Housejacking, Three masked men attacked the chalet belonging to Juan Mora, the owner of the Matola restaurant in Elche

Three masked men attacked the chalet belonging to Juan Mora, the owner of the Matola restaurant in Elche, in the early hours of yesterday. The victim was woken up at 4.15 in the morning by the thieves who complained that they could not find the money.After ransacking the property they made off with an estimated 10,000 €. As they left they warned him ‘Call the police after 15 minutes. Don’t do so before as we know where your children live’.Información newspaper reports that family members of the victim say he was beaten up by the thieves, and were armed with a large screwdriver and used a large leather belt as a whip. For some reason the house alarm had not been activated and the three men managed to gain access without upsetting the dogs. Reports say that one of the men was black and they...

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Posted in: Elche

Spaniard, Jesús G.R., who is alleged to have caused the coach crash in Benalmádena ordered to prison without bail

27 year old Spaniard, Jesús G.R., who is alleged to have caused the coach crash in Benalmádena on Saturday April 19th, in which nine Finnish tourists, including a seven year old girl, lost their lives, has been ordered to prison without bail by the judge in Instruction Court One in Torremolinos. He attended with his father, was wearing a neck brace, and showed difficulty in walking.He is thought to have lost control of his KIA four wheel drive vehicle while overtaking the bus at speed on a curve on the A7 motorway, crashing into the bus and causing it to overturn.The judge called the youngster to the court this morning where he arrived at 1125am and left in a National Police car at 1310pm.He now faces nine charges of serious negligence resulting in death, and 41 counts of serious negligence...

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Posted in: Benalmadena

Marbella Town Hall has ordered a zero tolerance policy for those who sell their wares by foot in the town

Caracuel is reported to have referred to the immigrants as ‘a threat’ and as ‘invaders’ of the town, leader IU to comment ‘We cannot doubt that this type of sale is illegal, but the way of combating it is not adequate’.The Defensor del Pueblo, the Spanish Ombudsman, has asked for an explanation from Marbella Town Hall following a spate of immigrant arrests in the town. The PP local councillor for citizen safety, Francisca Caracuel, has ordered a zero tolerance policy for those who sell their wares by foot in the town, and this has resulted in 500 arrests in a few months. Most of the sales were of counterfeit goods, and 50,000 such items were recently crushed by a steam roller in Puerto Banús to underline the policy. However 17 Chinese beach masseurs have also been arrested, and criticism of...

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Posted in: Marbella

Border guards have started implementing a directive ordering them to open fire on smugglers who fail to stop

The entering into force of this directive came amid discovering the close relationship of smuggling networks with terror groups, as well as the use of arms by smugglers while securing tracks to their goods.Furthermore, some smugglers tend to extend their activities to arms and explosives trafficking, like for instance in Tlemcen province where gendarmerie and border guards managed foiling about five attempts of smuggling weapons and explosives.Besides, many armed clashes have taken place between border guards and security services against smugglers, later last year and early this year, in border provinces, eastern, western and southern the country.The Majority of armed clashes have been underscored in Bechar and Tlemcen provinces, western Algeria, followed by Illizi and El-Oued provinces,...

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Posted in: Algeria

300 illegal homes in Cañada Hermosa

20 minutos reports that there are 300 illegal homes in Cañada Hermosa, and local resident, Pedro Cerón, noted some of them have been there for more than ten years. He said they would not be legalised because people simply don’t know what to do, and he called on the City Hall to visit the area to explain the procedure. There are a further 200 homes in Cañada de San Pedro in the same position.Murcia City Hall is threatening to demolish as many as 4,000 homes which have been built illegally in the region’s countryside. Property owners have been given the deadline of January 31 2009 to bring their properties into legality, and Town Planning Councillor, Fernando Berberena, has warned that after this date legal processes will be started which could end in demolition. Illegally built warehouses are...

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Posted in: Murcia City Hall

Puerto Banus shooting mystery..70 shots were fired in the assault and the two victims were hit by 16 bullets between them.

