The people of Polop were "very surprised" to see a neighbour of theirs, the owner of the only shoe shop in the town, arrested in connection with the murder of the town's mayor, Alejandro Ponsoda, in October 2007.

The local man is the second person to be arrested recently in connection with the crime.  A 34 year-old man was arrested in Albatera on November 3rd.

The second suspect was arrested yesterday afternoon shortly after he left a bar in the town after "having a coffee" and locals have expressed their surprise, saying he is "ordinary" and "well known", having lived in the town for several decades.

So far there has been no further information released regarding his connection to the crime, but Guardia Civil officers spent over two hours searching his home and his garage today, and neighbours saw him being driven away by police afterwards.

The mayor of Polop, Juan Cano, told the press that he had had no "official" confirmation from the police of the identity of the person they had were questioning and stressed that he had no other interest other than allowing the police to do their jobs and solve the crime once and for all.

Ponsoda died on October 27th 2007 in hospital in Alicante, eight days after being shot when he stopped his car in front of his garage door in Xirles, Polop.  Initial investigations suggested that one of more people shot the mayor several times. 

Specialist police investigators have been following "a number of lines of enquiry" since then, one of which is looking into his public work as mayor.