A refuse lorry driver working on Mijas’s municipal collection service was arrested after hotel staff in La Cala de Mijas reported seeing a man smash a car window with a stone and leave in a council waste vehicle, according to details published by SUR in English.
Guardia Civil officers sent to the scene found two cars with shattered side windows. Hotel security footage supported the witness account, and officers contacted FCC, the company contracted to provide refuse collection for Mijas town hall, to arrange a stop on the driver’s route.
When officers searched the lorry’s cab, they found three V-16 emergency warning beacons, tools and several stones beneath the floor mats. The stones were reported to match those used in the break-ins. FCC told officers the tools were not part of the vehicle’s standard equipment, despite the driver’s claim that they belonged to the lorry.
The driver reportedly told officers he had just been involved in an altercation with a group of foreign nationals. The search of the cab did not support that explanation, SUR reported. The supplied report does not identify the vehicles’ owners or say whether any items were recovered from the damaged cars.
The arrest also came to light during a morning check by the town hall’s cleaning department, which found that the lorry’s night-time route had not been completed. GPS data showed the vehicle had stopped, and a replacement worker was sent to take over the route.
FCC said the arrested driver was a temporary employee who had been contracted for a few months and that it would take formal disciplinary action. The report does not specify what that action will involve.
The Guardia Civil is comparing recent vehicle break-in reports in Mijas with the suspect’s assigned shifts and the lorry’s GPS routes. That review may help investigators establish whether further incidents are connected; no additional cases are confirmed in the supplied material.