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Fake priest wanted to ‘save Spain’: Lawyer

A man who disguised himself as a priest to break into the home of the Spanish government's disgraced former treasurer was suffering from delusions and saw himself as 'Spain's saviour', a Madrid court heard on Thursday.

Fake priest wanted to 'save Spain': Lawyer
Olivares' lawyer said his client believed himself to be a 'modern-day Robin Hood'. Photo: Fátima Flores

Enrique Olivares broke into the house of Luis Bárcenas, the former treasurer of Spain's ruling Popular Party (PP) in October 2013.

Armed with an antique revolver and posing as a prison chaplain, he took the family of the imprisoned former treasurer of Spain's ruling Popular Party hostage for over an hour.

During the siege, he pulled out the weapon and demanded family members hand over "a pen drive to oust the government".       

Those demands came in the midst of a very high profile and long-running corruption case involving Bárcenas.

The former top official claims to have operated a secret slush fund for Spain's ruling PP before the party came into office in 2011 — allegations repeatedly refuted by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Questions also remain over whether the PP wiped hard drives at their party headquarters in Madrid to hide evidence of the so-called "second set of books". 

Bárcenas himself is appearing in court on Thursday to answer questions about the matter, after a High Court judge recently ruled there was sufficient evidence of the existence of the slush fund.  

In the case of Olivares, prosecutors are now seeking an 18-year-old jail term for the man who took Barcanas' wife and grown-up children hostage.

On Wednesday, the defendant interrupted court proceedings saying voices in "my head won't lave me in peace", a claim which experts dismissing, saying he was merely pretending. 

But the lawyer representing the false priest said the priest believed himself to be "a modern-day Robin Hood" and was indeed mentally disturbed.

While Olivares did not have a "psychotic personality" he did have a "different way of seeing and feeling things from most people", the legal representative added.

"He feels threatened by the current social reality and doesn't see it as just. He thinks that people aren't happy with the situation, but aren't doing anything.

"That's why he set himself up as a saviour," the lawyer explained.

The lawyer claims his client cannot be charged as a result.

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COUNTERFEIT

Chinese police crack down on fake Lego ring

Chinese police have dismantled a ring accused of manufacturing some $30 million worth of counterfeit Lego sold across the country, authorities said.

Chinese police crack down on fake Lego ring
A Star Wnrs set made by Lepin. Photo: Fred Dufour/AFP
Police earlier this week raided the premises of Lepin — a Chinese toymaker manufacturing Lego knockoffs in the southern city of Shenzhen — arresting four people, Shanghai police said on Friday.
 
“In October 2018, the Shanghai police found that Lepin building blocks available on the market were extremely similar to that of Lego,” the statement said.
   
The toys were copied from Lego blueprints and sent to a factory in Shenzhen to be manufactured before they were sold all over China.
 
“Across more than 10 assembly lines, over 90 moulds had been produced… (police seized) some 630,000 completed pieces worth more than 200 million yuan ($30 million),” the statement said. 
   
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Images from the Tuesday raid — posted on official law enforcement social media accounts — showed moulds and boxes that looked remarkably similar to lines produced by the Danish toy giant. 
   
A Star Wars knock-off is called “Star Plan”, while sets released in conjunction with the new “Lego Movie 2” have also been copied and sold under the name “The Lepin Bricks 2”. 
   
The counterfeit products could be a safety concern for consumers, said Lego's China and Asia Pacific vice president Robin Smith, the official Xinhua news agency reported. 
   
Foreign companies have long complained about lax intellectual property enforcement in China where counterfeiting is rampant.
 
In an attempt to end its trade war with Washington, Beijing has pledged to clamp down on intellectual property infringements.
 
The knockoffs are popular in a price-conscious market: a small city-themed Lepin set retails for $3 a box, whereas similar Lego sets start at $15.  
   
A check by AFP showed that the imitation sets were still available on e-commerce platform Taobao on Saturday afternoon. 
   
The Danish toy giant in February opened its first flagship store in Beijing — which features replicas of the Forbidden City made of plastic bricks — and has two other shops in Shanghai. 
   
Lego has in recent years seen a renewed popularity thanks to premium collectors' editions and a movie tie-up. 
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