Drugs laboratory was broken in the suburb of Molinos Marfagones

In Puerto de Mazarrón, a major case involves the alleged smuggling of huge quantities of drugs coming in from North Africa. The criminal activities are said to have involved drugs being carried by large vessels sailing up the Mediterranean. The drugs were then dropped off onto fishing boats which brought them into Puerto de Mazarrón. The network is said to have been operated by a Spanish-Moroccan group. In Operation Toroyano a fishing boat carrying drugs was intercepted close to the shoreline. The boat sunk but suspects who dived in the water trying to escape were later arrested suffering from hypothermia. Navy divers have now succeeded in recovering 1,785 kilos of hashis from the sunken fishing boat to bring the total amount of drugs seized in the operation up to 2,600 kilos. Organised crime...

Read more »

Posted in: Muricia City

Málaga courts for The Malaya corruption case

The Málaga courts are preparing already for the case with the setting up of a new penal section and the employment of more civil servants. The hearing will take place at the new ‘Ciudad de la Justicia’ and so far has 86 accused, bringing with them 100 lawyers. Some 600 witnesses will be called during the duration of the case, which is expected to last for more than a year. The Malaya corruption case is set to see the main hearing open in the Málaga Provincial Court in the spring of next year. The rest of this year will be taken up with the closing of the instruction stage of the case, and magistrates say that any appeals resulting from that should be resolved in six months. Some magistrates have said the case should be heard in the Málaga Congress Hall, given the size of the proceedings, but...

Read more »

Posted in: Junta de Andalucía

Pascuale Ferrato, an Italian kitchen cabinet installer, took his own life after killing his 45-year-old Belgian-born wife

49-year-old man died Friday after apparently throwing himself off the second-storey balcony of his apartment in Los Olivos de Adeje in Tenerife where police later discovered the blood-soaked bodies of his wife and two children, authorities said at the weekend.Investigators suspect that Pascuale Ferrato, an Italian kitchen cabinet installer, took his own life after killing his 45-year-old Belgian-born wife, his seven-year-old son and his four-year-old daughter. All three were found stabbed to death in the apartme...

Read more »

Posted in: Tenerife

Roman Stanislaw Szalachowski, a 40-year-old Polish man, to six years in prison for killing one of his five housemates

On Tuesday, a judge in Alcalá de Henares, northeast of Madrid, sentenced Roman Stanislaw Szalachowski, a 40-year-old Polish man, to six years in prison for killing one of his five housemates, the Ukranian Mykola Stelmakh, on April 10, 2004, and hiding the body for almost two weeks before disposing of it. An argument about who was going to do the household chores ended in murder and the subsequent quartering of a housemate's body for convenient disposal.According to testimony during the trial, an argument broke out because Stelmakh "did not cooperate in the household chores."Then Szalachowski, who was drunk, "began to punch and kick the victim in the face, head and abdomen."Next he took him to the yard behind the house, where he went on beating him, and tied a cord around his neck, attaching...

Read more »

Posted in: Madrid

Demolition orders are being served on unwitting home-owners across the region.

Antonio Banderas actor and his wife Melanie Griffith have had a demolition order served on their luxurious Marbella beach house.But it is only one wing of their home La Gaviota, in Los Monteros, that is in for the chop.Their appeal against an original 2003 ruling to demolish the newer wing, which impinges on public beach land, has been rejected.Now their neighbours are insisting that the sentence of the High Court be carried out. The celebrity pair were accused of encroaching on public land despite having received planning permission for the extension in 1995 from Marbella town hall. At the same time more than 300 residents of Mijas have joined together to fight demolition orders on their homes.The group, who number a few expatriates, has been threatened with fines of up to 180,000 euros.In...

Read more »

Posted in: Antonio Banderas

Club Class Holidays offering cheap luxury breaks which buyers claim fail to materialise.

