Latin Kings from New York to Madrid

Shouting "Latin Kings out!" and "We're going to get them, we're going to kill them", some 600 young people from Alcorcón met up on Avenida Alcalde José Aranda in response to the brawl between Spaniards and Latinos that left 7 hurt, three seriously injured, and another seven arrested [the latter from] the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia.Constantino Mendez, Madrid's security chief, says he plans to assign more police in the city to rein in Latino gangs that have turned to murder to settle scores. An 18-year-old from the Dominican Republic died from stab wounds on Nov. 5. A 17-year-old Ecuadorian was killed in September. The deaths...

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Posted in: Latin Kings

Enrique and Leopoldo Faura managing directors of constructors Grupo Mirador

Sewage rising up into the shower, sinking swimming pools and houses without electricity or gas, these are only a few of the problems plaguing buyers of their so-called 'dream' homes in Mollina.Patios unpaved, gardens strewn with bricks and rubble, and cracks and mould that keep appearing in the walls, to say the owners are unhappy would be an understatement.But this is just what a series of neighbours claim they are left with two years after they took possession of their properties on the Mollina Hills urbanisation on the edge of the fast-growing town, ten minutes north of Antequera.'We came out here thinking that this would be our dream home,'...

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Posted in: La Alpujarra

300 residents of Mijas affected by urban planning fines

300 residents of Mijas affected by urban planning fines and demolition orders on houses built on land not zoned for building met last week in front of the municipal auditorium to establish a pressure group aimed at defending their interests. They elected a representative for each area of the municipality affected, which are Puerto de Los Gatos, La Alquería, Entrerríos, Macorra, La Majadilla, Alberquilla, Candelaria, Fuente Algarrobo, Atalaya, Valtocado and Osunilla, and decided to place the matter in the hands of lawyers, whose task it will be to study the possibilities of having the properties in question legalised. Most of them have been built on land that has belonged to their families for many generations, by people who were either not aware of the Urban Planning Law of Andalucía, or chose...

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Posted in: Mijas

Costa de Cabanas development

Fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn is at the centre of a new fraud probe after Hungarian police received complaints about his property dealings there.The lawyer who fled Ireland owing €83m in multiple-mortgage debts was in Budapest as recently as Tuesday in a desperate bid to keep his property empire float.Police have launched the fraud investigation following the collapse of a 156-apartment development owned by the fugitive solicitor into which Irish SSIA investors have ploughed their savings.An Irish Independent investigation has found:l Lynn began selling off his foreign companies weeks before he absconded last December. l He recently gave one Hungarian colleague power of attorney over his affairs "for the whole term of my incapacitation". l Complaints were filed with the police in Budapest...

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Posted in: Portugal

Gang’s main base was in Marbella

Gang’s main base was in Marbella, in Málaga province, and they were closely linked to another gang in Marbella from the Mazzarella clan of the Napolitan Camorra – the Naples mafia. The clan leader in Spain was arrested along with 13 other people in police swoops which took place in Málaga province and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July last year, dubbed Operación Tizona.A lengthy Civil Guard investigation has broken up a major gang of bank robbers, said to be the largest in Spain, which is believed to have carried out 34 armed robberies in seven Spanish provinces: Granada, Málaga, Murcia, Cuenca, Madrid, Burgos and Alicante. Their total haul...

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Posted in: Marbella

Amy Fitzpatrick Mother has vowed to travel "the length of Spain and Gibraltar" in the hope of finding the teenager.

The mother of missing Amy Fitzpatrick has vowed to travel "the length of Spain and Gibraltar" in the hope of finding the teenager.The 15-year-old vanished after leaving her friend's house near Feungirola, in Spain, at 10pm on New Year's Day. She set out on the 20-minute walk to her own house, but has not been seen since. Despite a search of the surrounding area by the Guardia Civil and huge publicity in the Spanish media, there have been no positive sightings of the teenager since she vanished. There had been reported sightings of Amy in Wexford but this has been ruled out by gardai. Yesterday, Audrey Fitzpatrick said she will travel across the...

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Posted in: Costa del Sol

Mystery Job Offer for Amy Fitzpatrick

Researchers learned yesterday, thanks to an interview that the father of Amy granted to a tabloid newspaper, that Amy Fitzpatrich was offered a job as a model and an offer to participate in a photo session. According to the father, the girl was told by phone three days before her disappearance from the Costa del S...

