The National Police report having arrested a 40-year-old man on December 28 in connection with the attempted abduction of a ten-year-old girl.
Around 8.50pm on the 28th, the girl was walking with her sister, older but also a minor, in the Pere Garau district of Palma. A man approached them from behind, grabbed one of her arms forcibly and said "Come with me". The older girl told him to go and warned him that she would phone the police.
He did let the girl go but then followed the pair when they ran off. He was intimidating and harassing them until a passer-by intervened. He told this person that he had made a mistake and had thought the younger girl was his niece.
The girls told their parents what had happened. Various police patrols went to the scene, were initially unable to locate the man but then found him in the Plaza de las Columnas. It was confirmed that he had a police record and that he had violated a restraining order against his ex-partner. He was arrested and charged with violation of a court order and with attempted illegal detention.