Club Class Holidays, based in Fuengirola, is reported to be taking between 3,000 and 30,000 euros to join holiday clubs offering cheap luxury breaks which buyers claim fail to materialise.The company, which has links to former timeshare salesman Costa Killer Tony King, uses a training manual that teaches staff how to crudely fool customers.In a sales manual for staff, trainees are told to treat customers “as if they have the intelligence of 10-year-olds” and to use “bribery, intimidation and lies” to get customers to the presentations in the first place.Middle-aged and elderly couples are the main targets of the holiday-club sharks, who promise a lifetime of five-star hotels anywhere in the world at knockdown prices.But instead of a dream holiday in the Caribbean, they are being offered low-grade...

Read more »

Posted in: Timeshare

Killing the golden goose,Survey by Barclays Bank four years ago suggested a million Britons intended to leave the UK for Spain,

A survey by Barclays Bank four years ago suggested a million Britons intended to leave the UK for Spain, but in the past two years the UK market has dropped so significantly that some developers have stopped promoting Spain to Britons.Jesús Pérez set up Seville-based Area 10 New World to sell Spanish properties to UK buyers. In 2006, he switched to selling homes in Romania, Hungary, Germany and Portugal. 'A few years ago I was selling six houses in a single day to Brits,' he said. 'Things changed so quickly that we no longer promote Spanish properties .'The national government started to implement a campaign to clear any developments deemed to be too close to the beach, under the 1988 Ley de Costas, or Coastal Law. Though it insists it is not planning widespread demolitions, the government...

Read more »

Posted in: Killing the golden goose

Soldiier shot accidentally shot through the neck during an exercise

30 year old soldier was seriously injured at around midnight last night when he was accidentally shot through the neck during an exercise at the Las Navetas army training camp near Ronda. The victim, whose identity has not been confirmed, is recovering from surgery at the Carlos Haya Hospital in Málaga, to where he was transferred after initially being taken to Ronda Hospit...

Read more »

Posted in: Ronda

Lightning strike kills in Cadiz

60 year old construction worker died on a building site in the Los Barrios district of Cádiz. The victim, who has been identified as José Iglesias Conejo, was apparently struck at around 11.45am when he got up to put on a raincoat. His workmate, 59 year old Antonio Espinosa Moya was also injured after being thrown several metres in the same strike. In a separate incident, firemen were called to evacuate around a dozen people from four properties in San Roque's Miraflores district affected by leaky roofs. This week's heavy rains have also flooded part of Jérez's courthouse building as well as La Antilla beach and Estepona's sporting marina, where several parked cars were left stand...

Read more »

Posted in: Cadiz

Cargoes of cannabis shipped undercover of darkness over the Strait from Ceuta to the Costa del Sol

Cargoes of cannabis shipped undercover of darkness over the Strait from Ceuta to the Costa del Sol.Details have been released of a National Police operation against a drug smuggling gang which operated between Ceuta and the Costa del Sol, and which brought large amounts of cannabis into Spain illegally. Central government offices in Ceuta said eleven arrests have taken place in Marbella, Estepona< and Ceuta, and that six of them were from the Autonomous City, two from Málaga province, and the remaining three were Moroccan.It has been a joint investigation on both sides of the Strait, which brought information that the gang planned to make a drugs run to Estepona on the 5th of this month. The haul amounted to more one and a half tons of cannabis, and would, according to information from...

Read more »

Posted in: Costa del Sol

Court investigation into the false Bills which were issued during the GIL administration in Marbella

Ángeles Muñoz, the Partido Popular Mayor of Marbella, presented a document at a press conference on Tuesday, which comes from the Tribunal de Cuentas, the National Court of Auditors, and is their report on Town Hall accounts between 1991 and 2006. It covers the time when the town was run by first the GIL Party, and then by the tripartite government led by Marisol Yagüe, with the Partido Andalucista, and former members of GIL and PSOE.The court notes hundreds of millions transferred to municipal companies without any type of controlEFE notes that the report highlights payments made for building work which had either already been previously completeor...

