A forty-five-year-old man has been arrested by the National Police in Alicante, suspected of stealing twenty-eight fishing nets belonging to three local fishermen. The nets, which are crucial for their livelihood, have a combined value reaching up to twenty-five thousand euros. The suspect allegedly aimed to extract lead from the nets to sell it on the black metal market.

The investigation was initiated after a fisherman reported the theft of twenty-two nets worth five thousand six hundred euros. Additional reports followed, indicating the theft of six more nets, significantly impacting the fishermen’s ability to work for weeks.

Further inquiries by the Judicial Police Unit revealed that the suspect had conducted thirty-nine suspicious lead sales across various metal recycling companies, selling a total of one thousand three hundred and fifty-one kilograms of lead. These activities had started shortly after the first theft report, providing a direct link between the sales and his criminal actions.

Following the arrest, officers recovered seven lead ingots weighing a total of eighty-one point five kilograms that were sold by the suspect just days before his apprehension. The man has been charged with theft and remains in custody pending a court hearing.