Badly burnt body was found in a waste pipe in La Cala de Mijas possible links to unsolved disappearance

autopsy is to take place on a badly burnt body which was found in a waste pipe in La Cala de Mijas this Sunday.
The discovery was made by a passerby in the area of La Rosa on Sunday morning, a short distance away from La Cala’s football ground, Málaga Hoy newspaper reports.It’s understood the autopsy could take some days to complete, as only parts of the cranium and body had survived the blaze, which it’s believed may have been set only the night before. An initial examination was unable to determine either the sex or the age of the victim.

The newspaper notes the body was found close to the area where the British man, Tony King, killed the Mijas youngster, Rocío Wanninkof, in October 1999. He’s now serving 19 years in prison for her murder.

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Authorities are trying to identify a badly decomposed body which was found floating in waters off Estepona

Authorities are trying to identify a badly decomposed body which was found floating in waters off Estepona on Thursday morning. The discovery was made by a crew member of a passing yacht and the Coastguard were immediately informed.In Alhaurín de la Torre, the woman who was found dead in a parking area used by hire cars on Tuesday met a violent death, according to sources in the investigation quoted by the newspaper, La Opinión de Málaga. There is little detail on the case as it is governed by a secrecy order, but it is known that the autopsy was held on Wednesday and that the woman, said to be in her 30s, died some time ago. Her body was also badly decomposed.No information has been released on her identity, but she is believed to be a woman reported missing some three weeks ago who was renting a nearby house. She was found face down, with her body partially covered by plastic sheeting.

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Marbella arrests

“The international nature of this operation outlines the fact that criminal groups causing harm in our communities have links in many countries.” Four people were arrested after cash, drugs and imitation guns were seized in police raids across England. Two 37-year-olds were arrested at an address in Missenden Road in Amersham. And a 36-year-old man was arrested at a property in Carrington Road in High Wycombe, with a 44-year-old being cautioned and released for possessing cocaine at a house in Highfield Avenue in the town.
A property in Dukes Valley, Gerrards Cross, was also searched.
Raids were also carried in Middlesex, which saw three arrests made, Amsterdam, where two people were arrested in the same operation, in Marbella. The warrants were carried out following a lengthy investigation from Thames Valley Police's Organised Crime Group, with the assistance of officers in Holland and Spain.
All the people arrested have been released on bail until various dates in late May and early June. Det Supt David Poole, head of Specialist Operations, said: “This successful operation was complex, but completed with the help of more than 100 officers from a variety of organisations. “I hope the action we have taken reassures people that we do act on intelligence and use the information given to us by the public to arrest and disrupt criminal gangs.

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Two Britons and a German have been arrested by the police in Mallorca and charged with negligent homicide

Two Britons and a German have been arrested by the police in Mallorca and charged with negligent homicide after a 32 year old British man died following a fight last Saturday night in the Puerto de Alcúdia in Mallorca.The Britons have been named as 23 year old Matthew James F. and 27 year old Graham Loye W.The German is 23 year old Benjamin J.The three of them were involved in the fight with the fourth man, the 32 year old Briton, as yet un-named in reports, who was helped by the police at the time but who told them he was fine and wanted to go home. Hours later he was found in his own vomit and taken to the Son Dureta Hospital where he later died.All three arrested are residents in the Puerto de Alcúdia. The investigation remains open as the results of the autopsy are awaited.

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British man arrested on the Costa del Sol

Details have emerged on the violent burglary gang arrested on the Costa del Sol in the Civil Guard operation ‘Ronin.’ Their nationalities have been given as 7 Spaniards, 2 Moroccans and one each from Belgium, Colombia, Argentina and Britain.The leader of the gang is Spanish.According to information from Diario Sur, officers in Operation Ronin carried out 17 property searches as part of their investigations: in Málaga city itself, and, in the province, in Fuengirola, Mijas and Marbella, as well as in Melilla.
The group is said to have operated in Fuengirola and Mijas, targeting fast food restaurants and private homes.

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Marta’s family were in Madrid this weekend, collecting signatures in support of ‘cadena perpetua’ – life imprisonment

Monday was the team’s 15th day at the site, with the search centred on the area where newspapers found show it to be the spot where refuse was deposited after collection on the night Marta’s body was allegedly dumped.Marta’s family were meanwhile in Madrid this weekend, collecting signatures in support of ‘cadena perpetua’ – life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. They now have 100,000 signatures asking for a referendum on the matter.
It’s now been two weeks since the search began in Sevilla’s main rubbish tip in Alcalá de Guadaíra for the body of 17 year old Marta del Castillo, after the main suspect for her murder, her ex boyfriend Miguel Carcaño., admitted to dumping her body in a rubbish container in Sevilla City. He had originally said he had thrown the body into the Guadalquivir River.The search at the tip has only stopped in the past fortnight to allow the team to rest on Sundays.

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Granada executions of two South Americans

Police in Granada are investigating the death of two men, whose bodies were found by a passerby on the right-hand bank of the río Genil on Thursday morning. They were lying in a ditch on the Camino de Perchil. Both were tied up and both had been shot in the head.
The men are believed to be from South America, in their thirties, but it’s understood that they have yet to be identified as neither of the two were carrying any documentation.

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17 year old girl has died after being shot twice with a shotgun in the bedroom of her villa in Alfaz del Pi in Alicante

17 year old girl has died after being shot twice with a shotgun in the bedroom of her villa in Alfaz del Pi in Alicante.It happened in Saturday morning between 9am, when her mother went to open her local business, and 12 noon when the body of the victim was found by the cleaning lady at the house at 10, Camí de Coves. She called the girl’s mother who rushed home only to find the body of her shot daughter.It appears she was shot with her father’s shotgun which was kept in the house.As yet there have been no arrests in the case, as it is hoped the autopsy will bring some new evidence. It appears the shotgun is now missing and no motive has been ruled out as investigations continue. Both the victim’s parents have given statements to the Guardia Civil.The family is well known in Alfaz, given that they run the central ‘Avenida’ bar in Avenida País Valenciano.

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Arrest of 13 members of a gang which specialised in violent burglaries on the Costa del Sol.

The Spanish Interior Ministry says more than 30 crimes, most of them involving violence, have been solved with the arrest of 13 members of a gang which specialised in violent burglaries on the Costa del Sol. Dubbed ‘Operación Ronin’, it’s been described by the government representative for Málaga province, Hilario López Luna, as a ‘brilliant’ operation.Their set-up was highly organised with a hierarchical structure down from the leader to the chief of operations, with others responsible for logistical support and then those who carried out the assaults. The leader maintained a tight rein on the network and only handed out weapons before each assault, to be returned after the crime was committed.The weapons seized include a Kalashnikov-type submachine gun complete with silencer, two hunting rifles, seven side arms and two machetes.
Also seized were 5,000 € in cash and other items needed for carrying out the assaults: clothing including gloves and balaclavas, rope and defence sprays.The investigation began in January and is instructed by Court No. 1 in Fuengirola.

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Spanish police busted five people over heroin trafficking, including three Bulgarians.

Spanish police busted five people over heroin trafficking, including three Bulgarians.The confiscated 31 kilos of heroin are the largest quantity caught in the last years, the Spanish police informs.The drugs have been smuggled to Spain by the Bulgarians and have been destined to a Turkish national said to live in Valencia and have close ties to a Turkish mafia dealing with heroin trafficking.The heroin has been found hidden in an expensive automobile with Bulgarian license plates. The illegal drug was placed in one of the car's doors and underneath the back seat.
The other two alleged criminals were a Turkish national and a Spaniard.

