Get you up to speed: Spain arrests machete-wielding robber after bar staff misinterpret hold-up
An English-speaking robber wielding a machete attempted to rob La Barraca de la Abuela in Malaga, but the bar staff mistakenly believed it was a prank. The thief was later arrested after he committed similar offences at other establishments in the Las Lagunas area.
The staff at La Barraca de la Abuela in Malaga initially dismissed a machete-wielding robber as a prank, with one waiter even joking about the weapon. According to a local paper, the thief was later arrested after he attempted another robbery at a nearby establishment.
The robber, who attempted a hold-up at La Barraca de la Abuela in Malaga, was later arrested after engaging in a fight at another location. The bar staff initially did not report the incident, believing it to be a joke, only realising the seriousness of the situation when they learned about other robberies he committed in the Las Lagunas area.
Bar staff laughed in face of machete robber thinking he was ‘prankster neighbour’ | News World

What a helmet: The machete mugger was laughed out of the bar(Picture: SOLARPIX.COM)
This is the hilarious moment bar staff laugh off a machete-wielding robber, believing his attempted raid to be a prank.
One of the waiters even grabs the machete in his hands and jokes with the thief that it was fake after he burst in waving the knife, shouting ‘give me the money now’.
Believing the thief diguised in a helmet to be a regular customer, the workers at La Barraca de la Abuela in Malaga were relaxed and broke into laughter, ignoring the would-be criminal’s demands.
CCTV shows the moment he pulls out a gun, bangs on the counter, and demands they take him seriously.
But staff fail to grasp the gravity of the situation and reply through tears of laughter: ‘The money now? Should we call the police?’
One waiter even inspected the blade and mocked the marauder telling him through a smile that it was clearly ‘nicked’.
According to Spanish paper SUR, even after he held the blade up to someone’s neck they didn’t think they were in danger and were convinced that the thief was part of the joke.
It was only after the thief left confused and empty-handed that they realised the robbery was real and he had struck many other bars in the Las Lagunas area of the party city.
Another worker at the bar said in a social media post: ‘Apparently he has held up other places.
‘When he came to the bar the customer and my colleague thought it was a joke and they laughed at him not knowing he was really intending to rob them.
‘This man has now been arrested because he went to another place and had a fight and they detained him.’
He went on to tell a local paper: ‘We didn’t report it to the police initially because we didn’t think it was a genuine hold-up.
‘Hours later though we discovered it wasn’t a joke when we found out about another similar robbery at a nearby hamburger joint where he did make off with money.’
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