A man who attempted to kidnap a little child from an Ibiza beach has been detained by police.
Twice, the Moroccan national attempted to seize her, kissing her on the cheek while doing so.
A police officer who wasn’t on duty grabbed the man after hearing the mother of the two-year-old girl yell.
The drama’s location on the beach has not yet been identified, nor have the mother and her young daughter’s nationalities been made public.
He put up resistance before his arrest, last Wednesday, police said.
A spokesman for the National Police in the Balearic Islands said: ‘Officers have arrested a Moroccan man as the suspected author of a crime of unlawful detention, sexual assault, resisting arrest and disobedience, after he tried to take a two-year-old girl on a beach in Ibiza who he kissed on the face.
He added: ‘The man, without apparent motive, grabbed hold of the girl and started kissing her on the cheek and stopping her from escaping.
‘At that moment the girl’s mum grabbed hold of her daughter and freed her from the man’s grip.
‘She went to another spot on the beach which was a fair distance from where they had been sitting and the man came up to them and grabbed hold of the girl again and went into the sea with her.
‘The youngster’s mum started yelling because the man was ignoring her and wouldn’t let go of her daughter.
‘At that point an off-duty police officer who was on the beach and heard the mum’s screams came to help and managed to reunite the mum with her daughter.
‘He ordered the man to move away several times but the man adopted a violent attitude and threw himself on the off-duty police officer who had to reduce him and retain him until more police help arrived.
‘The suspect was arrested for alleged unlawful detention of a minor as well as for crimes of sexual assault, resistance and disobedience.’
It was not immediately clear today if he has already appeared before a judge and been bailed or remanded in custody.