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Mans body who died some eight years ago have been found in the Sierra Nevada

Mans body who died some eight years ago have been found in the Sierra Nevada.The body was found on Thursday in an area of difficult access on the mountain range, and now the Guardia Civil have asked for the help of the public in identifying him. They say at the time of his death he would have been about 60 years old, was slim, and about 160cms tall. They have published photos of the man’s trousers, in which some pesetas and Portuguese escudos were found.

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Miguel Carcaño, has tried to take his own life in the jail at Morón de la Frontera.

Miguel Carcaño, has tried to take his own life in the jail at Morón de la Frontera.He tried to hang himself using a cord from a track suit, but was stopped for carrying out his wish by other prisoners.He had left a letter in his cell, addressed to his lawyer, in which he insists that Marta’s body was thrown into the rubbish bins.Antonio del Castillo, Marta’s father has asked ‘If he is so scared he is protecting someone and would rather end his life than reveal who it is’.‘All I want to know is where my daughter is, and I don’t care what happens afterwards’.Miguel was not injured in his suicide attempt and prison authorities have made it clear that the cord he used was from another prisoners track suit and not his own which had been removed for his own protection.

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Spanish police have arrested more than 50 people, most of them Britons, suspected of involvement in a network that falsified identity documents

Spanish police have arrested more than 50 people, most of them Britons, suspected of involvement in a network that falsified identity documents for clients around the world.They have also identified around 100 British citizens living in Spain whom they suspect of using the fake documents to obtain bank credit, mostly mortgages of between 200,000 and 1.5 million euros.The gang's operations may have defrauded some 25 financial institutions in Spain of around 60 million euros (80 million dollars), police said in a statement.Spanish authorities have also provided information to the international police agency Europol on more than 1,000 people in 26 countries in the five continents suspected of obtaining fake documents from the gang.Police in the eastern Mediterranean resort city of Alicante opened an investigation in early 2007 after spotting websites that offered fake driving licences, residence permits, birth certificates, academic qualifications and other official documents, the statement said.
In May 2007 they arrested two men and a woman, all Britons, in the Alicante region and seized equipment for producing fake documents, guns and ammunition in raids on two properties.Since mid-2008, 50 people, most of them British, have been arrested in various regions of Spain, and the operation is continuing."It was a perfectly structured organisation, capable of successfully producing all types of fake documents, including a vast range of clients and able to set up a full network of collaborators, which meant a high volume of fake documents were generated - more than 1,000 documents in three months," the statement said.The websites were administered in the United States but had virtual offices in the British colony of Gibraltar, off Spain's southern tip.Two of the Britons arrested, identified only by their initials AK and DM, were located last November through appeals from the British charity Crimestoppers and Britain's Serious and Organised Crime Agency.The investigation also led to the identification of a British man who was wanted for a murder in the southern city of Malaga, and who police believe may have fled to Britain using fake documents supplied by the gang.investigation has also led to the identification of another British resident, wanted in connection with a homicide carried out some years ago in Málaga. Spanish police say this man has now returned to the U.K. using a fake identity created by the group now detained.The Guardia Civil has described the group as perfectly organised, with the ability of obtaining all types of fake documents, and with a wide network of clients and collaborators.
They are thought to have generated more than 1,000 false documents over a three month period.

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James “Pancake” Taylor 29-year-old was released only because British police promised to return him if he was needed by the Spanish courts.

James “Pancake” Taylor 29-year-old was released only because British police promised to return him if he was needed by the Spanish courts.Taylor was arrested in the popular ex-pat playground of Marbella last year.He was allowed back to Merseyside under an international legal process known as ‘provisional liberty’.This occurs when an arresting authority informs officials in the accused’s home country what has happened. The accused is then sent home but only if the home country's police agree to take responsibility for returning him if required.Taylor, who was named as a leading member of Liverpool's underworld at a hearing before city licensing magistrates in 2005, was arrested on September 24 last year.It is believed Spanish police were at the time investigating a violent drugs war.They arrested Taylor over the shooting of a British man who was attacked following a nightclub brawl last AugustA group of British men - including several from Merseyside - and men of Middle Eastern descent had started a fight in the Nikki Beach bar in Las Chapas, Marbella, in the early hours of August 23.Two Iranians were arrested initially and gave statements to the Udyco arm of the police – which combats organised crime – before Taylor was arrested.He was held for more than three weeks before being released on provisional liberty. He did not have to pay any money for bail.The Spanish authorities list his case as ‘pending’.

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Boris Slavov, was sentenced in Spain to 7 years behind bars over the attempted murder of his girlfriend.

Boris Slavov, was sentenced in Spain to 7 years behind bars over the attempted murder of his girlfriend.The information was reported in the Spanish "La Provincia" electronic media.The tragic incident occurred on September 15 2007, in the southern side of Spain's Gran Canary island. Boris and his girlfriend Sibyl had an argument in her apartment. The man grabbed a knife with a 10-cm-long blade and stabbed the victim in the chest and the stomach. He then refused to offer any help and despite her pleas remained inside the house for 6 hours, waiting for Sibyl to die from blood loss. He told her he would kill himself with the same knife.Only after the victim revealed she had EUR 1,000 in her closet and asked Boris to take the money and use them to find help, the perpetrator left the house with the stash. Instead of seeking help, he went to airport, trying to flee the island. In the mean time Sibyl managed to find help herself. Boris was arrested by the authorities at the Gran Canary airport.The incident's cause is listed as alcohol overdose. According to the magistrates, the amount of alcohol, consumed by Boris Slavov was the extenuating circumstance, leading to the lighter sentence. The Las Palmas Court judged that the man committed the crime under the influence of alcohol and should receive only 7 years behind bars.

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unnamed British man in his mid thirties has died after falling from the balcony of a hotel when he was trying to flee from the Guardia Civil.

unnamed British man in his mid thirties has died after falling from the balcony of a hotel when he was trying to flee from the Guardia Civil.The man died around 5am on Friday morning after falling from the first floor of the hotel in Guardamar, Alicante, and suffered severe head injuries. It’s thought he was trying to escape after the Guardia Civil were called because of his allegedly drunken and rowdy behaviour which had been disturbing other hotel guests.He was taken by helicopter to hospital but died shortly after.Información newspaper reports that the two British people in the room refused to open the door to the Guardia Civil when they arrived, and when the Guardia managed to gain access one of the men tried to escape over the balcony which was only three metres high.An autopsy has been carried out and the friend of the deceased has been arrested.

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Guardia Civil, named as Santiago A.N., who shot dead an immigrant who had arrived on a patera small boat in Tarifa in December 2000, been sentenced

Guardia Civil, named as Santiago A.N., who shot dead an immigrant who had arrived on a patera small boat in Tarifa in December 2000, has been sentenced to six months in jail for involuntary manslaughter.In a long sentence the court in Algeciras leaves several questions open in the case. The official version from the Government Sub-delegate in Cádiz was that the gun went off accidentally during a struggle, but the evidence accepted in the sentence considers there was no struggle and the shot was not accidental. Another immigrant witness said the Civil Guard approached the victim with his finger on the trigger of his gun, and with the safety catch off.
The court ruled the action of the Civil Guard was disproportionate to what he should have done to protect the immigrant, and that it not justified either because there was no evidence either that his own life was in any danger.The Guardia has also been ordered to pay 300,000 € in compensation to the victim’s family, and has also been ordered to pay the costs of the case.

