Police in southeastern Spain have arrested two youths accused of stealing a figurine depicting the baby Jesus from a local manger and demanding a ransom for its return in videos they posted on Tik Tok, authorities said today.

The two young men, of age 19 and 21 years oldposted a video calling themselves “the kidnappers” and demanding a high ransom 2000 euros by the police in San Vicente del Raspaig, a suburb of Alicante, while accusing the authorities of “they did not take good care of the baby Jesus».

The video also shows a man, whose features have been altered after technical processing, appearing and picking up the statuette from the ground, then placing it in the trunk of a car.

@paco3386 Máxima difusión por favor, no solo ha sido ese, también han robado el que había puesto también en la calle Villafranqueza 17 donde está el mercadillo de Navidad, ojalá os pillen y veréis como ya no os vais a rír tanto. #navidad #Alicante #sanvicentedelraspeig #niñojesus ♬ sonido original – paco1986garcia

The municipal authority said in a statement that the two men admitted their involvement in the theft, while they had been taken to the police station.

After this video went viral, the statuette reappeared last night next to a rubbish binon a street near the manger, according to the city’s mayor Pahi Pascual.

He was put back in his crib this morning.

The Spanish government’s spokesman in Alicante, Carlos Sanchez, said the incident was “very unfortunate because it was not funny at all”.