The National Police of Spain, recovered a laptop belonging to a Belgian citizen, stolen at Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernadez Airport, and discovered in France.

The woman who fell victim to the theft was returning to Belgium from her Altea property for the Christmas period at the beginning of November.

According to the statement given by the victim, whilst passing through the airport, she stopped at a car rental desk and placed a box containing the 1,299 euro laptop, intended as a gift for a family member in her home country, on the counter.

The woman lost sight of the box “for seconds”, a situation which resulted in the box containing the laptop disappearing.

Following the report of the loss, the police combed the CCTV footage at the airport and saw the situation on the recordings, resulting in them being able to identify the alleged perpetrator of the theft, a 49-year-old man of French origin, who could be seen “clearly” from the surveillance cameras, taking advantage of the victim’s and employees’ “carelessness” to steal the computer and hide it among his belongings.

The agents also discovered that the alleged perpetrator of the events was already in France, although they took all the necessary steps to contact him and recover the gift.

Several weeks later, the computer arrived at the National Police offices at the airport sent by the alleged perpetrator from France, after being warned that he had committed a crime of theft classified in Spain, where he will have to appear personally to answer for the allegation.

The gift was subsequently forwarded by the police and delivered to its rightful owner, who thanked the agents as she was able to deliver it to her relative in Belgium just in time and before the Christmas holidays ended.