After the shooting an Algerian-born French businessmen went to the National Police to say he thought he was the intended target. He had been in the hairdressers at the time of the shooting and his friend – bodyguard, who was waiting in their car outside the hairdressers, was one of those injured. The companion was arrested in his hospital bed for the possession of a gun that was found beneath their car.Police have stressed that neither the Frenchman nor his companion have any previous convictions in Spain. The businessmen is said to be involved in high fashion, owns several shops in Puerto Banús and commutes between his homes in Paris and Marbella....

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Posted in: Puerto Banús

Plane loaded with drugs crashes at Spanish banker Botin's estate

The plane was carrying 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of hashish when it missed the airfield and crashed into a nearby gully, Dmaz-Cano said. Two people were killed at the crash and a third one was arrested.Police are investigating a small plane loaded with drugs that crashed Friday at the estate of one of the country's most prominent bankers, killing two people on board, an Interior Ministry representative said.The plane crashed around midday Friday as it tried to land at a private airstrip on the country estate of banker Emilio Botin, Maximo Dmaz-Cano said.The plane was carrying 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of hashish when it missed the airfield and crashed into a nearby gully, Dmaz-Cano said.A third person has been detained at the 11,000 hectare (27,180 acres) estate, located 230 kilometers (143...

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Posted in: country estate of banker Emilio Botin

Juan Antonio Roca return to prison brings a rapid end to his week of freedom on bail during which time he made many claims to the press, including one

The bail conditions against Juan Antonio Roca, the ex Marbella Municipal real estate assessor in the case known as ‘Saqueo 1’ have been increased today to three million €. The Roca family had already paid the lower level of bail, set at 450,000 € in the case, but today Roca finds himself sent to prison again, with bail now set at 3 million €.This is separate from the 1 million € which it took his family 17 days to raise in the Malaya case.The Saqueo 1 case is also known as the 'false facturas' case and is linked to the alleged diversion of public funds from Marbella Town Hall to private companies between 1991 and 1995 amounting to 27.6 million...

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Posted in: Marbella

The Playa de Bakio, with 13 Spanish and 13 African crew on board, was attacked by around 10 pirates armed with grenade launchers

Ambassador Nicolás Martín Cinto was expected to travel to the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday, coinciding with the arrival of a Spanish warship off Somalia's north coast where the fishing boat was boarded.The Playa de Bakio, with 13 Spanish and 13 African crew on board, was attacked by around 10 pirates armed with grenade launchers at around 1pm on Sunday.Crew members who managed to speak to relatives in Spain by telephone yesterday said the pirates appeared to be "well-trained soldiers" who accused the crew of stealing Somalia's fish stocks and who spoke of a "senior commander" who would negotiate their release in exchange for ransom money.At...

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Posted in: Somalia

Hacienda tax authorities has announced that they are to investigate 198 Spaniards

Hacienda tax authorities has announced that they are to investigate 198 Spaniards who have bank accounts in Liechtenstein for possible fiscal crimes. A statement from the Agencia Tributaria, said that the deposits correspond to family groups with several different titles and beneficiaries.The data obtained in the investigation will be sent over to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor.It comes with the revelation that Spain is working in coordination with Australia, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the U.K. and the United States in the Lichtenstein investigation.Spanish investment there alone is 22.11 million € in the past 15 years, although there are no numbers since 2005 when the country was considered as a financial haven.Spanish investments offshore are estimated to have reached 95...

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Posted in: Hacienda tax authorities

Welsh tourist was left for dead following a bungled bag snatch on the Costa

Ray Griffin, of Dowell Street, fell victim to thieves preying on tourists while staying in a hotel resort in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol earlier this month.The incident happened just two weeks after a Welsh tourist was left for dead following a bungled bag snatch.The female victim was thrown to the ground as a man on a moped tried to snatch her bag, leaving her with a blood clot on the brain.Mr Griffin was on holiday with his wife, Valerie, when thieves made off with a purse, containing 150 Euros, a silver lucky charm and a Nintendo DS with four games."I was sunbathing by the pool and it was quite breezy," Mr Griffin told the Herald."When I got up, I saw our bag had blown to one side. I didn't know it had been moved by thieves."I realised the items were missing when I looked inside."Mr...