Read more »

Posted in: Marbella

House Jacking in Ciudad Quesada

A gang of robbers broke into the home of 80 year-old promoter Justo Quesada in Ciudad Quesada, while he and his wife were in the house. The gang of at least 3 men threatened a guard on duty at the house with a pistol, which allowed them to gain entry and once inside they stole 30,000€ in cash plus other valuables. Fortunately nobody was injured at the hands of the gang, which is believed to be the same band of foreigners which have struck recently at San Miguel and Almoradí. on 15th January an armed gang of 8 entered a house in San Miguel and threatened the occupants and their children in order to steal jewellery and cash. The same bunch are thought to have been responsible for a robbery in Almoradí on 1st February, when a woman, alone in her house with her children, was injured after resisting...

Read more »

Posted in: Almoradí,Ciudad Quesada,San Miguel

‘El Ardilla’ (The Squirrel). Major Drugs Gang Arrested In Torrellano

National Police raided a house in Torrellano used by an organised gang which distributed drugs throughout the province of Alicante and the surrounding regions. The same house was attacked 2 years ago, almost to the day, by another gang from France, which resulted in the death of one of the attackers.The police raid resulted in the detention of 9 gang members, including it’s leader Enrique C, known as ‘El Ardilla’ (The Squirrel). A search of the premises revealed a cache of firearms of various descriptions, 1.6 kilos of cocaine, a kilo of hashish and other drug related paraphernalia, plus 26,000€ in cash. Two jackets bearing the crest of the Guardia Civil were also found, which may have been used by the gang in attacks on their rivals. A stranger item found was a coffin – in a raid on the same...

Read more »

Posted in: Alicante

black cocaine are being smuggled to Spain

Increasing amounts of black cocaine are being smuggled to Spain, with police discovering couriers of the drug which is undetectable to sniffer dogs and regular tests, the daily El Mundo reported on Tuesday.Police detained two Romanian women whose bags had inner linings made with the rubber-like substance, press reports said.Flying in from Brazil, the women made a stopover in Portugal, deliberately left their bags at Lisbon airport, and then requested them to be brought to a Madrid hotel, in an attempt to mislead police.Police seized 16 kilos of the drug. The haul, which was destined for the Dutch market, was estimated to be worth a million euros.Black cocaine is a combination of regular cocaine and various chemicals, making it very difficult to dete...

Read more »

Posted in: Madrid

60 suspects have so far been called in for the final round of declarations in Marbella

Marisol Yagüe,ex Mayor of Marbella was the first suspect to appear before the Malaya judge, Óscar Pérez, on Monday, in his final round of court declarations before the corruption case is handed over to the provincial court in Málaga for trial. As with all the suspects who will appear before the judge, Yagüe was formally notified of the charges against her, but, in her case, refused to answer any questions.Also before the judge on Monday was the former Deputy Mayor, Isabel García Marcos, who told journalists as she left that she has nothing to hide, and said her former colleagues who appeared were optimistic and unworried, because ‘they can at...

Read more »

Posted in: Marbella

1.5 million € Armed Robbery in Puerto Banus

Three armed men waved pistols as they attacked a Jewelery Store 'Boutique Tourbillón'in upmarket Puerto Banus close to Marbella. the home of the superrich. The armed robbers overpowered the security gaurd in a well planned Hiest.They stripped the fitting of jewellery and watches.1.5 million € worth of top name watches have been stolen from a jewellers in Puerto Banús, Marbella, according to police sources. Three or four people, thought to be from Eastern Europe, took part in the attack after smashing the windows of the establishment with large hammers. The National Police in Marbella are now investigating the robbery and are waiting to see the...

Read more »

Posted in: Puerto Banus

Spanish society’s sick and tired of crime and corruption

In Spain, the crime rate is obviously on the rise under the Zapatero Administration. While the ones in charge mess around with conveniently fabricated numbers and statistics, one thing has become increasingly clear. In recent years, Spaniards have started to feel more and more insecure, not only out in the streets, but within their own homes. Facing the passivity of this Administration, Spaniards see a sort of quiet terror settling in which will most likely escalate. For one thing, the downtown areas of the big cities are breaking down at a remarkable rate. In the name of multiculturalism and coexistence, entire neighborhoods are becoming black...

