The boss of a building firm, crippled by the current crisis in the construction sector in Spain, turned bank robber in a desperate bid to pay his debts, police said Sunday. The 52-year-old man, whose company is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, was arrested by police as he was getting ready to carry out his fifth bank raid, police said.
Between September 5 and January 23, the man raided four banks in the Catalonia region of north-east Spain, pocketing 80,000 euros (100,000 dollars).
Investigators said he always acted alone and made "meticulous preparations", which had helped throw police off his track.
The entrepreneur told police he had turned to crime because of the precarious position of his company and to pay his debts, as finance had dried up and he was no longer being paid by his customers.