The 200km/h car chase against the flow of traffic on the Costa del Sol that left four people dead, including one police officer

The alarm went off in a pharmacy in Puerto de la Torre, Malaga, but the chase that ended with the death of National Police officer Antonio Ramos (48) and three fugitives has a much broader and deeper context than a one-off robbery attempt. The operation was the culmination of a police investigation conncering 13 raids on pharmacy stores and two more on fire stations along the Costa del So.

The chain of events was set in motion at 4.45am on Thursday morning. The spark was an attempted robbery of the Rodulfo pharmacy, located on Avenida Lope de Rueda 171. The alleged robbers managed to manipulate the security system without forcing the lock, but stumbled upon an obstacle when they couldn't smash open the cash register.

As they were trying to flee, a Malaga Local Police patrol appeared on the scene, which was when the chase began, taking the participants to the natural exit of Puerto de la Torre towards the city's motorways.

The police officers called for reinforcements, reporting that they were chasing a Peugeot 5008 car. The vehicle, which was already on the police radar, had been reported stolen a couple of months prior to the incident and had been used in some of the pharmacy robberies. In addition, the suspects had stolen two BMWs (X3 and X5), also used in the raids.

More patrols of the Local Police and the National Police joined the chase. They had been working for weeks on a special operation, coordinated throughout Malaga province, to arrest the members of the gang, who had acted all along the coast: six attacks in Marbella, four in Malaga, two in Torremolinos-Benalmádena and one in Estepona.

The fleeing robbers took the outer ring motorway in the direction of Cadiz with a patrol car hot on their heels. According to SUR sources they drove at 200 kilometres per hour along some stretches of the getaway route. After half an hour of the pursuit, a Local Police unit managed to intercept them and cut them off. The Peugeot 5008 came to a standstill, at least momentarily.

It could have ended there: with three fugitives arrested, an open investigation and a trial, but it didn't. When the police officers got out of the car and approached the suspects to identify them, the driver put the car into reverse gear and made a 180-degree turn to head in the opposite direction and drive against the flow of traffic.

The police officers ran to the patrol car to resume the pursuit. They lost sight of the Peugeot, but drove in the presumed direction. When they reached kilometre point 998 on the AP-7 motorway, they saw smoke. Seconds later, they came across the fatal accident.

The car in which the fugitives were travelling had just collided with another car - a Volvo XC40, inside which was National Police sub-inspector Antonio Ramos. The officer was returning home - he lived in Benalmádena - after finishing his working day at the head of subgroup II of the 'Gotham' night patrol of the force.

The circumstances of the collision are being investigated by the specialised and violent crime unit (UDEV) of the National Police, as it is considered not a traffic accident but the result of deliberate actions on part of the fugitives.

Investigators do not have an official estimate of the speed involved in the collision yet. However, at the scene it was determined that the impact could have occurred at more than 150 kilometres per hour, in view of the state of the vehicles. There were also no visible braking marks on the asphalt, which indicates that officer Ramos potentially did not have the time to react.

Firefighters and several ambulances rushed to the scene to rescue the people trapped in both vehicles. The Volvo XC40 in which the deputy inspector was travelling caught fire as a result of the collision, although the police officer was rescued from the car before it was gutted. The ambulance crews performed CPR, but were ultimately unable to resuscitate him.

The flames also set the Peugeot alight, which was reduced to a twisted heap of metal. The three fugitives, who appear to be of Bulgarian origin based on the documents they had in the car, died instantly. The identities of the three, provisional in the absence of scientific confirmation, have a history of previous offences against property in Spain, according to the sources consulted.

The alleged robbers were apparently wearing overalls, gloves and balaclavas. Investigators found a sledgehammer, a crowbar and a pair of shears inside the Peugeot 5008, all of which were allegedly used in the robberies. According to SUR sources, some of these items may had been stolen from one of the fire stations raided in recent months.