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30 million € fraud pirate television system run in Orihuela by a group of British residents

Seven Britons, four men and three women, were arrested in Los Montesinos and Orihuela. The men have been named as 49 year old D.J.H., 22 year old M.A.H, 25 year old J.J.H., and 43 year old R.J.B., while the women are named as 40 year old A.L.S. 49 year old L.J.H. and 24 year old J.K.C. Guardia Civil operation, code-named Odyssea, and broken up last week, against a pirate television system run in Orihuela by a group of British residents, is now estimated to have defrauded 30 million €.
They captured satellite television signals from the U.K. and then distributing them to some 7,0000 mostly British clients along the coasts of Alicante and Murcia. They charged 890 € for the installation of a decoder and then 15 € a month and operated a fake company with a nonexistent registered address.Nine homes were searched in Los Montesinos, Rojales, Orijuela and San Pedro del Pinatar in Murcia, and more than 90,000 € cash was recovered with an estimated 600,000 € worth of communications and computer equipment.

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judge has decreed prison without remand for the Mayor of La Muela Victoria Pinilla who faces real estate corruption charges in the Zaragoza town

María Victoria Pinilla declared before the instruction judge for four hours last nightThe judge has decreed prison without remand for the Mayor of La Muela who faces real estate corruption charges in the Zaragoza town.María Victoria Pinilla is the third person to be imprisoned in the case, ordered behind bars by the Instruction Judge One in La Almunia, Alfredo Lajusticia at 1,55 this morning after taking her statement for more than four hours.Earlier the Chairman of the Aranade company, Julián de Miguel, was granted 120,000 € bail, and later on Monday

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ex Deputy Mayor of Marbella, Pedro Román, has denied in court of having committed any fiscal crime

ex Deputy Mayor of Marbella, Pedro Román, has denied in court of having committed any fiscal crimes because his companies were based in Switzerland. He claimed neither to have directed or managed the companies.He told the instruction judge in the Malaya case on Thursday that he had not obligation to declare the money in Spain.
Román faces five counts of fiscal crimes which defrauded Hacienda nearly six million €. His case was originally being treated as separate from the main Malaya case, but now has been brought in by the instruction judge, Óscar Pérez.

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un-named 54 year old British woman has been arrested in Málaga on charges of fraud after making false credit card claims

un-named 54 year old British woman has been arrested in Málaga on charges of fraud after making false credit card claims through a funeral and medical assistance business.The provincial police say that their investigation started a month ago when a bank informed them that they had detected strange operations at the funeral business alerted by the real owners of credit cards who saw unexpected charges. It’s understood the business used a dataphone to make the credit card payments using a code number.

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Seven Brits were all arrested Tuesday in Orihuela Costa, and are thought to have distributed TV channels illegally to 15,000 clients

Seven were all arrested Tuesday in Orihuela Costa, and are thought to have distributed TV channels illegally to 15,000 clientsSeven Britons have been arrested in the coastal area of Orihuela for distributing pirated television signals to more than 15,000 clients, most of them also British.The Guardia Civil made the arrests in several urbanisations on Tuesday, starting at 9.30am in Urbanisation Laguna III in the area of Punta Prima.Telecommunications and computer material was seized in such an amount that several vans were needed.The group distributed the signal from several national pay channels from Digital Plus as well as international satellite signals. It’s estimated that they had made several million € in servicing at least 15,000 clients in the area. Several clients told the Guardia Civil that they were indeed customers of the group, but that they did not know the service was unauthorised.The seven arrested face initial charges of crimes against intellectual property and tax fraud. More arrests in the case have not been ruled out.

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Arrested a 66-year-old Chilean at Barcelona airport after discovering the cast on his broken leg was made of cocaine.

Spanish police said they arrested a 66-year-old Chilean at Barcelona airport after discovering the cast on his broken leg was made of cocaine.The man also had cocaine hidden in six beer cans that had been emptied, packed with drugs and resealed, and inside the legs of two small folding stools. Altogether, he was carrying about 11 pounds of the drug.The arrest was made on Wednesday as the man arrived from Santiago, Chile.The man’s leg was broken and investigators are looking into the possibility that he deliberately broke it in order to smuggle in the drug.Police spokesman Jose Antonio Nin said he knew of cases in which smugglers had concealed cocaine underneath casts but this was the first time officials had seen a cast made entirely of compressed cocaine. It weighed about 2.2 pounds.Police detected the drug by spraying the cast with a chemical that turns bright blue when it comes in contact with cocaine.The man was taken to hospital after the cast was removed.
Spain is a major European gateway for cocaine from Latin America and airport officials pay especially close attention to passengers on flights from Peru, Colombia and Chile.A UN report in 2008 revealed it had become the biggest consumer of cocaine in continental Europe, and is one of the world’s top users of the drug.

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British couple were beaten unconscious by the robbers who took money and jewellery worth 200,000 €

British couple were beaten unconscious by the robbers who took money and jewellery worth 200,000 €.Two British tourists have been robbed in Benidorm of jewellery worth 200,000 €. According to the denuncia to the Benidorm police they were beaten up in a pub in the town and left unconscious before being robbed of cash and jewellery worth 200,000 €. National Police have arrested a Dominican man in connection with the attack after searching his home in the town where some of the jewellery was recovered, including a 250 diamond necklace set in white gold, and an 82 diamond princess cut diamond and white gold cross.20minutos.es reports police only found out about the theft two days after it occurred because no witnesses reported the attack at the time. Now witnesses say four of five people were involved.

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Plane found to be carrying more than 1,000 kilos of hashish has been intercepted between Valdepeñas and Moral de Calatrava in Ciudad Real

Plane found to be carrying more than 1,000 kilos of hashish has been intercepted between Valdepeñas and Moral de Calatrava in Ciudad Real after a chase across the skies which started in Almería from where a customs helicopter had been shadowing the plane.Two Mexican pilots have been arrested and are now being held in Valdepeñas.
Police sources say the plane was intercepted on Monday night on a landing strip on a finca called ‘Las Agrupadas’.The Guardia Civil, National Police and Customs Authority are all involved in the investigation.

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South American man has been arrested, accused of raping an 18-year-old girl on the hard shoulder of the Benalmadena-Malaga motorway

South American man has been arrested, accused of raping an 18-year-old girl on the hard shoulder of the Benalmadena-Malaga motorway. According to the victim, she and a friend were in Benalmadena Costa’s Plaza Solymar, and wanted to go to Fuengirola. They decided to hitch-hike and were offered a ride by the alleged rapist. After dropping off the first of the two women, he started to drive in the direction requested by the victim. But shortly afterwards, she noticed he had changed course on to the motorway in the direction of Malaga City. He allegedly pulled up on the hard shoulder, tied her up and blindfolded her, and proceeded to attempt to rape her. The victim says she put up a tremendous fight to resist him and he eventually gave up. However, instead of releasing her, he drove to a car park in Arroyo de la Miel, removed her blindfold and forced her to have sex with him. Following the alleged rape, the 31-year-old suspect drove to Fuengirola. As they arrived at the seafront, the victim managed to escape and ran off to get help. She found a Local Police patrol who took her to Las Lagunas Health Centre where she received medical attention.

