After repeated calls from a homeowner on Friday night the Guardia Civil took 70 minutes to respond to a house robbery in San Miguel, causing the complainants to publically express their concerns over the lack of protection of the 7,000 resident of San Miguel de Salinas at night, a feature that is well known amongst the criminal fraternity.

The house was broken into through a window after the robbers gained entry to a first floor balcony. On entering the property they injured one of the dogs and completely ransacked the house stealing, wrecking much of the furniture and stealing jewellery worth 1,000 euros.

The theft was discovered at about 11pm when one of the family members returned home from the cinema.

Although the municipality has a Civil Guard office it is not manned overnight which is also the case with the Local Police so every time a police response is required during silent hours residents have to await the arrival of agents from Torrevieja, located 13 kilometres away.