Read more »

Posted in: Spanish Crime

Hidalgo money laundering case

The Hidalgo money laundering case in Marbella has now also revealed the payment of commissions for building licences in Estepona. El País has printed the transcripts of phone taps included in a police report which is part of the case summary, which indicate a series of payments and deals were made with civil servants in or linked to Estepona Town Hall. El País has today printed the transcripts of phone conversations including a municipal architect and Jan Nadir, one of the people charged in the Hidalgo caseAt the centre of the allegations is Jan Khan Nadir who wanted to buy land in the town. He is already facing charges of VAT fraud worth 130 million € in Belgium linked to a petrol station business. The paper names one of the five architects who work in the Town Hall, Arturo Cebrián, as being...

Read more »

Posted in: Hidalgo money laundering case

The Civil Guard have arrested a Moroccan man

The Civil Guard have arrested a Moroccan man as a suspect in the kidnapping of a 12 year old child in Torre Pacheco in June 2006. They believe him to be the leader of the gang which snatched the boy, and which released him the following day after a 50,000 € ransom was paid by the family.The boy’s father owns a well-known local company.EFE said the new suspect has a previous arrest record and was originally taken into custody on 6th February when he was caught breaking into a factory in Los Dolores. He used a different name on that occasion. He has now been identified as M.H. and was wanted under three separate warrants.The other gang members were arrested shortly after the boy was kidnapp...

Read more »

Posted in: Torre Pacheco

110lb of cocaine with a street value of £2.5 million

Two packages washed up on the coast contained a total of 110lb of cocaine with a street value of £2.5 million.The first package was washed up on the beach at Bude, north Cornwall, on February 7 and consisted of a number of packets wrapped in sacking.Another package was found on a beach near Carleon Cove on the Lizard Peninsula the following day - between 60 and 70 miles from the first.Devon and Cornwall Police said that forensic analysis confirmed the packages contained cocaine, and inquiries were continuing.HM Customs spokesman Bob Gaiger said a number of packages of drugs had been washed up on the south west coast over the last 10 years."But all these wash-ups are very difficult to pin down and investigate," he sa...

Read more »

Posted in: Bay of Biscay

Amy Fitzpatrick reward

The parents of missing Irish teenager Amy Fitzpatrick are offering a cash award for information on her whereabouts. The 16-year-old - who's originally from Dublin - disappeared near her family home in Spain on New Year's Day.Her step-father has announced that he will pay a 'substantial' amount of money to anyone who can help in the search for Amy. Amy Fitzpatrick family, the young Irish girl who disappeared from Mijas on the night of New Year’s Day, has announced what is quoted by EFE as a ‘substantial’ reward for reliable information which could lead to finding the missing teenager. The news came in a statement from Dave Mahon, the partner of...

Read more »

Posted in: Mijas

Marisol Yagüe will be first to declare

Ex Mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yagüe,appears in court among 34 others charged.The new instruction judge in the case, Óscar Pérez, has called the main accused to declare in Marbella again as he tries to establish the extent of the corruption and those responsible in Marbella Town Hall.Marisol Yagüe will be first to declare today, followed by a list of previous local councillors Victoriano Rodríguez, José Antonio Jaén, Vicente Manciles, María del Carmen Revilla and the ex-deputy Mayor Isabel García Marcos. Other ex councillors will declare tomorrow, and the 21st sees more declarations, including the ex local police chief, Rafael Del Pozo.Ex Mayor...

Read more »

Posted in: Marbella

Special Forces of Arturo Beltran

soldiers seized 23.5 tonnes of cocaine – enough for about 200 million lines of the drug – in the world's biggest ever cocaine bust. It was destroyed in a public bonfire. Calderon is hoping his crackdown will bring his administration rewards from the US, which has frequently urged its southern neighbour to be more aggressive against drug mafias. The US Congress is debating a $1.4 billion anti-drug aid proposal for Mexico, including high-tech phone-tapping equipment and possibly Black Hawk helicopters.The proposal has been tacked onto a bill requesting more funding for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Calderon argues the US government...

