A WOMAN has been arrested for ripping a €35,000 luxury watch from the wrist of a British man in a violent attack at a hotel car park in northern Spain.
The victim, a 66-year-old British man, was pulling into the car park of a hostelry in the Alfoz de Burgos in broad daylight in March when a second vehicle followed him in.
A woman got out and walked straight towards him.
The two exchanged words. Then, as the man stepped out of his vehicle and the pair moved towards the back of it, she grabbed his left arm and pulled.
After a struggle — several attempts and repeated tugging — she wrenched the watch free. It was an 18-karat gold timepiece valued at €35,000.
The victim was left with injuries to his wrist and required medical treatment.
The Guardia Civil’s took on the case after the man filed a report days later, and began piecing together what had happened from evidence gathered at the scene.
Officers eventually identified the suspect, a 39-year-old woman with no fixed address, but could not locate her.
The breakthrough came when a separate Guardia Civil unit in Asturias picked her up in connection with an unrelated investigation — and intelligence sharing across units confirmed she was wanted in Burgos.
She has since been detained. The watch has not been recovered.
The Guardia Civil says organised gangs operating this type of theft typically move stolen luxury items out of Spain quickly, selling them through black market channels or even through legitimate second-hand platforms in their home countries.
They tend to work fast, they tend to work in busy places, and they rarely hang around long enough to be caught.
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