The Civil Guard of the Main Post of Costa Teguise, in Lanzarote, arrested on July 16 a 30-year-old person for a Crime of Simulation of Crime.
The alleged victim filed a complaint at the Main Post of Costa Teguise after claiming to have been the victim of a robbery with violence or intimidation in the busy area of Avenida del Mar.
According to the complainant, the events occurred after getting off a bus and when he was about to start a sports activity on public roads. At that moment, he was suddenly approached by three individuals. One of them was carrying a firearm, while the other two were carrying white weapons of about ten centimeters of blade.
The complainant declares that one of the attackers pressed his chest with the firearm, thus the assailants managed to snatch his mobile phone and an amount of cash amounting to about fifteen euros.
After the violent episode, the victim quickly went to a nearby hotel to ask for help and protection, later reporting what happened to the authorities.
The Agents of the Citizen Attention Area detected several inconsistencies in the story presented by the detained individual. Given the suspicions raised by these contradictions, the Agents of the Investigation Area were alerted.
The first line of investigation consisted of collecting testimonies from the staff of the hotels near the area where the incident allegedly occurred. However, after an exhaustive round of interviews, it was found that no person came to these establishments in search of help at the indicated time.
In parallel, the researchers analyzed relevant recordings that shed light on the whereabouts of a telephone terminal mentioned in the complaint. The images showed that the person involved had forgotten his mobile phone inside a bus. Subsequently, a user of the transport found the device and handed it over to the driver, who proceeded to deposit it at the Bus Station, following the usual protocol.
Revealingly, it was found that the complainant went to the aforementioned station hours after filing the complaint and recovered his telephone terminal. However, he failed to voluntarily communicate these facts to the Civil Guard, despite the relevance of this information to the investigation.
The detainee was placed at the disposal of the Investigating Court No. 4 of Arrecife.
It should be noted that, according to art. 457 of the Penal Code, anyone who, before any of the officials indicated in article 456, simulates being responsible or a victim of a criminal offense or reports a non-existent one, causing procedural actions, will be punished with a fine of six to twelve months.