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Posted in: Costa del Sol

Viva Estates agency hit by recession

Viva Estates agency that claims to be the Costa del Sol’s largest has laid off 120 of its 160 staff.has shut 95 per cent of its offices in a bid to fight the current recession.The company has seen sales figures drop by over two thirds since 2003.In 2007 the agency achieved just 550 completions, in comparison to 1,500 in 2003.In a desperate bid to save the business, it has shut 13 out of its 14 offices, including flagship branches in Puerto Banus, Fuengirola and Alhaurin, and cut back on its huge UK advertising bill.Blaming the collapse on the internet and the corruption scandals that have engulfed Andalucia, “The boom brought a lot of cash to the Costa del Sol and every Tom, Dick and Harry coming in to try and make money.“But most clients now use the internet and where offices were getting...

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Posted in: Marbella

The foreign property owner in Spain a species in danger of extinction

In Spain, a whopping 96% of mortgages are on floating rates, rather than fixes - so every rise hurts almost every mortgage holder. It looks like the Spanish may be the first group of Europeans to experience a painful ending to the global property boom.Last week, the Ibex index in Madrid was battered as shares in Valencia-based builder Astroc dived after its accounts revealed that some of last year's profits came from the sale of assets to its chairman, leading to fears that the company was trying to prop up its share price. Its fellow building stocks took a tumble as the fears spread to wider concerns about the property market in general. Spanish house prices have risen 270% in the past 10 years. But now house price growth is faltering, slowing from annual double-digit gains to growth of 7.2%...

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Posted in: Property Crash

Small constructors and developers have closed down

Prices are falling in some areas, but because many properties are second or holiday homes, owners are reluctant to drop asking prices, unless they are anxious to sell. It was reported that many small constructors and developers have closed down in the past few months in the Valencia region, about 20% of the 13, 000 plus. Many of these small enterprises are in fact, front companies for the larger ones- they hire the illegal workers, enter into the shady deals, etc. and when things go wrong they simply fold their tents, declare bankruptcy and disappear. While the number of employees in major enterprises has recently shown a small increase, these numbers do not account for the thousands of contract , temporary or illegal workers who have been let go in recent months. To avoid paying for the August...

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Posted in: Costa del Sol

The price of second homes in the Mediterranean could fall

The price of second homes in the Mediterranean could fall as a result of the credit crisis, a leading property expert has warned.Michael Ball, a professor of property at Reading ¬University, England, and an adviser to the UK government, said holiday homes in many parts of Europe were exposed to a correction.Not only had prices risen fast amid speculative interest and the easy availability of credit, but the supply of new flats had been increasing at a prolific rate.Prof Ball pinpointed the Mediterranean and central and eastern Europe as being particularly “vulnerable” to falling prices. “There are a variety of reasons in that in both of those...

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18,000 dwellings were built illegally during the administration of Jesus Gil

18,000 dwellings were built illegally during the administration of Jesus Gil and his local party, GIL. The Junta de Andalucia (socialist) and the new town council of the town (PP) are discussing how to resolve the situation. The Junta presented a General Plan in which it foresees “a revision and regularisation” of the illegal construction, plus construction of 50,000 new dwellings over 10 years and a declaration of 3.8 million m2 as green zones. However, part of the new green zones is declared as “urbanizable” in the previous general plan (meaning earmarked for construction). If the land is expropriated, the private owners may get only 30 to 35 Euro per m2 against the 800 which they paidThe solution may be to demand contributions from the promoters/owners of the illegally constructed dwellings....

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Posted in: Marbella

The Andalucian Ombudsman, Jose Chamizo has supported the demolition of 334 homes in a total of seven developments in Marbella.

Antonio Banderas luxury home La Gaviota built practically on the beach.will be bulldozed.The Andalucian Ombudsman, Jose Chamizo has supported the demolition of 334 homes in a total of seven developments in Marbella.Marbella and in El Palmar, Cadiz, hundreds of houses are expected to get bulldozed this year.In Malaga, the Prasa hotel on Estepona’s beachfront is expected to be knocked down imminently, with the coastal authorities having agreed to stump up the 1.2million euro bill.Marbella town hall is also likely to soon announce the demolition of dozens of buildings, including the infamous Banana Beach development built on green land. In Obeja,...

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Posted in: Marbella

Stewart "Specky" Boyd, Scots Mafia assassination over a bungled drugs deal ?

