Highway robbers have been targeting cars with foreign plates between the French border and Barcelona, using air guns to shoot out tires, then robbing victims when they get out to inspect the damage. In one instance the bandits followed the victims’ car for 50 miles, occasionally passing, then falling behind, before striking. Reported victims have been from England, the Netherlands and Belgium. Authorities emphasize that millions of visitors enjoy crime-free holidays in Spain (16 million from Britain alone) but at the same time police have been running an undercover operation against a gang of thieves on Spanish highways in the area. Robberies have also occurred at service stations and rest areas. In other transit news, the army will continue indefinitely to guard the high-speed AVE train line between Cordoba and Madrid, with some 600 soldiers patrolling the tracks.
