A man has been arrested in Marbella and another has fled after a driver’s lorry was stolen on the AP-7 as he slowed down at the Manilva toll booth. According to police sources, a Policía Nacional patrol car located and intercepted the vehicle shortly afterwards. The officers were forced to fire warning shots and shots at the tyres because, far from stopping, the driver went on to ram the police vehicle, which suffered significant damage.
The Udyco (organised drug crime unit) has taken charge of the case, in which investigators considered a possible drug hijacking between traffickers, although sources have stated that during the initial inspection of the vehicle the officers found no narcotics. This has raised the possibility that the perpetrators of the theft may have targeted the wrong vehicle.
The events took place at around 15:00 on Tuesday on the AP-7. According to the sources, the victim, a Moroccan man aged about 50, was approached at one of the motorway toll booths, where vehicles have to stop to pay for the stretch or slow down to pass through the subscriber lanes. He was pulled out of the cab at Manilva and the thieves made off with the vehicle towards Málaga. However, the alert about the theft from the toll booth mobilised several patrols, one of which managed to catch up with the lorry. During the chase, the driver rammed the police vehicle, causing damage, so the officers shot at the lorry’s tyres to disable it. Finally, the lorry stopped and one of the suspects, a 54-year-old Spaniard, was arrested, while the man who was travelling as co-driver managed to escape. The incident caused major tailbacks.
Investigators are now analysing footage from the toll booth security cameras to establish how the ambush took place and what other people and vehicles may have been involved.
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