Given the serious nature of the crime, the case was passed on to the National Police who later managed to trace the car and identify and arrest the suspect

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Spate of robberies from chemist’s shops 20 people arrested

Police have arrested 20 people in Malaga, as part of ‘Operacion Reja’, on suspicion of carrying out a series of robberies. The police operation was launched last month after the province suffered a spate of robberies from chemist’s shops. Out of the 20 arrests, 11 were for aggravated burglarly with a firearm and nine for robbery using a lethal weapon. The last three arrests took place last week. The detainees are also suspected of having robbed a hairdressing salon.

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Leónidas Vargas was the Colombian drug trafficker was assassinated five arrested

Police in Madrid have arrested five people allegedly linked to the Leónidas case. Leónidas Vargas was the Colombian drug trafficker who was assassinated in his hospital bed in Madrid on January 8.Vargas was considered to be one of the most importing 19 drug traffickers in the world, and those now arrested in connection with the killing are also Colombian and aged between 22 and 34. The alleged head of the gang is among those being held, and at the time of arrest had a loaded gun in his possession.Police searched several premises across the Spanish capital on Thursday night.

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Paul Logan Donnelly one of two men arrested after a short siege with officers in a village outside Marbella.

Paul Logan Donnelly is at the centre of the investigation and is now reportedly facing attempted murder charges.Police in Spain named Donnelly as one of two men arrested after a short siege with officers in a village outside Marbella.It is reported the pair were apprehended by civil guards after one was spotted urinating in the street, before pulling out a gun which jammed, preventing it from firing.
The alleged gunman is named as “Paul B” but the second person has been identified as Donnelly, originally from Newcastle.It is alleged he fled the scene, having brandished a knife, which he went on to abandon as he ran off.Describing the incident, a Guardia Civil officer said: “It was around the leisure zone and there were three individuals who were walking through the street and one of them was urinating in the middle of the street.“They (the police) went to identify him and the first of those arrested threw his passport.“When the police approached him, he then took out a gun which he had hidden in his trousers, he loaded and shot at one of the policemen. They (the police) identified him and arrested him without firing any shots. They are now in custody awaiting trial.”The incident happened in Alhaurin el Grande, a hillside village around 30 miles from Marbella, on the Costa del Sol.
Police say they spotted one of the men urinating outside a video shop at 9pm on Monday. Paul B then reportedly threw a passport belonging to another ex-pat on the floor and took out the gun.It is said the 9mm weapon jammed when he pulled the trigger twice, meaning no officers were hurt in the incident.The officers then drew their own guns and talked the man round, before he was arrested.A British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: “The men were arrested for urinating in the street and possession of a gun.“A consular team is now working with the relevant authorities in Spain. The investigation is at a very early stage.”

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Torrevieja explosives were reportedly found in a home belonging to a couple at the Los Locos beach in Torrevieja.

Four people, all Spanish, have been arrested in Torrevieja with 15-20 kilos of Goma 2 explosives. It’s thought the explosives were stolen before the Madrid Train Bombings in 2004 when control on the movement of such explosives was stepped up.Initial investigations indicate those arrested are not linked to any form of terrorist group.Some of the explosives were reportedly found in a home belonging to a couple at the Los Locos beach in Torrevieja.Información reports that the four arrested were being held separately ahead of interrogation.

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Potasas, Body in the boot

National Police have found the body of a 70 year old man in the boot of a car parked on the forecourt of Potasas, a closed company at the entrance to Cartagena.The victim has not been identified but is said to be in his 70’s, and the body has been taken to the Forensic Science Institute for the autopsy.

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Alharín el Grande 42 year old man from Bromley in Kent has been arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide

42 year old man from Bromley in Kent has been arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide following an incident in the street in Alharín el Grande.The man is accused of pulling out a gun and attempting to fire it, when he was stopped by the Guardia Civil for urinating in the street. The gun however jammed and no shot was fired.First analysis of the weapon shows it to be a semi automatic, but an unknown brand, and possibly with a 9mm caliber. Two other men, one British and one Irish, were with the accused at the time of the incident, 8pm on Tuesday in Calle Gerald Brenan, and ran off, only to be arrested later. A Guardia Civil spokesman said ‘The only reason at least one officer is not dead is because the British man's weapon jammed. All three men live in Spain. We are looking into their backgrounds’.
The three will appear in court shortly.

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Costa crime gang arrested for assaulting more than 50 people’s homes on the Costa del Sol

Fourteen people have been arrested for assaulting more than 50 people’s homes on the Costa del Sol, Álava, La Rioja and Alicante while their owners were asleep.The Guardia Civil have named the operation ‘Canuni’, and say that those arrested are seven Albanian Kosovars, a Moroccan, four Romanians, a Serb-Croat and a Belgian.In the five searches carried out by the Guardia Civil, objects with more than 500,000 € were recovered, including a watch made from the steel from the Titanic, with an estimated value of 400,000 €.Investigations in the case started in March last year. The group was based in luxury urbanisations in Benalmádena, Torremolinos and Fuengirola, where they could often be seen in top restaurants and boutiques.

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Benidorm drug traffickers lab found four arrests made.

Three Colombians and a Belgian have been arrested, all of them with previous records for drug or arms trafficking and violent theft.Police in Benidorm have broken up a group of drug traffickers who had their own laboratory in the town where they adulterated the drugs they sold with different chemical products.Three kilos of highly pure cocaine was recovered int he operation, together with a firearm and ammunition. Two of those arrested are brothers.

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Ettore Facchinetti, 60, was detained in the town of Caldes de Montbuy near Barcelona

Ettore Facchinetti, 60, was detained in the town of Caldes de Montbuy near Barcelona, a police spokeswoman told AFP."He is accused of coordinating in Spain a network that smuggled cocaine to Italy," she said.Facchinetti, a suspected member of 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, was sentenced to 15 years in jail in Italy for drugs trafficking and was the subject of a European arrest warrant.Since 2006 more than a dozen leaders of the Camorra and other Italian mafia groups have been arrested in Spain, the main entryway into Europe for cocaine from Latin America and hashish from North Africa.Last week Spanish police said they had detained a suspected leader of a Calabrian mafia, who was once a security guard for an Italian government minister, in the southern port of Marbella.Italian journalist Roberto Saviano, the author of Gomorra, a best-selling expose of the criminal underworld in Naples, has said several mafia clans have transferred what he termed "their most risky activities," such as drug-running, to Spain, particularly to Barcelona.
Speaking in Barcelona earlier in February, he said Camorra bosses refer to the Spain's Mediterranean coast as "Costa Nostra" or "our coast", alluding to the Sicilian mafia's "Cosa Nostra".

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Sentence against Judge, Francisco Javier De Urquía, was two years in prison for accepting 73,800 € from Juan Antonio Roca

Sentence against Judge, Francisco Javier De Urquía, was two years in prison for accepting 73,800 € from Juan Antonio Roca, the man at the centre of the Malaya corruption case in Marbella, for the purchase of a property in the La Azalea urbanization.The judge was also banned from holding office for ten years by the Andalucian High Court in August 2008. The judge was also found guilty of accepting money from Roca to stop the broadcast of a local television programme about the corruption in the municipality.Now the decision of a review of the case by the Penal Hall of the Supreme Court is expected on Wednesday.

