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ARCHIVED - Finnish tourist drugged and robbed of 10,000 euros in popular Alicante Port area
The victim was reportedly duped into going to a brothel near Alicante Port where he passed out and his bank cards were stolen
The National Police have arrested three men and a woman in Alicante after a Finnish tourist was allegedly drugged after being 'duped' into going to a 'hostess club' in the area, and more than 10,000 euros was taken from two credit cards.
Two of those arrested, all of whom are aged between 30 and 52, are taxi drivers who used their point-of-sale (POS) terminals to carry out some of these card transactions whilst pocketing 10% commission each time.
The other two detainees are the manager and an employee at the adult club, both of whom have previous convictions. They have all since been released after making statements at the police headquarters, pending their appearance in court.
According to a police statement, the young Finnish man, who regularly visits Alicante, was having drinks with friends in the leisure area of the port when the group was approached by a man claiming to be a 'rep' working for a bar where he could get them a free drink.
The establishment turned out to be a brothel, and having accepted the free drink, the Finnish man began to feel "unwell and unsteady" and was allegedly separated from his friends by a woman who gave him a pill, promising it would make him feel better.
The victim then claims to have no recollection of anything unitl he was discovered "dazed and disoriented" by his friends in the vicinity of the club at noon the following day.
He soon discovered two credit cards were missing and on checking his account, realised several bank transfers totalling 6,000 euros had been made from his account in addition to 4,665 euros in taxi charges.
The language setting on his phone had also been changed to English. Suspecting he had been drugged, the dazed tourist went to a nearby medical centre for a blood test and tested positive for amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, MDMA and even methadone.
The victim reported the incident to the National Police and the Economic and Fiscal Crime Brigade of the Alicante Provincial Brigade took charge of the investigation, locating the taxi drivers who admitted their part in the scam.
Further investigations led police to the club manager and female employee and they too were arrested. It's not clear what nationality all of the detainees are.
Image: Archive
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