Read more »

Posted in: FEDA

Hashish had come from Tetuan in Morocco, shipped over from Safi or Tan Tan

While the debate over bugging continues in the UK, police in Tenerife make no bones about the advantages of tapping not one but twenty telephones, which was the case last week when it helped them bust a gang of local and Moroccan traffickers in Güímar.The police swooped as the men were in the act of transferring 1,100 kilos of hashish in a van to a safe house.Hashish had come from Tetuan in Morocco, shipped over from Safi or Tan Tan and had been offloaded somewhere along the south Tenerife coa...

Read more »

Posted in: Safi or Tan Tan

With Paddy Doyle until days before he was shot dead

The driver of the vehicle who is in his early 20s is well known to Limerick gardai investigating ongoing criminal and gangland activity in the city.He has just returned to Limerick from Spain where he was in the company of murdered Dublin criminal Paddy Doyle until days before he was shot deadSiezed bullet-proof BMW worth €100,000 belonging to a leading member of one of the country's most dangerous criminal gangs after a high-speed car chase.The driver of the car, who is a close relation to the vehicle's owner, was arrested following the pursuit after he failed to stop the high-performance vehicle at a garda checkpoint in Limerick city.Officers...

Read more »

Posted in: Costa del Sol,Limerick

Alicante death alley Bandidos evicted

Police moved into one of the highest crime areas of Alicante on Monday, the Barrio del Carmen in the North of the city, to evict 65 homes which El País newspaper said had been illegally occupied. The area is known locally as the ‘callejon de la muerte,’ – ‘death alley,’ and is, according to police sources quoted by El País, a known haven for drug traffickers.The paper reports some moments of tension as police – more than a hundred officers in total - put up three metre high fencing to stop anyone going back in, and oversaw the removal of furniture from the flats. Four people were arrested.The Valencia Housing Institute, who built the blocks eight years ago, have announced a renovation programme of 3 million...

Read more »

Posted in: Death Alley

Ciudad de la Luz film studios investigation by European Commission

Public funding of the Ciudad de la Luz film studios in Alicante is under scrutiny by the European Commission, who have announced an in-depth investigation to determine if funding from the Generalitat de Valencia, the regional government, could have distorted competition between European studios. It follows complaints from two film companies in Europe, and there are concerns that the Generalitat’s investment could have violated European regulations on state aid. Brussels said the Ciudad de la Luz complex is wholly owned by a company which is itself owned by the Valencia government through the Sociedad de Proyectos Temáticos de la Comunitat Valencia.The European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, said in a statement released to the press that the studios have so far received 200 million...

Read more »

Posted in: Alicante

La Viñuela Bandidos give us 6,000 € and 12,000 € or else

Residents of the village of La Viñuela in the Axarquía, Málaga province are receiving a letter from the local socialist-controlled town hall, which asks them for the payment of what is called a ‘voluntary tax’ so that their illegally-built property can be declared legal. The amount being requested is between 6,000 € and 12,000 €.Most of the people affected are British and German, and they have said that they will create a protest group to defend their rights and to denounce what they describe as this odd system of paying tax. Some 300 people attended a protest meeting at the El Camping restaurant next to the reservoir last week to set up the protest group.PP spokesman in the Town Hall, Francisco González, said that around 50 British residents had received the letters over recent days, and...

Read more »

Posted in: La Viñuela

hashish flavoured lollipops believed to contain THC, the psychoactive substance in cannabis.

Alhaurín shop sold ‘marijuana lollipops’ A complaint last week in Alhaurín de la Torre took a surprising twist when officers discovered that the alleged dealer, a local shop owner, was selling not only bags of marijuana but also hashish flavoured lollipops believed to contain THC, the psychoactive substance in cannab...