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Abou Mossab Anadori arrested on the Costa del Sol

The man who is organising group of men or terror cell is known to the police as Abou Mossab Anadori .The small town of Torreforta was the scene of the arrest of a Moroccan man on the Costa del Sol.The Civil Guard made the arrest because the 21 year old was wanted in his own country because of allegedly planning terrorist attacks against tourists in North Africa .He was the subject of an international arrest warrent issued by the Attorney Generals Office in Morocco.After the arrest he was handed over to the National Court which made a decision to imprison him .More than 15 people with links to terrorist operations were arrested in the same operation .It appears that these people are attached to a radical group with a link here in Spain .He it appears proposes to carry out terrorist attacks here in Spain .

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"Mafia Cops" Louis Eppolito and Steven Caracappa, convicted in April 2006 of committing eight murders while on the payroll of a mob underboss,

"Mafia Cops" Louis Eppolito and Steven Caracappa, convicted in April 2006 of committing eight murders while on the payroll of a mob underboss, received life sentences Friday in Brooklyn federal court.Eppolito, the son of a mobster, was sentenced to life plus 100 years. Partner Caracappa received life plus 80 years. Each was fined more than $4 million.Although the pair remained jailed in the years since they were convicted of betraying their badges, their case was tied up in appeals that delayed their sentencing.Caracappa, 67, and Eppolito, 60, committed the killings between 1986-90. The elder detective stood to declare he had nothing to do with the slayings."I am innocent of these charges," Caracappa insisted. Eppolito, speaking before his sentencing, made the same claim."I'm a big boy, I'm not a child," he said. "The federal government can my life. But they can't take my soul, they can't take my dignity. I never hurt anybody. ... I never did any of this."
Federal Judge Jack Weinstein - who overturned their convictions on a technicality, but was reversed by an appeals court - handed down the lengthy terms.Weinstein, after their convictions, said the pair had committed "the most heinous series of crimes ever tried in this courthouse."He threw out their convictions in June 2006, citing the statute of limitations in the racketeering case. Prosecutors appealed, and the convictions were restored last September.The crooked pair earned as much as $65,000 for one of their hits on behalf of brutal mob boss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso. The jailed Mafiosi, suspected of 36 murders, paid the rogue cops a $4,000-a-month retainer while they worked for him. The defendants committed the killings while simultaneously on the payrolls of the NYPD and the Luchese crime family.Caracappa, who retired in 1992 after 23 years with the NYPD, helped establish the department's clearing house for Mafia murder probes.

Eppolito grew up in a mob family: His father, grandfather and an uncle were members of the Gambino family. The dichotomy between his career and his upbringing was covered in his autobiography, "Mafia Cop: The Story of An Honest Cop Whose Family Was the Mob."

Eppolito, who retired in 1990, had a bit part in the classic mob movie "Goodfellas" - and later fancied himself a Hollywood script writer.

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Heavy plant machinery stolen from the U.K. sold in Spain

Eight machines valued at 1.2 million € have been recovered in Málaga and Galicia, and reports indicate that the sales to third countries were used as a way of hiding shipments of drugs.police have broken up an organization which sold heavy plant machinery in Spain which had in fact been stolen from the U.K.Two people have been arrested, both of them in Marbella, named as E.C. from Argentina and Briton A.J.C., and another six are reportedly indicted in the case. The two arrested are accused to have changed the axel numbers of the vehicles concerned and offered them for sale though an opaque company. 25 kilos of hashish has also been recovered in the operation controlled by GRECO specialist police in Cádiz with help from agents in Marbella and A Coruña.EFE news agency reports that investigations started in 2007 into some British drug traffickers based in Marbella.

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James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police

James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police trying to stop a violent
drugs war that has broken out on the Costa del Sol.NOTORIOUS Liverpool gangster was today behind bars in Spain after being arrested for attempted murder.James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police trying to stop a violent drugs war that has broken out on the Costa del Sol.The 29-year-old is also being investigated over claims he is the ringleader of a gang which has brought terror to the sunshine streets.
A leaked report to a Spanish judge over a spate of shootings says the gang is a “worldwide organisation that is dedicated mainly to drug trafficking, targeted assassinations and has a hierarchical structure among the members, almost all of whom originate in Liverpool and Man-chester”.Taylor was arrested over the shooting of a Brit after a nightclub brawl last August.

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National Police have arrested one of the bosses of the Calabrese Mafia in Marbella.

National Police have arrested one of the bosses of the Calabrese Mafia in Marbella.
48 year old Giususeppe U. was a policeman himself in Italy and even acted as a bodyguard to a minster there for a time.He was arrested on a European warrant for large-scale hashish trafficking from Morocco, and is wanted in connection with the killing of Salvatore Nigro in Rome in 1997.He was also wanted here in Spain in connection with the killing of a Spaniard in Almería in 2003.He is to go before instruction court 5 in the National Court who are expected to extradite him.

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Ian Donaldson wanted in Spain for drug smuggling has been arrested in Scotland.

Ian Donaldson wanted in Spain for drug smuggling has been arrested in Scotland.
Ian Donaldson, 29, was snared by Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency officers on Friday afternoon. They swooped using an international arrest warrant issued by a judge in Madrid. Now Donaldson, of Renton, Dunbartonshire, faces extradition to Spain where he is expected to face money laundering and drug trafficking charges. The arrest is part of Operation Sendero - a long-running investigation spearheaded by Spanish police. Fellow suspects Ronald O'Dea, 4 2, and Jim McDonald, 59, both of Glasgow, are already in custody in Madrid. They were arrested following the seizure of 70 kilos of amphetamines from a lorry in Oxfordshire heading for Scotland. Spanish police have already seized assets worth £12million on the holiday island of Tenerife. The haul includes eight luxury homes, a fleet of sports cars and a yacht which were all owned by Donaldson. One of his properties is a £1million cliff-top villa. Donaldson will appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court tomorrow. A decision will be taken whether to keep him in custody in Scotland, transfer him to Spain immediately, or grant him bail. Last month we revealed Donaldson had been spotted enjoying a night out with pals in a Glasgow nightclub despite being a wanted man. The SCDEA said: "A 29-year-old man was arrested following the execution of an arrest warrant which had been issued in Spain." Donaldson is a struggling amateur racing driver whose team compete in an orange Lamborghini.

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British tourist could lose the sight of his left eye after he intervened to defend a woman who was being bothered by two men in a Marbella bar.

A British tourist could lose the sight of his left eye after he intervened to defend a woman who was being bothered by two men in a Marbella bar.man stepped in to defend a woman who was being bothered by two men 'with Liverpool accents'The 53 year old businessman, who has not been named in reports, was attacked last Monday and has been admitted to the Civil Hospital in Málaga, after earlier treatment in the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella. He told police that the two men bothering the woman had a Liverpool accent and were very aggressive. He decided to help her, but was knocked unconscious. Diario Sur reports that the woman told police that after the man had fallen to the ground the two others continued to kick his head.

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35 year old man from Ecuador has been found with 800 grams of cocaine in his luggage

35 year old man from Ecuador has been found with 800 grams of cocaine in his luggage at El Altet airport in Alicante.Customs officials stopped the man who had hidden the drugs inside large wooden pestles. They say they stopped him because of his nervous behavior.