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Posted in: Benalmadena

“We’re waking up from the property dream and finding ourselves in a situation where prices are falling in Spain for the first time,”

“We’re waking up from the property dream and finding ourselves in a situation where prices are falling in Spain for the first time,” said Fernando Encinar, a founder of Idealista.com, a real estate Web site.In Spain, more than four million homes were built in the last decade, more than in Germany, Britain and France combined. Average house prices tripled in parts of the country, as Spain’s torrid economy attracted immigrants and Northern Europeans snapped up holiday homes along the Costa del Sol.Now, though, thousands of those houses stand empty. The I.M.F. estimates that property is overvalued by more than 15 percent. With mortgages drying up and prices swooning, speculators who once viewed Spanish property as a no-lose proposition are confronting hard reality.In 2005, Julian Felipe Fernandez...

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Posted in: Spain

Juan Antonio Roca walked free on Monday after his family and friends had got together a million euros in bail money.

The man accused of being the brains behind years of corruption at Marbella Town Hall walked free on Monday after his family and friends had got together a million euros in bail money. He wanted to clean up his image, he explained, and had obviously started as he meant to go on, leaving the jail looking impeccable in a dark suit, blue shirt, shiny shoes and a proud smile. Behind him he had left two years and 16 days in a prison cell, first in Alhaurín de la Torre and then in Albolote. However he took time to say his goodbyes, embracing prison staff and raising his hands towards corridor 11, his home for the last 18 months. “When you get your freedom...

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Posted in: Marbella

Montserrat Corulla, who is alleged to have acted as a ‘frontman’ for Juan Antonio Roca in the Malaya corruption case

Marbella lawyer, Montserrat Corulla, who is alleged to have acted as a ‘frontman’ for Juan Antonio Roca in the Malaya corruption case, told the instruction judge Óscar Pérez on Monday that she had never laundered any money. She claimed that all her companies were totally legal, and while she was the administrator of the Condeor company ‘she never operated with illicit funds or assets’, according to a report from Europa Press. She also denied belonging to any criminal organisation or seeing ‘envelopes full of money’.She faces charges of money laundering of cash from criminal activity. Her case drew more interest when the PSOE Socialist candidate for the Mayor of Madrid, Miguel Sebastián, tried to link the current PP Mayor of the capital, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón with her during the previous election...

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Posted in: Marbella

Juan Antonio Roca is accused of money laundering, defrauding Hacienda, bribery, the alteration of prices in public auctions and tenders

Juan Antonio Roca, is in the National Court on Wednesday morning in the so-called Saqueo 1 case, in which he is currently released on 450,000 € bail. He has also had to pay 1 million € bail in the separate Malaya case.The hearing on Wednesday at 10am comes under article 5050 of the Criminal Judgement Law which consists of a revision of his bail conditions in the Saqueo case. The appearance comes following a formal appeal made against bail by Marbella Town Hall legal department, in which they ask for a reconsideration of the bail granted. Both sides will be able to question Roca during the hearing, and then the judge will make a ruling. Already Roca’s defence team has said they do not understand why the hearing has been called as nothing has changed in the Saqueo case and there can be no destruction...

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Posted in: Marbella

Nine people died, one of them a six year old girl, and 22 more were seriously injured in a coach crash on the A7 Benalmádena bypass on Saturday

Nine people died, one of them a six year old girl, and 22 more were seriously injured in a coach crash on the A7 Benalmádena bypass on Saturday evening. It happened at 1950 at the 224 km point above Arroyo de la Miel, when the coach, carrying a group of 47 Finnish tourists, driver and co-driver, came into a side contact with a recently purchased KIA four wheel drive vehicle.It is a very fast downhill stretch of road and it had been raining in the area for most of the day. Eyewitnesses said the four by four tried to overtake the coach on the inside, and hit the side crash barrier when doing so. He rebounded from there to hit the bus side on which led to the bus driver losing control with the bus ending up overturned moving down the central reservation until coming to a standstill. It’s understood...

