Marbella has been rocked by another violent episode after an estanco worker was allegedly held up at gunpoint on Monday.
The terrifying ordeal occurred at around 10.45am in Elviria, an area east of the centre that is popular with tourists and expats.
The victim, who manages a local estanco (tobacco shop), had left the business and was crossing a nearby square on his way to make a bank deposit when two hooded men approached him from opposite directions.
Speaking to Malaga Hoy, he claimed they demanded that he hand over ‘everything he had on him’.
The worker initially refused and told the pair that he was not carrying anything.
It was then that one of the suspects allegedly produced a handgun and held it close to his stomach.
‘He pulled out a gun and put it near my stomach,’ the victim recalled.
‘There was no way I could say no to them anymore.’
Both suspects were wearing black hoods, although the victim said enough of their faces remained visible for them potentially to be recognised.
He also recalled that the men spoke with foreign accents.
Sources close to the investigation said three people were involved as a third suspect was waiting nearby in a getaway vehicle.
After taking the cash, the two robbers fled and are believed to have joined their accomplice before escaping the area.
The victim has declined to reveal exactly how much money was stolen.
Once the attackers had left and he was safe, he contacted police.
‘It was a big scare,’ he said, adding that he had never experienced anything similar before.
The worker suspects the gang may have been monitoring his movements beforehand, given that they appeared to know he would be leaving carrying cash and intercepted him at precisely that moment.
The Policia Nacional is leading the investigation although there have been no arrests at time of publishing.
It comes just days after a 33-year-old man was gunned down in the middle of a street in Marbella.
There have been no updates on that investigation after footage shared online showed the victims sprawled out in the middle of the road in a pool of blood.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