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Albanian burglar gang has been broken up by the Guardia Civil on the Costa del Sol

Albanian burglar gang has been broken up by the Guardia Civil on the Costa del Sol, who arrested the eleven Balkan citizens, eight men and three women on Tuesday.
A judge in instruction court four in Torremolinos yesterday ordered the eight men be held in prison on remand, while the three women were released although they still face charges of money laundering.The group were arrested in a series of operations in Benalmádena, Fuengirola and Málaga City.

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Spanish Customs says its officers have seized a Venezuelan-flagged fishing boat the Dona Fortuna carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine

Spanish Customs says its officers have seized a Venezuelan-flagged fishing boat carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine worth about $316 million. Five Venezuelan crewmembers are under arrest.The agency says the 52-foot boat Dona Fortuna had been under aerial observation for three days and was seized as it approached the southwestern Canary Islands.Officers boarded the vessel early Thursday when it was 900 miles, northwest of Las Palmas.A Customs statement says officers also intercepted a high-speed boat loaded with gasoline that was preparing to depart from the northeastern port of Noya. It says the agency suspected it was about to rendezvous with the Dona Fortuna.

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Prince of Marbella,Monzer Al Kassar convicted of conspiring to sell weapons worth $1 million

US prosecutors asked a judge on Monday to sentence a Syrian arms dealer convicted of conspiring to sell weapons worth $1 million to Colombian rebels to decades in prison.
Monzer Al Kassar, 63, described by prosecutors as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers, was convicted in November of agreeing to sell weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to protect a cocaine-trafficking business and attack US interests.Kassar, a longtime resident of Spain known as the ‘Prince of Marbella’ for his lifestyle in the glitzy seaside town, will be sentenced in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, along with Felipe Moreno Godoy, a Chilean, 59.Kassar was extradited after Spain received assurances from US authorities he would face neither the death penalty nor a life sentence without chance of parole.In a sentencing memo on Monday, prosecutors asked for Kassar to serve a prison sentence ‘substantially in excess’ of the 25-year minimum he faces, but ‘less than life.’‘From his palatial estate along Spain’s Costa del Sol, Al Kassar commanded an arms trafficking network of criminal associates and front bank accounts that spanned the globe,’ the memo said.In this case, the memo said, he agreed to supply 12,000 weapons to the FARC, which ‘he believed intended to use the arms to kill Americans.’Kassar’s defense lawyers, who argued during the trial he was a legitimate arms dealer, asked in separate court papers for a sentence of 25 years, the minimum he can receive.‘There were crimes of greed, not crimes of terrorism,’ said the lawyers. ‘All this for a crime-really, a DEA sting operation-in which nobody was harmed,’ they said, referring to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Kassar ‘will likely die in prison in a foreign country ... thousands of miles from his wife and children,’ the lawyers said.The prosecution case was based largely on evidence gathered by two undercover operatives who posed as FARC arms buyers and videotaped negotiations in Spain with Kassar and Moreno.Both were convicted on a host of charges including arms sales, conspiracy to kill US officials, conspiracy to aid a terrorist organization and money-laundering.The US embassy in Madrid said Kassar had been selling weapons since the 1970s to the Palestinian Liberation Front and clients in Nicaragua, Bosnia, Croatia, Iran, Iraq and Somalia.

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Discotheque and bars doormen on the Costa del Sol sold stolen luxury cars to clubbers

Networks of stolen luxury vehicles has been broken up by the authorities in Málaga. EFE news agency reports that there are 15 people arrested and five more indicted in the case so far.It seems that the gang were supported by a group of discotheque and bars doormen on the Costa del Sol, who offered clubbers the vehicles.The gang removed chassis numbers and faked documents to go with the vehicles and the total amount of assets now embargoed by the police has been estimated at 26 million €.
Some of the vehicles were allegedly set on fire or lost so that money was also claimed on insurance, when in fact they continued on the road under a new identity.Four homes were searched in Málaga province as part of the operation, and ten cars have been embargoed. The case is being organised by the Instruction Court Four in Torremolinos.There is no detail as yet on the nationalities of those detained.

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Nigel Hunt,arrested at Madrid airport after he flew in from Thailand.

Nigel Hunt, from the Rawtenstall area of Lancashire, was jailed for five and a half years in 2004 for conspiracy to supply controlled class A drugs. But he absconded from Kirkham Prison in August 2006, prompting a manhunt which ended in his arrest at Madrid airport after he flew in from Thailand. Lancashire Police said he was currently awaiting extradition to the UK. There is no hiding place and we will work with our colleagues across the globe in order to bring people to justice Det Insp Simon Brooksbank, Lancashire Police The force's Serious and Organised Crime Unit was granted a European arrest warrant in December 2006. It allowed officers to make inquiries through Interpol and they learnt Hunt was due to travel from Thailand to Spain on 12 February. Lancashire officers worked closely with their Spanish colleagues to ensure that Hunt was arrested as he landed, the force said.

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Sotogrande,two alleged drug traffickers have drowned off the coast

Two alleged drug traffickers have drowned off the coast of Sotogrande, and another person was found suffering from severe hypothermia as the Guardia Civil broke up a drug running operation off the luxury urbanisation on Tuesday.It’s thought the three were trying to bring some 350 kilos of hashish onto the Spanish coast. The survivor was first spotted walking along the coast in wet clothes, and a further search revealed the 7 meter semi-rigid boat containing the drug in 11 bales. The first body, carrying Moroccan documents, was a few metres away and the second was found on Wednesday morning some 400m from the Tiburón beach.On Tuesday afternoon Guardia Civil officers patrolling the coast in Sotogrande came across a disorientated Moroccan man walking around in wet clothes. Officers suspected that the man had recently disembarked from a boat and set about searching the area. They found a seven metre long boat in the mouth of the Guadiaro river and discovered the dead body of another Moroccan citizen floating in the water some metres away. It appears that the strong tide and the eleven packets of hashish on board, which weighed some 350 kilos in total, made the boat capsize.After a more in-depth search of the coast, the Guardia Civil found the body of a second person at 9 o'clock on Wednesday morning some 400 metres from the Tiburón beach. The authorities are trying to identify the victim.

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Plans are underway to arrange the final farewell to Gary Dunne, 22, of West Derby, who was murdered on the Costa Del Sol by a machete-wielding killer

Gary’s dad Stephen is set to travel to Spain to sign the power of attorney document allowing the body’s long-awaited release.He will go to Malaga hospital where his son’s body is being kept and wait as the remains are placed in a zinc coffin.
The family must hand over a cheque for £10,000 to the Spanish authorities to complete the repatriation.Plans are underway to arrange the final farewell to Gary Dunne, 22, of West Derby, who was murdered on the Costa Del Sol by a machete-wielding killer.After a long delay due to Spanish hygiene laws, it seems certain the Everton fan’s body will be back in Merseyside in the next fortnight.Church officials have now agreed to allow his long-awaited funeral to be held at the cathedral.It is rare for the stunning building to be used for public funerals and last happened for 11-year-old Rhys Jones.
It will hopefully take place in March, followed by a burial because cremation was expressly against Mr Dunne’s family’s wishes.Everton FC have also offered the use of one of their stadium suites for the funeral.Upton- based funeral director Sue Porter is waiving the majority of her costs in sympathy for the Dunne family.She said: “Gary’s parents wanted to have something special. When I phoned the cathedral a few weeks ago, they were already aware of Gary’s situation.“The family has waited such a long time. Once the funeral is over, they will be able to start grieving properly.”