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Posted in: Benalmádena bypass

British demand in Spain has slowed dramatically

“British demand in Spain has slowed dramatically,” says Mark Stucklin, founder of spanishpropertyinsight.com, an independent online consul-tancy. “The latest nail in the coffin is the exchange rate, and prices have dropped 20% in some parts of the Costas since last summer.” Viva Estates is selling a two-bed flat in Elvira near Malaga for £240,000, although it is possible to pick one up elsewhere on the Costa del Sol for less than £200,000. In higher-end areas such as Mallorca, prices have stagnated, so vendors who need to sell are having to accept offers. Strategy: If you’re an owner, hang on if you can. “Now is not a good time to sell,” says Stucklin. “There are just no buyers out there.” If you must sell, then be prepared to cut the price sharply. Those bringing the proceeds back to Britain...

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Posted in: Now is not a good time to sell

Viva Estates had 15 offices across southern Spain and was selling 2,000 properties a year.

Viva is down to one office and sells 200 homes a year if it is lucky. “It’s as if we’ve been hit by a tsunami,” says McCarthy, who is focusing on Hot Properties, a magazine he has set up to help people sell privately. “The property boom was over by 2004. Chris McCarthy, a Briton living in Marbella, set up Viva Estates, an estate agency aimed at selling property to the hordes of his fellow countrymen keen to buy on the Costa del Sol. At its peak, the company had 15 offices across southern Spain and was selling 2,000 properties a year. Last year, it was oversupplied, overpriced and illegal, then came the Spanish property market collapse, the US sub-prime crisis, Northern Rock, followed by UK house prices falling, rate increases, the mortgage freeze and the stock market collapse. It’s been like...

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Posted in: Marbella

Spain's real estate market is turning sour, a situation tied by some to the international banking crisis

The Costa del Sol Association of Builders and Promoters reported in February that sales of tourist property in southern Malaga province fell nearly 50 percent last year. It claimed the main problem was people being frightened by corruption scandals in which homes were built with licenses obtained through bribes.Tourism and rampant construction over the past three decades have turned the Spanish coast from the French border all the way round and beyond the Rock of Gibraltar into a continuous mass of concrete.In many cases, town halls bypassed planning regulations and took bribes in exchange for licenses.Spain says 40 percent of the coast is built...

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Posted in: Spain's real estate market

Christakis Philippou , Evangelia Liogka fraudsters netted £6million from bogus budget sites

Holiday fraudsters netted £6million from bogus budget sites.A gang of fraudulent travel agents who scammed more than 20,000 sun seekers out of their holidays have been jailed for up to seven years each. fraudsters advertising budget breaks on teletext and the internet. Sixty-four-year-old Christakis Philippou was the ring leader. His mistress Evangelia Liogka oversaw the agencies and call centres, bankrupt accountant Timothy Entwistle masterminded the gang’s finances, while Peter Kemp managed the day to day running of their 26 front firms. Together, prosecutors say they made the perfect team. The scam was simple - set up bogus budget holiday...

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Posted in: Bargain breaks in Greece,Spain and Cyprus

British couple remanded in Benidorm

The accident occurred last Friday night on the CV-763 (km 3,4). The couple were driving back to their home on the San Rafael residential estate while the young motorcyclist was heading towards Alfàs del Pi. The victim, who was still alive as he was dragged for 2-3km underneath the British couple's car, died before emergency medics could get him into the ambulance. His family and friends, who say the boy's parents are "totally destroyed and unable to come to terms with what has happened,"British couple in their fifties were remanded in jail by a judge in Benidorm yesterday charged with imprudent homicide. They were arrested last Monday after being...

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Posted in: Benidorm

Isabel Pantoja mugshot taken and put on file but who leaked the photos.

Isabel Pantoja, the famous singer, accused of tax offences and money laundering. was released on bail of 90,000 euros, but not before her mugshot had been taken and put on file. The photo appeared shortly afterwards in some of the media.Now, hundreds of civil servants working for the Interior and Justice Ministries are being called on to say exactly why they felt the need to access the Isabel Pantoja file, and while some are able to show that they were working on the case and had good cause, many more are having to admit that it was sheer curiosity that led them to use their computer passwords to take a look at the file.It will not be easy...

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Posted in: Maebella

A member of the crew of a boat which brought four stowaways to Alicante has been arrested by the police.

