A 50-year-old man, with the appearance of a wealthy tourist from the east and a specialist in sitting at a table in good restaurants to enjoy succulent meals before faking a heart attack to avoid paying, better known as Gastrojeta in the National Police of Alicante, has returned to the cells after a new arrest.
This is the twentieth arrest and subsequent night in cell in just one year for these small scams in places in the tourist area of the Alicante city, the last this Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. after tasting a seafood paella and two whiskeys in the restaurant-tapería El Buen Comer, on Calle Mayor, in the historic center, with an unpaid bill of 34.85 euros. Although at first glance he gives the impression of being “the typical Russian tourist”, in reality he is a Lithuanian citizen who does not speak Spanish (he does seem to understand it) and with no known address, and it is known that he has been in Alicante since, at least, November 2022, when he was first arrested.
El Gastrojeta serves both lunches and dinners and even tapas, and in its history it has orders of rice and lobster or entrecôtes with the common denominator of accompanying them with various whiskeys (always White Label).. Normally, he orders a Russian salad tapa, “which he seems to like quite a bit,” a national police officer who participated in four of the arrests told EFE this Wednesday.
According to this agent from the Response Operational Group (GOR) of the Alicante Centro police station, he is wearing long gray pants, a polo shirt, trekking shoes and a vest from well-known brands.. The manager of the El Buen Comer restaurant, Moisés Doménech, explained to EFE that this man arrived at his business yesterday and that he chose a table inside, where he ordered “seafood paella for one” and a whiskey, “which he drank from a drink”, before ordering another double to accompany the rice.
Without having paid the bill of 34.85 euros, “he was going to leave without paying, but a colleague stopped him and told him that the bill was pending,” to which the Gastrojeta replied without getting upset that he was going to go to the hotel to pick up the money. When they refused to let him leave without paying the bill, the Lithuanian threw himself on the ground very close to the street door and ostensibly pretended to be unwell, but El Buen Comer did not fall into the trap and called the Police..
Shortly after, Gastrojeta asked the officers for an ambulance, but he was quickly recognized by them and, after verifying that he was actually fine, they handcuffed him and took him to the police station, in whose cells he will remain until a quick trial tomorrow.. Doménech has taken several photos of Gastrojeta and has passed them on to other restaurants of the Provincial Hospitality Association (Apeha) so that it does not do its thing again in the near future.
The police officer who has arrested him four times has added that Gastrojeta usually “smiles” when the officers arrive, and that he never blushes or loses his calm, perhaps because “he sees himself unpunished.”. Always with several drinks on him, apparently he doesn't care about spending one or two nights in the cell before going before the judge.. Gastrojeta is scheduled to have a quick trial this Thursday at 10:45 in the city's Investigative Court number 1 for a minor crime of fraud..