British couple arrested after stealing four-star hotel room in Magaluf | world news

A British couple who trashed their four-star hotel room in Magaluf have been arrested as they tried to flee to the UK.

Londoners Aishah Tasnim, 28, and Yahya Habibullah Wahid, 27, fled the Innside by Melia Calvia Beach after “deliberately” causing thousands of kilos of damage to their room before leaving.

A hotel worker went to check on the couple’s room after management received reports of loud noises. They were greeted by one of the guests, who opened the door and said everything was fine.

But after the holidaymakers left, staff returned to the room to find two broken TVs, a broken shower door and several damaged mugs, with glass and bedding strewn all over the floor.

The pair were detained at Palma de Mallorca airport ahead of their flights back to Britain after police were alerted and detained for almost 48 hours before being taken to court for a speedy trial.

On Saturday, the pair pleaded guilty to criminal damage after agreeing to a plea deal with prosecutors.

They were told to compensate the hotel for the damage they had caused £875 and accepted a fine of around £300 each.

It was not immediately clear this morning why the two Britons caused the damage, although as part of their plea deal they agreed it was “deliberate” and not by accident.

Prosecutors had said they wanted a higher fine before the matter was settled in Palma court.

The arrests took place on Friday afternoon but were not made public until after the court hearing and the pair had spent a night in police custody. It is not yet clear whether they have already handed over the money they owe or are paying in installments.

In early August, nine Dutch tourists aged between 18 and 20 were arrested after they ransacked a hotel in S’Arenal, at the eastern end of Palma de Mallorca’s beach, to the tune of nearly £1,800. .

The group is said to have punched a large hole in a wall between two rooms at the three-star MLL Palma Bay Club Resort before leaving the hotel without officially leaving.

They were arrested at Mallorca airport when they were trying to fly home and taken to court. A judge confiscated their passports and told them they would only get them back once they paid for the damage they were accused of causing.

Locals in Palma have already staged two major demonstrations against mass tourism this year to protest the problems they say are caused by too many holidaymakers, including a lack of affordable housing due to the number of Airbnb-style rentals and the traffic chaos.

Tourists behaving badly have also been highlighted as another problem.

Thousands of people attended the events in Palma, one of several mass anti-tourism protests that have taken place across Spain this year in places such as the Balearic Islands, the Costa Blanca and the Canary Islands.

Protesters were heard chanting ‘The tourists are coming home’ as they passed through a central square in Palma during the first protests on 25 May.

A second major protest in Palma on July 21 was peaceful, although some protesters used Spain’s Euro final victory to mock English tourists and others called British tourists “drunk”.

Banners carried as they took to the streets of the island’s capital included one that said in a play on words over a picture of Kyle Walker: “The only one coming home is you” followed by the 2-1 score printed between Flags of England and Spain.

Another of the banners carried by the demonstrators read in English, despite pleas from regional government spokesman Antoni Costa to locals to show “respect” to foreign visitors before the march: “Get your drunks back, get our houses back “.

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