A member of the crew of a boat which brought four stowaways to Alicante has been arrested by the police. It comes after the Capitan of the Slovak vessel handed over the four Turkish nationals to the National Police in Alicante Port after discovering the immigrants.Reports in Informacion newspaper indicate that the member of the crew who has been arrested charged the stowaways 2,500 € for allowing them on board. Three of the stowaways are reported to have accepted their immediate deportation, while a fourth has asked for political asylum.Police say the boat initially departed from Istanbul with eight stowaways on board, but four of them got off the vessel at a stop over in Sicily.Three of the four have accepted deportation while the last has applied for political asyl...

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Posted in: Alicante

Indignant Marbella, Justice Now.

One person told 20minutos that part of the town thinks that the judiciary is giving in by letting Roca out of prison on bail.The slogan for the demonstration was ‘Marbella indignada, justicia ya’ – Indignant Marbella, Justice Now.Some 2,000 local residents of Marbella took to the streets last night in demand that Juan Antonio Roca leave the town and lose his assets here. They are planning to ask the instruction judge in the Malaya case, Óscar Pérez, for a distancing order from the town, considering that ex real estate assessor has ill-treated the municipality. Placards carried by the demonstrators also mentioned the ex Deputy Mayor of the town...

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Posted in: Malaya case

Costa ski season will be dramatically shorter than at present

By the end of this century, the ski season in the Pyrenees will be dramatically shorter than it is at present - if one exists at all - according to scientists who are predicting a sharp increase in temperatures and rapid decline in precipitation in the mountain range due to global warming.The study by Spain's High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) warns that average temperatures will rise by at least 2.8ºC by 2100 in a best case scenario in which greenhouse gas emissions are low, and by around 4ºC in the worst-case, high-emissions scenario. At the same time, the amount of rain and snow fall is expected to plunge by between 10.7 percent and 14.8 percent per year."These models predict [temperature and precipitation changes] of sufficient magnitude to directly affect the availability of...

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Posted in: Pyrenees

Francisco del Valle, the brother of the man accused of murdering five year old Mari Luz Cortes, has become the target of local anger and frustration

Francisco del Valle, the brother of the man accused of murdering five year old Mari Luz Cortes, has become the target of local anger and frustration.On Monday night, a crowd of around 100 to 150 people went to his house in El Torrejon, Huelva, and began hurling stones and other objects. The police intervened before the mob could break down the door.Francisco del Valle is now asking the authorities for assistance in moving to a ’safe’ location, somewhere outside the province of Huelva. He is asking the Junta de Andalucía to provide himself and his three children, aged 3 years, 10 years and 17 years, with temporary accommodation until they can...

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Posted in: Huelva

Amy Fitzpatrick the hunt continues

Detectives are continuing the hunt for Amy Fitzpatrick who vanished from Mijas Costa more than three months ago. She was last seen at 10pm as she left a friend’s home in the tourist resort of Riviera del Sol, on the Costa del Sol, saying she was going to walk home. Cops issued an appeal for information about a white Ford Fiesta with a UK number plate owned by a family friend, which went missing at the same time as Amy. A government spokesman in the region said it was “difficult” to believe the youngster left voluntarily. Police are now looking for a second car connected to the case, although no description has yet been released. There has been...

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Posted in: Riviera del Sol

British couple in their fifties were remanded in jail

British couple in their fifties were remanded in jail by a judge in Benidorm yesterday charged with imprudent homicide. They were arrested last Monday after being spotted dragging a badly-injured motorcyclist they had knocked down after a previous accident by licence plate recognition cameras on the outskirts of La Nucia (Aliante). During yesterday's hearing, the man, who was driving, broke down and admitted being aware not only that he had hit something or someone and that, following the impact, he was aware that something or someone had got stuck under his vehicle. In his defence, the man claimed that he thought he had hit a stray dog and said that he failed to stop and investigate because he suffered a panic attack. The degree of responsibility that should be attributed to the man's wife,...

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Posted in: La Nucia

Julián Muñoz spending the weekend at his luxurious Marbella mansion.

