By Charlotte Reid 
The man was arrested at a restaurant at Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport.
National Police officers arrested a man at Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport who was attempting to flee to the United Kingdom with several pieces of jewellery worth €7,000, which he had allegedly stolen from his aunt, a resident of Alicante.
The incident was reported to National Police officers stationed at the airport police station by the victim’s son, who said he had received a call from his mother after she noticed that several pieces of jewellery were missing from her home in the San Juan beach area of Alicante.
The victim noticed that a pearl necklace with a diamond brooch and a diamond ring, both valued at €7,000, were missing from the jewellery box in her bedroom. She suspected that the perpetrator could be her nephew, who she knew was due to catch a flight to the United Kingdom, although she did not know the time.
After discovering the disappearance of the jewellery, both the victim and her son tried to contact the suspect nephew by telephone, but he did not answer their calls, so they decided to report the incident to the police.
Officers from the airport police station’s operational group quickly mobilised throughout the airport complex in order to locate the suspect.
Finally, the officers managed to locate the suspect in one of the restaurants on the premises, where he was found to be carrying the stolen jewellery in his rucksack. He was arrested on suspicion of theft, and all of the stolen jewellery was recovered and returned to its rightful owner.
After the police proceedings, the detainee was brought before the investigating magistrate’s court in the town of Elche.