Read more »

Posted in: Alhaurín

Paddy Doyles post mortem examination body riddled with a total of 15 bullets

Spanish press reports that Detectives are now trying to establish a link between the murder of Paddy Doyle and Tuesday’s haul of 115 kilos of cocaine, also in Estepona. Following a series of clues found after Monday’s shooting the Costa del Sol Drugs and Organised Crime Unit (Udyco) set up a number of controls in the Estepona area. On Tuesday officers approached a group of people moving furniture around. On inspecting the pieces, ranging from wardrobes to sofas, they discovered the 115 kilos of cocaine hidden in secret compartments inside. Seven people, six British and one Irish, were arrested. One of them was a minor.Later on Tuesday the police...

Read more »

Posted in: Estepona

Three whales found dead on the Spanish coastline 14 metre long Razorback whale, weighing an estimated 20 tons

Three whales found dead on the Spanish coastline 15 metres long whale has been washed up onto a beach close to Luarca in Asturias.The body is about half complete, with the area behind the dorsal fin missing, and had been carried to the beach by the strong currents in the area after first being spotted two miles from Cabo de Busto.14 metre long Razorback whale, weighing an estimated 20 tons has appeared dead on the beach at Bolonia near to Tarifa in Cádiz Province.The mammal was first spotted at 1030 on Saturday morning some 200 metres from shore by a Civil Guard patrol, who alerted the coastguard. The whale was dying and had become caught up...

Read more »

Posted in: Bolonia

Marbella:Having a whale of a time

A 15 metre long finback whale, estimated to weigh three tons, which appeared yesterday afternoon on the La Petunia beach in Marbella has died.It’s the largest whale ever to reach the Costa del Sol and will now be removed from the beach after an autopsy has taken place. The news was given by the Regional Environment Councillor, Ignacio Trillo.Some 3,000 people gathered on the beach to watch the spectacle as some experts in small boats tried to get the animal back out to sea. The animal had reached the beach under its own steam, and had some injuries to its skin, thought to have come from being beaten against rocks. Its natural habitat is the water of the Alborán S...

Read more »

Posted in: Marbella

Gary Hutch, was driving the vehicle that came under attack during the shooting.

Spanish police are investigating possible links between a cocaine seizure on the Costa del Sol yesterday and the murder of Irish drug dealer Patrick Doyle. Eight men, including one Irishman, were arrested following the seizure of 115kg of the drug close to where Doyle was shot dead on Monday in Estepona.Spanish officials say the men in custody may have links to the murder.They also believe the 27-year-old Dubliner was shot dead by rival drugs traffickers in Spain rather than as a result of an Irish gangland feud.Meanwhile, an Irishman who was with Doyle at the time of his murder is understood to have come forward to the police.Gary Hutch, a nephew of the top Dublin criminal Gerry 'the Monk' Hutch, was driving the vehicle that came under attack during the shooting.He was reportedly injured...

Read more »

Posted in: Estepona

Nazi veteran Gerd Honsik has been arrested in Málaga today

The Nazi veteran Gerd Honsik has been arrested in Málaga today, wanted by the Austrian Judiciary.Honsik, who has always denied that the genocide of the Jews and the gas chambers even existed, was found guilty of that denial in Vienna in 1992, and sentenced to 18 months in prison, but he escaped custody to Spain.He has written a book ‘Absolution of Hitler’ and magazine articles for ‘Halt’ and in both denied the existence of the gas chambers, claiming that the chimney at Auschwitz was only 40cms long down from the roof.The National Court in Spain has previously refused an application by Honsik to be considered as a political refugee, a decision...

Read more »

Posted in: Malaga

Patrick Doyle shot all the hallmarks of a professional assassination.

Patrick Doyle, 27, from Portland Row in Dublin, was gunned down after the car in which he was a passenger was ambushed. Doyle, who had been travelling in the car with Gary Hutch and Freddie Thompson, two Drimnagh gang members also well known to gardaí, was shot twice in the head in what had all the hallmarks of a professional assassination.Garda sources said they suspect the killing was part of a violent Dublin feud, but have not ruled out the theory he may have been targeted by a foreign drug gang. Gardaí fear the shooting will lead to further violence in the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud, which has already claimed at least nine lives since 2001. Gardaí...

