31 Mar, 2026 @ 12:17
1 min read

Thief robs tourist rental car in Spain but is caught thanks to GPS on stolen ‘AirPods’

Thief robs tourist's hire car in Spain but gets caught after GPS on stolen 'Airpods' tracks him down

A THIEF who plundered a tourist rental car in Valencia was arrested after one of the stolen items had its GPS locator activated.

The geolocator on some pilfered ‘AirPods’ allowed the Valencia Policia Local to follow the robber in real time as he moved through city streets on Saturday.

The female German victim opened up her phone app with a green dot showing her ‘AirPods’ on the move.

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RECOVERED ITEMS

The dot’s speed showed the criminal was travelling in a vehicle.

Six police officers were then deployed in an operation that ended on Calle Bilbao where they spotted the suspect getting into a suspiciously parked car.

After identifying the thief- a 35-year-old Algerian national- officers opened up the vehicle’s trunk which was stuffed with belongings taken from the 27-year-old tourist’s rental car.

All of the items were identified and returned to the victim.

ARRESTED THIEF

She contacted the police at around 3.45pm to say her hire car’s rear-left window had been smashed and all her belongings stolen.

The woman had parked up her Toyota Yaris Cross near to the promenade on Calle Jose Ballester Gozalvo some two hours earlier.

The stolen goods included eight bags and suitcases including clothes, a MacBook laptop, two ‘AirPods’ headphones, an Osmo video camera, personal documents, sunglasses, and a pair of gold earrings.

The thief was brought before a judge on a charge of robbery.

Click here to read more Crime & Law News from The Olive Press.

Alex worked for 30 years for the BBC as a presenter, producer and manager. He covered a variety of areas specialising in sport, news and politics. After moving to the Costa Blanca over a decade ago, he edited a newspaper for 5 years and worked on local radio.

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