A man suspected of robbing a Barcelona restaurant was caught after attempting the robbery in front of a group of off-duty British police officers at a stag party, an officer said.
Metropolitan Police Sergeant Eren Emin, 30, said he was in the Spanish city with four other police officers when a man jumped over the restaurant counter and began grabbing electrical items on Monday.
Sergeant Emin told how they chased the man about 50 meters down the road before recovering everything that had allegedly been stolen.
They then took the man back to the restaurant, where they waited until Spanish police arrived.
Sergeant Emin posted on stopped nearby.
“The police arrived, statements were taken and the man was detained. Now I’m going back to my vacation.”
Sergeant Emin, who works in Enfield, London, said “policing is more instinct than anything else” and he has to “do the right thing” even when on holiday.
She added: “We were in a restaurant on the main road, waiting for the food to arrive, and he went to the bar area where the counters are and then he jumped on the counter and that’s when he caught our attention.
“He started ransacking the tills and taking electrical items like iPads and iPhones, anything else that was there, before turning around and then running out of the restaurant and we instantly got up and chased after him.”
Read more from Sky News:
Five immigrants die trying to cross the English Channel
Increase in breakdowns due to potholes
Parliamentary investigator accused of spying for China
Metropolitan Police Sergeant Eren Emin. Photo: PA
Sergeant Emin said that once the man started running he had no chance to think: “I’m not a police officer and I’m not in the UK”, adding that it was a matter of “just getting him stopped”.
He added that once the police arrived, they were informed that they were officers in the UK, adding: “Then everyone high-fived.”
Sergeant Emin said restaurant staff were “really surprised because they didn’t expect their entire table of customers to get up, look for this guy and get all their products back.”
He added: “I’m quite known within my organization for arresting people off duty; here in the UK, wherever I go I always end up attracting or encountering crime, which is really strange, so for me, it’s just one more day”. “.