Alex Trelinski
AN elderly Madrid pensioner could be fined up to €600 for illegally travelling to her Costa Blanca holiday home after a neighbour alerted the police.
The Valencian Community closed its border in late October to stop people getting in from other parts of the country to potentially spreading the coronavirus.
The 78-year-old woman flouted the rule by deciding that she would like to spend the Easter holiday at her Alicante area apartment at San Juan beach.
A neighbour spotted her in her holiday home yesterday(March 25) and called the police.
Officers from the Alicante Policia Local paid her a visit to tell her that she was going to be sanctioned with a fine.
During last year’s Easter period, which coincided with the first State of Alarm, extra police patrols were put in at Costa Blanca municipality borders to stop visitors from Madrid and areas of Spain like Catalunya trying to get in.
Easter is traditionally popular with ‘Madrileños’ travelling to the region and there were a number of arrests involving people trying to sneak in via minor routes and under the cover of dark.
Alicante’s Security Councillor, Jose Ramon Gonzalez, said: “There will be a very strong police presence to protect the area against new infections and to stop a possible fourth wave of the pandemic.”
He emphasised that an emphasis would be placed on people arriving who have broken border closure rules as well as illegal gatherings.
