A 62-year-old Briton who has owned a holiday home in Puerto Andratx for the past 35 years and has been a regular annual visitor was nursing a cut neck on Saturday morning and making a police report after having been “kidnapped” in the early hours of the morning and robbed at knife point of his Rolex watch worth 25,000 pounds.
The victim, who does not want to be identified, contacted the Bulletin first thing to report his ordeal. “It’s not the watch I’m worried about, that’s insured. What I am shocked about is the fact that, after coming here for so many years and never had any problems whatsoever, I end up in a car with a knife to my neck. Honestly, I thought I was going to die.
“Even the extremely kind doctor at the PAC in Andratx admitted I had been lucky as I sat there with blood all over my jumper. The wife and I had gone out for a few drinks and a lovely dinner in some of our favourite bars in the port, catching up with mates and all that. Later, I decided that I might check out what was happening in the local club and my wife went home.
“I got chatting to this Spanish guy in the club. He seemed friendly enough, you know what it’s like. You are in an environment you’ve known for years, on holiday, feel comfortable and this is Puerto Andratx.
“I left the club with him and his friend, I thought they were going to give me a lift home. But before I knew it, we were up some side street and he had a knife to my throat. I had a tussle with the two and in the process I received a slight slash to the throat and he stole my watch before kicking me out of the car. This was around 3am. I walked home, got my paperwork and managed to walk all the way to the medical centre in the town where I was attended by two very helpful doctors who made out a complete medical report which they told me to take to the police station. So, I went home, tried to get myself together, I hadn’t had any sleep yet, and went to report the incident to the police,” he told the Bulletin on Saturday morning in between being questioned at the police station.
“When I’m back in the UK, I always read the Bulletin online and I’ve read about car park watch snatching in Portals, apparently mainly by organised Eastern European gangs, but I’ve never read or heard anything about kidnapping and knives being used. Plus, this guy was Spanish and I would recognise him straightaway,” he added.
The Guardia Civil confirmed that the incident has been reported and they have opened a full investigation in an attempt to trace and arrest the suspect.
“It’s a shame. I know these stories don’t help Majorca’s image but, like I said, I thought I was going to die and I feel people need to be made aware of what’s going on,” the victim stressed.