The disgraced former mayor of Marbella, Julián Muñoz, is enjoying a long weekend break from Alhaurín de la Torre jail where he is serving time for property-development related corruption. Muñoz left the prison that has been his home for the last twenty-one months at 7.20am this morning in a top-of-the-range 4x4 all-terrain vehicle driven by the chauffeur of his girlfriend, the singer Isabel Pantoja. According to a source close to the former mayor, Muñoz was informed that his request for leave had been granted last Thursday. It is believed that he will be spending the weekend at his luxurious Marbella mansi...

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Posted in: Marbella

legal proceedings against staff at the Dr Pascual Clinic in Málaga, who performed liposuction surgery on her

The family of 44 year old Encarnación Salazar have started legal proceedings against staff at the Dr Pascual Clinic in Málaga, who performed liposuction surgery on her on November 7th last year that led to an agonising and slow death at Málaga's Carlos Haya Hospital more than four months later, on March 20th. Encarna's brother Manuel explained how she had been admitted to the clinic "on the Wednesday, expecting to be back home again the following Saturday." However, the operation went badly wrong, and she required a second operation two days later because "they perforated her intestines, but this operation must have also gone wrong because they had to operate again after a sudden decline in her condition, but she suffered all sorts of complications after that and nearly died. They only left...

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Posted in: Dr Pascual Clinic in Málaga

Antonio Banderas wingless in Marbella

Antonio Banderas 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...

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Posted in: Marbella

Viktor Bout lawyer in Thailand, Lak Nitiwatanavichan, said he would fight extradition

Thai police dropped charges Wednesday against a Russian man accused of being one of the world's most prolific black market arms dealers, saying they will proceed with hearings to extradite him to the United States.Viktor Bout, a 41-year-old Russian, faces several counts in the U.S. of "conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization" for allegedly arranging to sell and transport weapons, including portable surface-to-air missiles to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.Lt. Gen. Phongphan Chayaphan, chief of the Thai police's Crime Suppression Division, said Bout would remain detained pending extradition...

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Posted in: Thailand

Mark Longhurst Assets, including an Aston Martin, two Nissan Pathfinders and a Rolex watch,.

Mark Longhurst had links with crime gangs in Holland and Spain, was caught after an 18-month investigation. The 45-year-old, of Chapel House, Newcastle, admitted conspiring to supply cannabis and money laundering. Newcastle Crown Court heard how Longhurst enjoyed exotic holidays, expensive cars and jewellery. As well as a jail term, Longhurst, who was arrested in March last year, was given an eight-year travel restriction order to run from his release from custody. The court also made a confiscation order for almost £923,757 - the biggest ever secured by the Northumbria force. He has six months to repay the proceeds of his crimes or he will have...

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Posted in: Spanish drug gang

Canary Islands and Majorca :U.K.Police are still trying to trace Allan James Foster.£70,440 confiscated

Allan Foster a prime suspect for the murder of David 'Noddy' Rice Mr Rice, 42, died when he was blasted up to nine times with a semi-automatic handgun as he sat in a car park at Marsden, South Tyneside, in May 2006.Foster, 31, has been named as the gunman and is still being hunted by murder detectives.It is believed he fled abroad after the killing.McAuley, who lived with Foster, admitted conspiring with him and others to conceal the proceeds of criminal property between June 1 2006 and September 30 2006.mother Marilyn McCauley, 56, admitted possessing criminal property in that she knew or suspected £65,815 in cash found at her home two days after Mr Rice's murder was from the proceeds of crime.The charges relate to a total of £70,440 found during two separate raids at Mozart Street, South...

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Posted in: Canary Islands and Majorca

Top members of the Canary Island Government were implicated in irregularities in the awarding of concessions for the placing of wind farms

El País reports that the corruption was revealed by the sacked General Director of the Siemeca wind company in 2005, who claimed that top members of the Canary Island Government were implicated in irregularities in the awarding of concessions for the placing of wind farms. Now the paper says that the Anti-corruption Prosecutor, Luis del Rio, has established the exchange of privileged information between Celso Perdomo and others, with the details revealed in a series of illegal emails. Perdomo is alleged to have paid 23,000 € into foreign bank accounts at the time. New has been breaking regarding corruption on the Canary Islands linked to the generation of wind power. Recordings made of conversations between the ex General Director for Industry of the Canary Regional Government. Celso Perdomo,...

