Suspect coughs in face of officer claiming to be Covid-19 positive during arrest in Spain's Murcia

A ‘PROLIFIC’ criminal who was arrested for throwing a manhole cover at two properties in Murcia, causing damage, coughed in the face of an arresting police officer and told him he had coronavirus.

According to sources, the 47-year-old detainee, identified as P.A.M., has been arrested 70 times since 1970, mainly for robberies.
The incident unravelled when residents in the Santa Maria neighbourhood reported a man throwing a drain cover at a bar in the area, breaking open the door. Officers entered the property but the suspect had left.
A little later a second call from nieghbours in San Basilio claimed a man had hurled a manhole lid at a physiotherapy clinic.
And shortly afterwards, a similar report was made in Calle Cerdan, and on this occasion officers managed to catch the alleged perpertrator as he tried to escape on a bicycle.
It was at San Andres police station where the suspect is said to have coughed in the face of an officer, claming he was Covid-19 positive.
An on-call court ordered his release, though the investigation in criminal damage is ongoing.
Elsewhere in Murcia, residents played their part in helping to arrest three suspected car thieves they witnessed breaking into vehicles on Monday.
They alerted the National Police who found the three Algerian suspects hiding in a car park in Calle Ovalo, and arrested them.