Interpol estimated last year that the Spanish costas are home to 18,000 foreign criminals

ESCAPING JUSTICE
# Spain’s extradition treaty with Britain collapsed in 1978. High-profile criminals found that they could easily disappear, even after the treaty was reinstated in 1985

# The “Costa del Crime” earned its name in 1983 when the thieves behind the £6 million Security Express robbery were spotted leading luxurious lives on the Spanish coast

# Interpol estimated last year that the Spanish costas are home to 18,000 foreign criminals of 70 nationalities, including the Russian mafia and armed gangs from Albania, Kosovo and the former Soviet republics

# The civil guard in Málaga, the regional capital, has admitted lacking the resources to check each of the 15,000 Interpol inquiries received annually concerning European criminals being sought in the area

# Last year authorities in Marbella cracked down on money-laundering gangs. They arrested 41 people, froze €400 million of funds and seized a yacht, two private planes, 251 houses and 42 cars

# In June 2005 three British men were arrested in an undercover operation near Marbella that smashed Europe’s biggest cocaine-smuggling ring worth £360 million