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Posted in: Canary Islands

José Luis Hernández, the President of the Polaris World group linked to perversion of the course of justice Mayor

The Mayor faces charges of perversion of the course of justice and the mis-use of public funds.Daniel García Madrid from the Partido Popular is reported to have exchanged building land with worthless plots in a deal with the Polaris World company More details on the latest corruption allegations in Torre Pacheco, where the PP Mayor, Daniel Garcia Madrid, has been ordered to prison without bail by instruction judge in San Javier, Salvador Calero. He has replaced the earlier judge in the case, Aránzazu Moreno, who is on maternity leave.El País reports that the mayor made a plot of land for building available to the Mar Menor Golf Resort, from the...

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Posted in: Torre Pacheco

Polaris World linked in new corruption allegations

The Mayor faces charges of perversion of the course of justice and the mis-use of public funds.Daniel García Madrid from the Partido Popular is reported to have exchanged building land with worthless plots in a deal with the Polaris World company More details on the latest corruption allegations in Torre Pacheco, where the PP Mayor, Daniel Garcia Madrid, has been ordered to prison without bail by instruction judge in San Javier, Salvador Calero. He has replaced the earlier judge in the case, Aránzazu Moreno, who is on maternity leave.El País reports that the mayor made a plot of land for building available to the Mar Menor Golf Resort, from the Polaris World company, in exchange for other plots of land described as ‘useless’. The difference in worth of the two plots is estimated by the prosecutor...

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Posted in: Polaris World

Ketamine is a veterinary drug, but is hot in the trance/club circuit abroad

The manufacture of ketamine, a hallucinogen, is legal in India. Not classified as a controlled substance, it can be bulk-manufactured Ketamine is a veterinary drug, but is hot in the trance/club circuit abroad International pressure has led India to notify that exporters must get the nod from the Commissioner of DrugsLegally manufactured in India. Illegally consumed at rave parties from Ibiza to California. That's ketamine hydrochloride—the chemical that induces euphoria, triggers off hallucinations and keeps party animals in a trance through the night. Ironically, in India, it is classified as a veterinary drug primarily used to anaesthetise...

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Posted in: ketamine

Raymond Nevitt the walking fraud machine believed to be in Puerto Banus

Nevitt, who vanished after a conviction in 2006, is believed to be in Puerto Banus or Marbella in Spain.International arrest warrants have been issued for Raymond Nevitt, 43, from Manchester, after his conviction at the city's crown court on Thursday. He was found guilty in his absence of five charges of fraudulent trading worth £3.25m after an 11-week trial. He was first convicted of defrauding the taxpayer in 2006 but was released on bail by a judge before being sentenced. Manchester Crown Court heard Nevitt described as a "slick, brash and forceful" man who once took part in the Gumball Rally. He was featured on television alongside celebrities...

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Posted in: Puerto Banus

Ten year old boy who was allegedly raped by four classmates allegedly recorded by one of the aggressors on their mobile phone

Ten year old boy who was allegedly raped by four classmates in the Almeria town of Adra, is suffering nightmares and panic attacks according to a psychologists report drawn up at the Mental Health centre at El Ejido. The attack, by four classmates who are all also under age, allegedly took place close to the CEIP Nueva Andalucía school in the town, although not on the premises and outside school hours. The medical report advises a change of school and place of residence for the victim who is also on medication. The victim’s mother, Maria Teresa S.B. has called on the Guardia Civil and under age prosecutor to re-open the case which was initially archived as those accused had not reached the penal age of 14 in Spain. The attack was also allegedly recorded by one of the aggressors on their mobile...

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Posted in: Mental Health centre at El Ejido

Robbing the money from the collection box placed where the faithful go to light a candle.

Security cameras at the San Juan Bautista Church in Coín, Málaga, have allowed the Civil Guard to identify who was responsible for robbing the money from the collection box placed where the faithful go to light a candle. Three women, two sisters and another local woman, all of them Spanish, were recorded making off with the collection, estimated at 120 €, and what’s more all three turned round to face directly into the camera. The recording shows how one kept watch while the other two broke the padlo...

