A man who allegedly robbed a Barcelona restaurant was caught after attempting the theft in front of a group of off-duty British police officers, an official said.
Metropolitan Police Sergeant Eren Emin, 30, said he was in the Spanish city with four other police officers when a man jumped over a restaurant counter on Monday and began snatching electrical items.
Sergeant Emin said they chased the man for about 50 meters down the road before recovering all the allegedly stolen items.
They then took the man back to the restaurant, where they waited until Spanish police arrived.
Sergeant Emin later posted on Pursued and detained nearby.
“The police arrived, statements were taken and the male was taken into custody. Now I’m back on my holidays.”
Sergeant Emin, who lives in Enfield, London, said that “policing is more of an instinct than anything else” and that even when on leave he has to “do what is right”.
She said: “We were in a restaurant on the main strip, waiting for the food to arrive and he walked over to the bar area where the counters are and then he jumped onto the counter and that’s when he caught our attention.
“He started ransacking the fields and taking electrical items like iPads and iPhones, whatever was there, before he turned around and then ran fast outside the restaurant and immediately we stood up and followed.”
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Metropolitan Police Sergeant Eren Emin. Photo: PA
Sergeant Emin said that once the man starts running he doesn’t have a chance to think “I’m not a police officer and I’m not in the UK”, adding that it was “just a case of stopping him.” Was”.
He added that once police arrived they told them they were officers in the UK, adding: “Then there was commotion all around.”
Sergeant Emin said the restaurant staff were “really shocked because they didn’t expect their entire table of customers to just turn up and get this guy and take all their stuff back”.
He added: “I’m quite known in my organization for arresting people off duty – here in the UK, wherever I go, I always attract or encounter crime, which is really strange. So to me, it’s just another day.”