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17 Time sharers were arrested in Mijas Costa

17 people were arrested in Mijas Costa on Wednesday in connection with the fraudulent resale of time share properties.The authorities say the compliant placed by two British people has stopped the fraud taking on massive proportions.The two Britons told the National Police that a company based in Mijas Costa had phoned them and offered them the possibility of advertising and selling their time share rights, for which they only had to pay some management costs.A search of the company office in an urbanisation in Mijas revealed several people working as phone operators, and the 17 arrested include the company administrator and several collaborators. Documents have been removed for study.

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Seven properties in Sotogrande siezed

Seven properties in Sotogrande belonging to people or companies forming part of the investigation in to corruption being carried out by Spanish High Court judge Baltasar Garzón have been impounded. Francisco Correa, the suspected mastermind in the scam which has engulfed the Partido Popular, was arrested last Friday at his Sotogrande home and transferred by police to Madrid.

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Lex Life over hundred Marbella residents, the majority of them Britons, could lose their homes after an alleged 40 million euros Icelandic bank fraud.

Over hundred Marbella residents, the majority of them Britons, could lose their homes after an alleged 40 million euros Icelandic bank fraud.The case is being investigated by San Roque court although the majority of victims are in Marbella. It centres on the Icelandic bank Landsbanki that was recently nationalised in the world financial crisis and its Luxembourg subsidiary Landsbanki Luxembourg SA which is in liquidation and has suspended payments.
These along with the Luxembourg insurance company, Lex Life and Pension SA, have been denounced for deceitful publicity and fraud by the law firm Martínez-Echevarría, Pérez y Ferrero that is representing 28 of those affected, all foreign residents in Spain. The lawyers believe that the number of those affected is over 100.
Amongst those included in the legal action are three investment advisors operating on the Costa del Sol and dedicated to serving Britons in Spain. Britons are said to be the highest nationality group affected and include pensioners and the owners of properties of high value.It was back in 2004 that investment advisors started to sell to the British market on the Costa del Sol a financial product of an insurance company for a Luxembourg subsidiary of the Icelandic bank. It guaranteed the mortgage of the property owners. It consisted of a mortgage on the property of around half a million euros in each case and invested this money in financial products not only to pay the capital interest on the loans but also to earn additional income. The clients were lured by the offer that the loan was self-financing with zero risk and secure income. In the event none of these promises were true.

The offer was widely marketed in the English media on the coast. Those taking out the products were also assured that should the title holder die it would reduce the tax liability of the heirs. The lawyers bringing the action stress that in Spanish law such a device was not possible and hence the offer was a fraud. Indeed the scheme offered to Britons on the coast had been illegal in the UK since 1990. Under the terms of the Landsbanki equity release scheme, borrowers could take a quarter of what they raised in cash, but had to put three-quarters in an investment fund run by Landsbanki.

The Costa del Sol Action Group that fights against financial fraud and mis-selling on the coast warns on its website: “One such project that Landsbanki are involved in is the short term lending currently being advertised erroneously in Spain as “equity release” (the ads talk of reductions in Spanish succession tax and then the borrower is persuaded to enter into a renewable 5 year loan i.e. renewable at the bank’s discretion).”Thanks to the success of the marketing campaign in 2006 the bank opened an information office in Nueva Andalucía. From there all monies were channelled to Luxembourg. The lawyers again say that the capital had not been insured and even less so the auto-financing scheme and the amounts that were paid in lost value. The tragic result is that with the collapse of the Luxembourg based bank those who entered this scheme are left without any cover and are in danger of loosing their homes. Not surprisingly the bank has closed its office in Marbella and cut all communications with its clients.

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German has been detained in Vejer by the organised crime and drugs squad of the National Police

German has been detained in Vejer by the organised crime and drugs squad of the National Police on an international arrest warrant in the town of Memmingen. It is stated that he has evaded justice in his home country since 2002 when he was convicted in selling hashish and for threatening police with a knife when they attempted to apprehend him.

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Ex boyfriend of Marta del Castillo, the 17 year old girl who has been missing for 21 days from her home in Sevilla, confessed to her killing

Ex boyfriend of Marta del Castillo, the 17 year old girl who has been missing for 21 days from her home in Sevilla, on Saturday confessed to her killing.20 year old Miguel C.D. told police that he had thrown her body into the Guadalquivir River. He had got into an argument with her and hit her with an ashtray until she was dead. He then called a friend of his, named with initials S.B.P. who has now also been arrested, who helped him to throw her body from a quiet pedestrian bridge. A helicopter in the search for the body .He had been missing since her disappearance but was arrested by police on Friday.National Police and Guardia Civil are to restart their search for her body on Sunday in an area between Camas and the Isla de la Cartuja.Marta’s shattered family have made a call for justice, and promised to fight for it. Marta's father Antonio.Her cousin Sandra told the press that the man who has been arrested was Marta’s boyfriend a long time ago, and they went out together for about a month, but had been friends before that. Her uncle in a brief statement to the press called on the media not to refer to her killer as her ex boyfriend, as a relationship of a month is not enough to describe it as such.

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National Police have broken up a network which defrauded four million € from 70 businessmen in Spain, Portugal and Holland.

National Police have broken up a network which defrauded four million € from 70 businessmen in Spain, Portugal and Holland. They caught out their victims by saying that they were businessmen representing Italian investors and offered loans for a share in the profits. Six arrests have been made, four of them in Marbella, one in Ibiza and another in Alicante, according to a police statement. The fraudsters set up a group of companies, based in Marbella, but with links to Alicante, Ibiza and Barcelona. Before the victims signed the contract they had to pay some costs and what was described as for insurance on the money requested.As part of the operation police have embargoed four properties worth more than a million €, together with several top of the range cars, and blocked 400,000 € in current bank accounts.

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13 people have been arrested by the Guardia Civil in Valencia after a violent theft

13 people have been arrested by the Guardia Civil in Valencia after a violent theft of drugs which they later sold on.A statement from the Civil Guard says that in some of the thefts the accused dressed up as Guardia Civil. The operation started on Feb 7 with the arrest of two women and four men, one of whom is implicated in an attempted murder in Benetússer, Valencia. Three kilos of marihuana has been recovered in the operation and one of the arrests was made inside the Albocàsser jail. It seems part of the stolen drugs were introduced into the prison by family members. Investigations in the case continue.

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Two notaries and a bank manager have been arrested and are indicted to appear before the courts in Paterna.

A financial fraud from two fraudsters could see some 600 families being left without their homes in the Valencia region. Two of the men acted as money sharks and offered loans, but only taking property as security, and charged far more money than what was officially signed at the notary.The police say they have already stopped one of the people affected by the fraud from taking his own life by jumping in front of a train because of the case. The names used by the financiers were Hipoval and Renew House, both registered in Valencia. Newspaper, Las Provincias, reports that the alleged fraud now amounts to 10 million € and the number of people affected is already more than 1,000.

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La Carolina urbanisation in Marbella body found

body has been found in a home in the La Carolina urbanisation in Marbella. The victim is a 68 year old Iraqui man who had been stabbed to death and who becomes the second violent death in less than a month in the area, following the express kidnapping and death of local businessman Fernando Moreno.Sources at the Government Sub Delegation offices in Málaga told the EFE news agency that the body in La Carolina was found at 11am today, and that the National Police has opened an investigation with all options open.

