Four dead in crash after Spanish police chase ram raiders
Four people were killed when a gang of suspected ram raiders crashed into oncoming traffic during a high-speed police chase on Spain's Costa del Sol on Thursday.
In an attempt to evade police cars, a van carrying the three alleged thieves swerved onto the wrong side of a motorway near Torremolinos and collided with a vehicle driven by an off-duty police officer.
The three suspects are believed to have died instantly. Their bodies were removed from the wreckage by firefighters.
The fourth victim, a police officer, was 'extracted from his vehicle by local police officers but later died', Malaga emergency services said.
Identified only as Antonio, the 48-year-old officer was a member of the so-called Gotham Group, a branch of the Spanish police that works secretly at night to combat crime in the tourist hotspot. He had been driving towards his home in Benalmádena after finishing his shift.
Police had been on the lookout for a gang believed to be behind a series of night-time ram raids on pharmacies in the Malaga area.
Just before 5am, an alarm alerted officers to a break-in at a pharmacy in the Puerto de la Torre area of the city.
The intruders deactivated the security shutters before forcing open the front door, but did not manage to open the safe before police raced to the scene.
They escaped along the A7 coastal motorway towards Marbella, with patrol cars in pursuit.
After speeding along the wrong side of the road to throw off the pursuit, they crashed into the off-duty officer's car when they took an exit near Torremolinos's Palacio de Congresos conference centre. The officer's car caught fire on impact.
The National Police Force and the SUP, a Spanish police officers' union, sent their condolences to the family, colleagues and friends of Antonio.
The interior ministry said the government was 'deeply saddened by Antonio's death'.
Malaga's pharmacy association called for improved security to halt a 'crime wave' affecting chemists in the province. Four or five similar break-ins have been reported in the region over the past month.
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