Police have arrested two squatters accused of attacking the British owners of a house in Ibiza when they arrived at the property after flying to the holiday island from the UK.
The men allegedly assaulted them with baseball bats and chains as well as “threatening them with a weapon” before stealing their suitcases and demanding £1,725 to return them.
The extraordinary sequence of events occurred at the Brits’ villa in the municipality of San Jose in the south-west of the island, close to the legendary Blue Marlin celebrity hotspot and Maison Bang Bang, the luxury mansion of Kate Middleton’s uncle’s Gary Goldsmith.
The squatters had converted two rooms at the family home into a cannabis farm, police say.
Heavily-armed officers had to force their way into the property after getting a court order to arrest the men and enable the unnamed Brits to recover their villa.
Police sources said the victims had been injured and needed medical treatment. It was not immediately clear today how serious their injuries had been and whether they had been admitted to hospital.
The horror incident happened last week, although police have only just gone public with details of the arrests and footage showing them taking away the two suspects who are both Spaniards with criminal records.
They have been accused of crimes including robbery, wounding and threats.
The incident comes a year after a veteran Crown Prosecution Service lawyer and his wife had to take legal action to evict squatters from their holiday home in Ibiza.
Sophie Robinson, whose husband Marc is head of the CPS’s extradition unit, arrived for an Easter break with their two children to find another family and strangers inside.
The 49-year-old yoga teacher was told by police she had no rights to enter the house and had to hire a local firm of lawyers to launch proceedings while she and her daughters returned home.
Fortunately her lawyer managed to fast track legal proceedings and secured an eviction notice within five weeks.
Sophie found drugs paraphernalia scattered on the floor and personal property missing when she managed to get back inside the couple’s villa in Cap Negret near San Antonio.
Confirming the arrests in the latest incident involving squatters and British victims in Ibiza, the Civil Guard said in a statement: “The Civil Guard has arrested two Spanish men as the suspected authors of the crimes of robbery, wounding and threats in San Jose.
“Last week the owners of a property in San Jose were surprised inside the house by two squatters when they reached it after travelling to the area from abroad.
“The suspects allegedly attacked them with bats and chains as well as threatening them with what appeared to be a shotgun.
“After threatening them, they took their suitcases and subsequently demanded a payment of EUROS 2,000 to return them.”
Saying the victims who well-placed sources said are British had made a formal complaint to the authorities, the Civil Guard spokesman added: “Officers sought a court order to enter the property and arrested the two men and recovered the suitcases as well as other objects possibly taken in other robberies.
“They also discovered two of the rooms inside the property were being used to grow cannabis.
“Both men have a long criminal record for violent crimes and drug trafficking.”
The suspects are believed to have already appeared in court. It was not clear today if they had been released on bail pending an ongoing criminal investigation or remanded in custody.