Stewart "Specky" Boyd, 40, died with his daughter Nicola, her friend and a three-year-old girl when the Audi coupe he was driving veered across a motorway on Spain's Costa del Sol and hit a BMW, killing two occupants. Earlier investigations had suggested the former Glasgow enforcer's death could have been a professional hit over a pounds 2.5 million cocaine deal. But Spain's chief traffic officer said there was no evidence to support claims that a timed bomb had been placed underneath the vehicle. The cause of the accident is still being investigated by police in Spain. Scottish police have been helping with the inquiry. Scottish Police arrested...

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Posted in: Costa del Sol,Scotland

Alexander Colin Dalgleish, Gordon Stewart,Paul Turner ,Joshua Karney, Kamil Krawiec

Alexander Colin Dalgleish, aged 30-35, Gordon Stewart, 25-30, Paul Turner (also known as Paul Francis or Geddes), 50-55, Joshua Karney, 25-30, who also goes by five other names, and Kamil Krawiec, 25-30. missing of the sex offenders list in the U.K.British pedophiles and rapists are settling on the Costa del Sol.Interpol has alerted the Guardia Civil in the past few months about a dozen sexual predators believed to be based along the Mediterranean Coast. The British murderer Tony Alexander King, sentenced to 55 years in prison, for killing two Spanish girls in Malaga was living in Spain with the Spanish Police having no idea of the long list...

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Posted in: Costa del Sol

Seven people who were being held hostage in Lepe

A group of seven people who were being held hostage in Lepe and Cartaya, Huelva province, were freed this weekend, in a Civil Guard operation which took the seven kidnappers into custody. EFE says two of the kidnappers lived in Cartaya, itself, three others from elsewhere in Huelva province, another in Madrid and the seventh in Holland. Two of them have Moroccan nationality.Four of the hostages were found under guard in two vehicles parked near the Marina Ocio shopping centre in Lepe following a report to Lepe local police from the son of one of those who were being held. He said his parent was being held by kidnappers in the area after being missing from home for two days.The kidnappers were nearby and were arrested as they tried to escape.The remaining three hostages were found near a chalet...

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Posted in: Huelva,Lepe

Marcos J.R.C Kidnapper

A temporary construction worker has been arrested in Telde in connection with the attempted kidnap of the ten year old child, Sandra Domínguez, in the La Garita area of the town on January 4.The 37 year old suspect who has been named only as Marcos J.R.C., is said to have a police record and was seen in a white van in the area. The victim has recognised him in a photo.Marcos now goes before the Instruction judge 2 in Telde, Óscar Rey, accused of attempted kidnapping. Police say they are now searching for a possible accomplice in the ca...

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Posted in: Canary Islands

Dean Fitzpatrick brother of Amy Fitzpatrick interviewed

Dean Fitzpatrick, the brother of 15 year old Amy who has been missing from her home in Mijas since the evening of New Year’s Day, was called to the local Civil Guard barracks on Monday, where he was interviewed for around an hour for any information which could help detectives locate his sister. It’s now been two weeks since she was last se...

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Posted in: Mijas

Local Police demonstrate to reinstate Francisco Javier Martín

Local Police demonstrate to reinstate Inspector Francisco Javier Martín, who is accused of hiding and then removing three statement complaints from the police station on the same day that the premises were searched, March 30 2006, as part of the Malaya case. Since the time of the alleged offence, the policeman has been promoted to control traffic, plain-clothed officers and the police training scho...

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Posted in: Marbella

Paco Mato head of Conil's Local Police force allegedly caught selling stolen cars

Francisco Luis González Fernández, the head of Conil's Local Police force, was arrested on Wednesday in connection with alleged fraud involving vehicles in the municipal car pound. Investigators believe that he may be involved in various crimes, such as fraud, falsification of documents, omitting to follow up offences, and robbery with the use of vehicles. The police chief, who is nicknamed Paco Mato, has been a Local Police officer for more than twenty years and has been in charge of the Conil force for the past three. He was off sick at the time of his arrest. The mayor and councillors have expressed their surprise at his detention, and have said they will cooperate fully with the investigation but stressed the importance of remembering that people are innocent until proven guil...

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Posted in: Conil

Deaths of seven immigrants

At least 22 people have died trying to cross the precarious Atlantic waters to the Canary Islands. At least 14 bodies of attempted immigrants have been washed up on the shores of Nuakchott in the north african state of Mauritania. At the same time the security forces said that they intercepted 179 individuals of unstated ages without papers.The bodies were washed up close to the Capital of Mauritanis without papers after their small boat became wrecked. There has been no precise figure on the number of deaths caused by the trip of 200km to the canaries. It is thought that the figure is probably in the thousands. Spain has repeated asked for...

