A masked robber armed with a pistol, suspected of carrying out a number of raids on petrol stations in the Algarve, has been arrested by police.
The 33-year-old villain was caught after he terrified a woman employee at the Cepsa filling station in Fonte Santa, Quarteira, and stole €250 from the cash till.
The employee was seized by her hair and forced to her knees to avoid the possibility of anybody outside witnessing the crime, and the man threatened to kill her if she looked at him. He fled on foot but was quickly tracked down by police and was found to be in possession of a 6.35 mm. pistol.
The detained man is suspected of two other similar assaults on a Galp station in Olhão and a Repsol station between S.Brás de Alportel and Faro.
His girlfriend, who was an accomplice to the crimes and helped by driving him in a car to the locations of the robberies and then to escape, has been identified.
