempted unlawful detention.
The Olive Press has asked the Marbella Policia Local and Town Hall for comment.
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