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Gibraltar Banks snitch to U.K.government

Britons who have a house or apartment in Spain and rent it out are advised to tell the UK tax authorities. This applies even if the amount earned just covers their maintenance costs.Gibraltar banks have been forced to disclose all the details of their accounts to U.K.government who have set up a special investigation department to prosecute all account holders who have not declared property or business holdings in Spain.Owners are advised they should declare any extra income of this sort. If you haven't made a declaration before and hence it relates to a return outside the current tax period, then you will need to make a separate disclosure and explain the circumstances. As with all dealing with the tax agency experts say that if you make avoluntary disclosure this will be in your favour....

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Posted in: Gibraltar

M.E.V., who is 35 and is from Romford in Essex.

The Civil Guad have taken a foreign resident of Benalmádena into custody after an operation by the Organised Crime and Drugs Squad in Málaga over the Christmas period. Officers seized more than one and a half tons of cannabis resin. The two suspects are named in a Civil Guard press release as M.E.V., who is 35 and is from Romford in Essex.They have both been remanded to custody.The drugs were found on a lorry intercepted by the Civil Guard, and were hidden amongst pallets of crockery. The cargo was bound for the ...

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Posted in: Benalmádena

International drug trafficking and arms dealing

Dutch man wanted by police in his home country was arrested by police in Sabinillas Named as P.J.J.D.J he is wanted for money laundering and arms trafficking in the Netherlands It is thought he fled to Spain when other members of the criminal organisation he led were taken into custody Officers from a specialised squad of National Police from La Línea de la Concepción took the man into custody in Sabinillas National Police told the news agency that the suspect’s organisation was involved in international drug trafficking and arms dealing and used companies set up in fiscal paradises to launder money. The man had been tracked to Spain with investigations into properties in Cádiz and Málaga provinces, together with companies linked to his organisation and bank accounts held by known associates....

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Posted in: Sabinillas

Inspector Francisco Javier Martín

Inspector Francisco Javier Martín, who is accused of hiding and then removing three statement complaints from the police station on the same day that the premises were searched, March 30 2006, as part of the Malaya case. Since the time of the alleged offence, the policeman has been promoted to control traffic, plain-clothed officers and the police training school.Instruction judge four in Marbella is investigating a top local policeman in the town,The ex local police chief, Rafael del Pozo, has been called to declare to the court in the case on Monday.One of the statements removed related to a traffic offence allegedly carried out by Diego Arrabal, a well known paparazzi in the town, and another was a drunk driving charge against Borja Fraile, son of a Madrid businessman and a friend of the...

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Posted in: Marbella

Hotel Cano in Torrevieja unexploded bomb found

The dynamite-packed explosive were found at the Hotel Cano in Torrevieja .This unexploded bomb had been planted 17 years ago in a resort popular with British tourists has been uncoveredWorkmen refurbishing a bathroom after a fire found the device inside a tube left in a false ceiling.The area was evacuated and disposal experts removed the device.Designed to target holidaymakers, the bomb was one of three planted in Costa Blanca in 1991 by Basque separatist group ETA. Two exploded in a restaurant and hotel but the third failed to detonate. A Spanish government spokeswoman said yesterday: "It was well hidden and badly deteriorate...

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Posted in: Torrevieja

local police chief sells stolen cars

local police chief in Conil, who was arrested on Wednesday for charges including fraud and falsifying documents. The paper says it relates to the sale of stolen cars, which were allegedly sold on after they were recovered by police, instead of being returned to their owners.Also under investigation by the court in Chiclana is a territorial planning crime. La Voz says they have been unable to confirm if that relates to a property built by the police chief, who they name as Francisco Luis González Fernández, on land classified as unsuitable for development, and if the money from the alleged car sales was used to fund it. They mention the possibility of more arrests in the case.The local Mayor, Antonio Roldán, noted that González is in the position as acting chief as none of the applicants for...