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Two cocaine laboratories have been broken up by the police in Alicante and Murcia.

Two cocaine laboratories have been broken up by the police in Alicante and Murcia. Seven people have been arrested as part of the operation in Alicante, Elda, Sax, Orihuela, Beniel and Cabezo de Torres. More than three kilos of cocaine were recovered with 2 kilos of a substance to cut the drug and 47,000 € in cash.

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Morocco biggest drug swoops netted about 100 people

Two Moroccan courts Monday began hearing suspects after one of the country's biggest drug swoops netted about 100 people, a source close to the investigation said. A military court in Rabat started questioning some 70 members of the army and police force, while 30 civilians began appearing before a Casablanca court. The detainees were suspected of drug trafficking, corruption and failing to report criminal offences. The network smuggled drugs from the northern city of Nador to Spain and other European countries, the source said. He described the arrests, which began in January, as a big blow to drug trafficking in Morocco. The north African country is the world's second biggest hashish producer after Afghanistan.

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Polish drug dealers, who headed a gang, were detained within the so-called ‘Scorpio action,’ when police rooted out the main amphetamine distribution

Two Poles detained in Malaga, southern Spain, in 2007, on charges of drug trafficking and crimes committed against social welfare will face over 23 years in prison. The Poles were sentenced in Spanish courts today.The convicts will also have to pay penalties - the first of them amounting to 750,000 euro and the second 150,000 euro.The Polish drug dealers, who headed a gang, were detained within the so-called ‘Scorpio action,’ when police rooted out the main amphetamine distribution plant on Costa del Sol, southern Spain in 2007. The men were found to have in their car a bag with 10,000 ecstasy pills. When the men’s homes were searched for drugs, it turned out there were some 60,000 more pills there.The Poles also frequented public houses, where they established connections with other drug traffickers. Their cars, stolen in other European countries, had forged license plates.

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Pancake the scouser leads violent Liverpudlian gang which has been carrying out extortion of local businessmen on the Costa del Sol

Violent British gang based in Mijas. The gang are called Pancake after their Liverpudlian leader, according to La Opinión de Málaga today. A violent British gang which has been carrying out extortion of local businessmen on the Costa del Sol has been linked to several shooting incidents.The group is known as ‘Pancake’, because it is allegedly led by the known British criminal referred to as ‘Pancake the scouser’, and is involved in drug trafficking and carrying out assassinations in Málaga province. Most of the members are originally from Liverpool and Manchester.La Opinión de Málaga reports that the group controlled four houses in Urbanisation Jacaranda in Mijas, and that there are at least five members known to the authorities.The shooting at Nikki Beach last year has been linked to the gang which is under investigation by the UDYCO, organized crime and drug unit of the police. Several witnesses at the scene identified ‘Pancake the Scouser’ as the shooter there last summer.The gang is also linked to the Puerto Banús shooting last summer and to the shooting of an Irishman at the Aloha Garden bar.

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Romanian burglary gang arrested

Spanish National Police have broken up what they describe as a military group of 25 people who dedicated their time to robbing from shops and homes across the country.
The arrests of the group, all Romanians, were made in Madrid, Valencia and on the Balearic Islands.Police say they had a network of spies who would first identify possible targets to be burgled, while another part of the group would set up a security cordon round the site when the theft was taking place. Police say they acted across the country and had frequency inhibitors to block alarms and ultrasound devices to deal with guard dogs.Investigations started in the Valencia region and the alleged head of the gang was detained as he was trying to board a plane from Madrid back to Romania. He was carrying 24,000 € cash at the time.

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Gary Richard Stephens, has been sentenced to nine years in prison by the Provincial Court in Murcia, found guilty by a jury of beating his business p

Gary Richard Stephens was found guilty of killing Jonathan Robert O'Neill by hitting him around the head with a hammer, after discovering he was having an affair with his wife.A British man, Gary Richard Stephens, has been sentenced to nine years in prison by the Provincial Court in Murcia, found guilty by a jury of beating his business partner to death with a hammer.It happened in November 2005 in the Playasol urbanisation in Mazarrón, which the two men were promoting.The magistrate, Álvaro Castaño gave his sentence, saying it was lower than normal as he had taken account of the fact that the man had acted in a fit of jealousy after he had just discovered that his business partner had started an affair with his wife, making the discovery by reading a text message on his partner’s mobile phone.Stephens pleaded guilty of killing his partner, Jonathan Robert O’Neill. After carrying out the killing he pretended to be his now dead partner, and sent several SMS messages from his phone saying he was going on a trip. He then buried the body in cement at the urbanisation the two men had been promoting.Stephens himself was finally arrested on December 6 2005 in Naples, after earlier lying low in the U.K.

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Marta del Castillo Casanueva Another young girl goes missing in Andulusia

Still no sign of the 17 year old girl who has gone missing from Sevilla.National Police have opened an investigation into the whereabouts of Marta del Castillo Casanueva, who was last heard from when she left home last Saturday afternoon to visit friends.Her uncle Javier told the press she left home about 5pm and one of her friends said the dropped her off at the door to her home at 9,30pm. However she never made it inside.
Her mobile phone is ‘switched off or out of coverage’.

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Eva Casanueva, the mother of the 17 year old Marta del Castillo, who vanished from Sevilla nine days ago, has spent most of that time in bed

Eva Casanueva, the mother of the 17 year old Marta del Castillo, who vanished from Sevilla nine days ago, has spent most of that time in bed just waiting for news. On Monday she made the effort to attend to the questions of the media. There are no firm clues to go on, although rumours that the boy who said he dropped Marta off at her home on the Saturday night is under suspicion. An expert dog has indicated that the clues may be in the Triana part of the city, where Marta spent Saturday afternoon with friends before she disappeared.Meanwhile her uncle, Javier Casanueva, who is acting as family spokesman, has complained to the press that neither the Prime Minister, nor the Minister for the Interior have called the family.

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Search is underway for two girls aged 14 and 12 who have gone missing from their homes in Valencia and Torrent.

Search is underway for two girls aged 14 and 12 who have gone missing from their homes in Valencia and Torrent. It’s not thought that the two know each other, but both went missing after failing to return from school. The 14 year old is missing since last Monday and the 12 year old who is Brazilian, has been missing since Friday.The mother of the 14 year old said she thinks her daughter has gone off with an Ecuadorian, who is now believed to be a member of the Latin King Junior gang. She denies claims that she kicked her daughter and her boyfriend out of the house.
The 12 year old vanished when heading home from the Veles e Vents Institute in Torrent on Friday. Classmates say she was in class, but has not been seen since.

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Six britons arrested for Costa del Sol timeshare scam

Six britons arrested for Costa del Sol timeshare scam The six, a manager and five telesales operators have not been named. National Police from Málaga have arrested six British people in Fuengirola for defrauding other Britons in the fraudulent resale of timeshare property in the province of Málaga.The manager and five telesales operators offered timeshares on the Costa del Sol for one or several weeks across many years, for large amounts of money. It seems the same timeshare rights were resold to different buyers several times, according to a statement from the main police station in Málaga.The case started after a complaint from a British person about a company based in Alhaurín el Grande.The company used several different names and closed down, only to reopen in Fuengirola.The six arrested will appear in court shortly.

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