Luis F. Durán Madrid
Madrid
Updated Sunday, April 7, 2024-02:29
The Galapagar Local Police arrested a Portuguese couple between 50 and 60 years old who, last Monday, April 1, had just occupied a chalet in a luxury development in the town.
The couple had 2,000 euros in cash in their pockets.
They claimed that they had been living in the house for several days, but the agents found out that they were lying.
They had only spent several hours in the chalet
. In addition, they were accused of causing damage to the home.
The intervention occurred around 1:00 p.m. after
a notice from several neighbors on the Emergency 112 Community of Madrid telephone number
reporting the possible squatting of a single-family home in a luxury development very close to the M-519 highway that connects Galapagar and Torrelodones.
Several local Galapagar Police patrols went to the area and located two people inside. It was a man and his wife who
said they had been living in the house for several days and refused to leave the house
. They added that they were fixing the roof and other areas of the property.
After carrying out the appropriate investigations and verifying that the intrusion had just occurred and that they had caused damage to the home, they were arrested, according to Javier Álvarez, Galapagar Security Councilor.
The alleged squatters, who have no known address and caused damage to the property, were arrested at the scene and transferred to the Civil Guard cells to continue the corresponding proceedings.
They will face charges of usurpation of property and other related crimes.
The squatters had passed through the security barrier of the development, jumped over the fence of the chalet and
forced a door to enter the interior of the house.
The councilor for Security, Javier Álvarez, declared that in Galagagar "
there is zero tolerance for squatting
and we understand that freedom and private property must be respected." The councilor insisted that "squatters and criminals will be persecuted and that the City Council has called an opposition competition to
increase the Municipal Police staff by 15 new agents.
"Currently, we have 46 agents and we hope to reach more than 60 with this new call and we have also invested in material for the agents with new vehicles and we plan to recover the canine unit and a drone unit to reinforce police surveillance," said the mayor.