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Posted in: Conil

Alicante Car Surfers

The Alicante newspaper, Información, reports on the case of two men who were arrested in Alicante city centre this Tuesday night, with one of them at the wheel of the car, speeding and zig zagging along the street, and the owner of the vehicle on the roof. He was standing up, pretending to surf.Both had been drinking.The driver is charged with reckless driving and causing a danger to others, and could face at least five years in prison. The proceedings at the speedy trial held on Wednesday – where the duty prosecutor asked for two years or a fine - were called off, with the length of the possible sentence meaning the case must now be heard by...

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Posted in: Alicante

Amy Fitzpatrick :Search Party

Terra España quoted information from the EFE news agency that the Civil Guard have organised a search party with the help of volunteers and emergency services, which meets at the Cala de Mijas football ground at 9am on Wednesday. They continue to investigate if there is any truth in a number of phone calls they have received about the case which are understood to have come from many different areas. They are also investigating known British paedophiles who live in the ar...

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Posted in: Costa del Sol

Bodies of three skiers

The bodies of three skiers have been recovered by rescuers in Formigal after they were all buried by an avalanche at the Spanish ski resort at 1030am on Friday morning. The avalanche happened in the Anayer region of the resort when the three skiers were off-piste. The weather forecast earlier in the day had warned of a high risk of avalanches at level four.The Mayor of Sallent de Gállego, the municipality where the Formigal resort is found, José Ignacio Urieta, said that local rescue teams from the resort had taken part in the search with the Guardia Civil high mountain teams using dogs and scanners, together with a 112 helicopter and local ...

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Posted in: Formigal

Amy Fitzpatrick:a stranger driving a white van had been spotted targeting children in the area

Amy Fitzpatrick, 15, has not been seen since the evening of New Year’s Day, when she left the friend’s home on the Riviera del Sol complex. It is understood that the missing teenager does not have her mobile phone or passport with her.Officers from the Spanish Civil Guard searched waste ground yesterday in the tourist resort of Riviera del Sol, near Fuengirola, as part of their hunt for the Irish teenager. The land is close to the route that Amy would have taken on her ten-minute walk back to the home she shares with her mother, brother and stepfather. She spent New Year’s Eve at her friend’s house, babysitting for the girl’s younger brother,...

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Posted in: Amy Fitzpatrick

Guardia Civil working undercover in Gibraltar ?

The Guardia Civil was giving evidence in the trial , which sees nine Guardia Civil officers and a number of civilians facing charges of smuggling cigarettes from Gibraltar across the border into Spain. The officer said he worked in a shop owned by an Indian businessman. That covers a five or six-month period although the accused claim he was working there for 18 months. He said he worked in the shop and every 15 days made a report on what he had seen to his commanding officer. Héctor Manuel S M has admitted in court that he worked in a shop in Gibraltar selling cigarettes as part of the investigation. He added that he did not know whether the Spanish Ministry of Defence had notified the British authorities that he was on assignment outside of Spain.This contradicts the testimonies given by...

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Posted in: Gibraltar

Fake Spanish Traffic Cops

Wearing police uniforms and carrying fake identification they passed themselves off as police officers to prey on drivers of cars on foreign licence plates has been broken.carrying fake identification, the gang is believed to have targeted northern Europeans on the two ring roads around Madrid and the main road between the capital and the country’s southern coast.In simultaneous raids around Spain, police arrested 28 Pakistan and Iranian immigrants who posed as bogus police officers.Victims of the gang were forced to pull over onto the hard shoulder of either the M30 or M40 roads before being physically attacked and robbed.In the last known case before the gang was arrested, a car of French holidaymakers was targeted near the satellite town of Getafe.In a white Alfa Romero, the fake police...

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Posted in: A4 Madrid-Andalucía

Confidential information passed to a drugs gang.

officer of the Guardia Civil has been arrested for allegedly passing on confidential information to a drugs gang.Police claim the un-named civil guard, who belonged of the traffic division of the Salobreña Guardia Civil, told the gang the locations of random police road checks and the best methods of avoiding the SIVE marine patrol to transport cannabis from Morocco to the Costa Tropical.Five other people, all believed to be members of the drugs gang, were also arrested after the year-long investigation.All six were released after being charged with public health offen...

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Posted in: Costa Tropical

Spanish Soldiers were arrested from the Regulars Division of Ceuta

Police in Almuñecar believe the un-named servicemen, who belong to the Regulars Division of Ceuta, were travelling from the North Africa enclave to Motril to sell the drug. soldiers were arrested after police found four kilograms of cannabis in their car. Aged 19 and 22, were arrested in La Herrad...

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Posted in: La Herradura