07 Feb 2008 12:00 AM:
The problem continues, now Block 4 again. We arrived Sunday evening 4 Feb and the next day went down to the beach. I had a few worries about security and so went up at 3.30 p.m. to check everything. Arriving inside I could see half a leg appearing over the balcony/ partition wall and then the whole body of a man. He seemed surprised to see me and I him, and he started to climb back hurriedly. I opened the patio door and went out shouting in Spanish what are you doing, and he replied "I'm fixing the satellite dish"- ha ha. By this time he had mad it over next door's balcony , their dog barking like mad, and I saw an older Spanish-looking man in a cap talking to another down by the pool and shouted in Spanish " there's a man breaking in to the flats" but he ignored me. By this time the Spanish- looking intruder - mid thirties I guess - had reached the third balcony presumably to make his escape. When I went out the front door I saw another Spanish-looking man walking hurriedly towards the gate with a rucksack on his back . So I walked to the third flat along ( the only one without bars on the window) found the blind forced up, bedroom window forced open, table positioned below the window etc.to make his escape. Returning to my balcony the men by the pool had disappeared. We called a friend of the owner of the far-end flat and he came and found no damage and nothing apparently taken so it's likely they were using it as a means to get to our flat via the balconies. Nothing taken, burglary thwarted, so the police won't consider it a crimescene and won't be interested. I had a good look at their faces though, so I don't think they'll be back for a while. I spoke to the Miraflores Vigilante patrol. They weren't interested and didn't seem to think they cover Angel - does anyone? They said these men work in groups of 4 or more. Two stand and watch with mobile phones (look-out s ), one breaks in and throws what ever he finds to the catcher with the rucksack, and there may be others to distract or confuse the residents . Spoke to Jose- he finishes at 3 pm. They are targeting us after he leaves while we're down at the beach - first day ,guard down as you're on holiday and have left money and credit cards, passports and jewellery on the table. Even grills and gates are not going to stop them. VIGILANCE WILL. We need a watchman from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. to keep an eye on the blocks to call the police if he sees anything suspicious, even if this costs us a few Euros more, otherwise we will continue to be a target and someone might get hurt as well as losing our possessions and expensive damage to property. The end flat has damage where they tried to force open the shower window ( no bars on it ) with a screwdriver but failed. We all need to be extremely vigilant and challenge strangers.
Community thread:
Tenants belongings
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