Brit teacher pistol-whipped & wife hospitalised after armed gang raid Spanish home having confused them for drug dealers

A BRITISH expat and his Irish wife suffered a terrifying attack in their Costa Blanca home perpetrated by masked intruders who confused them with drug dealers.

They needed hospital treatment for injuries they suffered when the armed gang broke into their property in the middle of the night and assaulted them.

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The incident occurred in Alicante[/caption]

It was in the mistaken belief they were hiding large amounts of cannabis resin the criminals planned to steal.

The unnamed Brit, a school teacher, was left with a serious head wound which required 18 stitches after being pistol-whipped during the nightmare incident. His partner also needed stitches.

The drama occurred on a residential estate called Torre Zenia in Lomas de Cabo Roig, part of the Orihuela Costa area south of Alicante which is a popular expat and holiday destination.

The drama occurred on a residential estate called Torre Zenia in Lomas de Cabo Roig, part of the Orihuela Costa area south of Alicante which is a popular expat and holiday destination.

The intruders, said to have spoken with Eastern European accents, are thought to have mistaken the home they targeted with another property the couple are understood to own nearby which has been taken over by squatters.

The couple who were attacked, and asked not to be named “for fear or reprisals”, recounted their horror experience to a local Spanish paper as part of a call to police to increase their presence in the area.

They told Diario Informacion how they were woken up around 4am by the sound of their dogs barking and attacked after going to investigate the noise and seeing four intruders with pistols, Balaclavas and gloves climbing over a wall into their back garden or already on their property.

The British man told how one of the gang hit him over the head with the butt of his gun before ordering him to the ground where he was left covered in blood from the wound he sustained.

His wife was assaulted, also suffering a head injury, when she followed him out into the garden.

The intruders marched them back into their living room and sat them down on their sofa while they ransacked the property.

The expat couple began to suspect they were the victims of a case of mistaken identity when the men began to ask about the ‘Poles’ and cannabis resin.

They were forced out into the street at gunpoint and made to point out another property nearby Diario Informacion said they own which squatters have taken over when they alluded to that house and suggested the intruders might have picked the wrong place.

The men subsequently raided that property, with the couple calculating eight men in total participated including people they spotted in getaway vehicles.

Police have not yet made any official comment on the incident, said to have happened around a month ago.

It was not immediately clear this morning if any arrests have been made.

The drama the couple were caught up in is known as a ‘vuelco’ in Spanish – when drug dealers steal from others.