Read more »

Posted in: Estepona

Firsts reports indicate that a British Man has died in a shooting incident in Estepona

British man was shot in the head after a bullets were fired at the car he was travelling in Estepona today. It happened at 2pm in Calle Mejorana in the Bel Air urbanisation in Cancelada, and National Police are still at the scene. The order to remove the body was granted at 3,20pm, and police found a four wheel drive vehicle at the scene with five gunshots, four in the windscreen and one in the front passenger door. The victim, aged 25-30 was travelling in the passenger seat according to a witness at the scene who said the four wheel drive was fired at by another car. The driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a lamppost. When the passenger got out of the four wheel drive, he was shot twice in the head.There have been no arrests in the case as y...

Read more »

Posted in: Estepona

Portugal,Spain and the Canary Islands are being linked in child abductions

Jeremy Vargas vanished from his home in Gran Canaria just eight weeks before four-year-old Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz.The missing seven-year-old boy is being linked it with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.Detectives hunting for the boy have told his parents they are now working closely with police in Portugal.This development adds weight to Kate and Gerry McCanns' insistence that their daughter was abducted, and that they were not responsible.The link between the cases was revealed as dive teams searched a murky reservoir for Madeleine's body.Jeremy's mother Ithaisa Suarez, 24, told yesterday of the striking similarities between the two cases - and her belief that both children may still be alive.She said: "The specialist police team from Madrid have told me that they have...

Read more »

Posted in: Spain

40,000 Spanish estate agencies have gone bust.

figures released by the Spanish Estate Agents' Commission, around 40,000 Spanish estate agencies - nearly half the total - were forced to close last year, coinciding with a 40% decline in property sales. As a result, it is estimated that around 100,000 estate agents lost their jobs during 20...

Read more »

Posted in: Spain

Clifford Hobbs Tracked down on Spain's "Costa del Crime"

"For years Hobbs has tried to run from us but today's outcome demonstrates that you can't run forever," Scotland Yard's Flying Squad head, Detective Superintendent Bob Cummings, said. He also thanked his Spanish counterparts. One of Britain's most wanted men, tracked down on Spain's "Costa del Crime" by police, was jailed on Friday for his part in a cash van robbery and armed escape from a prison van at the gates of a London court.Clifford Hobbs, 47, had been on the run for almost five years after escaping from a Securicor prison van in June 2003 by armed men who had posed as postmen who ambushed it as it waited for the court gates to open.He...

Read more »

Posted in: London

Wilber Varela aka JABON aka SOAP

The boss of Colombia's biggest remaining cocaine cartel was killed by gunfire in Venezuela in an apparent settling of accounts between drug gangs, Colombian security forces said on Friday.The body of Wilber Varela, known as "Jabon" or "Soap," was found on Wednesday in a hotel room in Merida state in neighboring Venezuela, said a Colombian police source who asked not to be identified."We have intelligence information that the person found dead in Venezuela is Jabon," the source said.Varela, a former police sergeant wanted for extradition by the U.S. government for helping to smuggle tonnes of cocaine to the United States, was one of the last Colombian...

Read more »

Posted in: Norte del Valle gang

Darli Velazquez-Armas : Bounty hunters in Spain

Spanish police have arrested a suspected cocaine trafficker who was wanted in the United States and had undergone facial surgery to avoid detection, nabbing him after a foot chase through a cemetery, officials said Monday.Darli Velazquez-Armas, a 33-year-old Cuban citizen, was arrested last week in the Canary Islands in a raid coordinated with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Interior Ministry said.According to U.S. court documents, Velazquez-Armas was arrested on Jan. 30 in a DEA sting operation involving 130 kilos (290 pounds) of cocaine shipped to Miami from Ecuador.A U.S. grand jury indicted him on drug trafficking charges. He...

Read more »

Posted in: Canary Islands