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Posted in: Coín,Málaga

Drove from Alicante to Benidorm on the wrong side of the A-70

43 year-old man, who drove from Alicante to Benidorm on the wrong side of the A-70, killing two and seriously injuring two more, has undergone a psychiatric assessment. Dubbed the ‘Kamikaze’ driver in the Spanish press, Pedro DA has been in custody since the collision. The psychiatric report reveals that he suffers schizophrenic-type episodes that can cause hallucinations and delirium. When initially stopped by police, he claimed to have become confused when he joined the motorway and later told a judge he had no idea of what was going through his mind at the t...

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Posted in: Alicante to Benidorm

Two men dressed as beggars managed to slip through the door

As the first clients of the day were ushered out of the locked door of a jeweller’s shop in the Madrid suburb of Alcobendas on March 17, two men dressed as beggars managed to slip through the door. Once inside they threatened the owner at gunpoint and gagged him before rifling through the showcases and running off with valuable items. The owner immediately summoned the police but although two patrol cars combed the area, they failed to locate the raiders, confirming suspicions that the men were dressed normally under shabby clothing, which they discarded before mingling with shoppers. This was the twentieth jewel robbery since the beginning of January and latest in a wave of raids in the Madrid area that began at the end of 20...

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Posted in: Madrid

Labour's Michael Cashman, who has been battling Spain's so-called "landgrab" rules for years,

Spanish laws which have shattered the holiday and retirement home dreams of thousands of Britons must be suspended pending a full EU investigation, a Euro-MP claims.Labour's Michael Cashman, who has been battling Spain's so-called "landgrab" rules for years, said he would pursue the issue to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.He was speaking as expatriates whose Spanish homes have been demolished and land seized without compensation told their tales to a committee of MEPs in Brussels.The problems began in 1994 when Valencia's regional government introduced rules to boost low-cost housing for locals.But unscrupulous developers have exploited a loophole which allows them to target property and land owned by foreigners to make way for urban housing schemes - with the expatriates...

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Posted in: European Commission

Malaga banks held up in the space of five minutes by a man in a blue wig

Malaga banks held up in the space of five minutes by a man in a blue wig last week. Witnesses say an individual burst into a branch of Unicaja in Malaga on Tuesday morning, brandishing a shotgun. He was dressed in sunglasses, a green jacket and a blue wig according to the two customers and three members of staff in the bank at the time. Although the gun appeared to be fake, employees handed over the contents of the till to the intruder, who fled the scene. Just five minutes later police received a call from an office of Banesto on the Calle Frigilana. Two men, one of whom fitted the description of the robber in Unicaja, allegedly threatened staff with a sawn-off shotgun.But the second robbery did not go as planned. They escaped with a grand total of just under 40 euros before making a getaway...

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Posted in: Malaga

Costa del Sol property crash bites hard mass repossessions in Spain

"Many people realise they aren't going to sell their homes in a month of Sundays and are just walking away," .Banks have been incredibly slow to alter their valuation criteria and take account of the crash, but nonetheless, their figures show the kinds of reductions that are now available. A one two-bedroom apartment near Fuengirola, for example, was recently valued at £148,000 and has dropped to £84,000 – that's £64,000 less. Another two-bed property in the same location is listed at £44,000 less than its valuation. One lovely villa in Marbella valued on paper at £570,000 is now on the market at £492,000, a drop of nearly £80,000.villas and...

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Posted in: Costa del Sol

Costa del Sol villas and quality apartments in good locations are crashing by as much as £20,000 to £80,000.

Sellers are also gravitating towards auction houses, where properties can achieve a fast sale at knock-down prices. Inez Rix of Direct Auctions says she has seen a huge increase in business from owners desperately trying to offload property. "Things are getting worse and people are dropping prices drastically where they can."On Direct Auction's website, properties are being listed as much as 60 per cent below their original valuations. Banks have been incredibly slow to alter their valuation criteria and take account of the crash, but nonetheless, their figures show the kinds of reductions that are now available. A one two-bedroom apartment near...

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Posted in: Costa del Sol