AN Italian man has been arrested in Alicante after selling his ex-mother-in-law’s car and then lying it had been stolen.
The man, 44, gained a tidy €6,000 from the sale of the Fiat 500 his ex-mother-in-law had allowed him to drive.
But the plot was foiled when the men reported the car as stolen to police, who after a brief investigation discovered the Italian vehicle’s licence plate had been switched for a Spanish one.
Police then recovered documents pertaining to the sale of the car, where the arrested man’s name appeared as the seller.
The man reportedly used a friend’s services to process the change of owner on the car’s paperwork, for which he had to photocopy his mother-in-law’s ID documentation.
The man, who lied to police he had left the car on a street in Alicante before going on holiday, has been released pending court proceedings.
The car was seized by police officers while the court case is resolved.