Town of San Miguel de Salinas are in a state of shock after its cemetery was vandalised, graves robbed and coffins removed from their niches.

Town of San Miguel de Salinas are in a state of shock after its cemetery was vandalised, graves robbed and coffins removed from their niches. This was the appalling scene of desecration that greeted the caretaker of the graveyard when he arrived to open the gates as usual at 8.30 in the morning. He discovered that one of the niches had been tampered with but had not been opened, while another one had been opened and the coffin removed. The coffin had been placed upright against the wall, with the body still inside. It was obvious that the clothing of the deceased had been searched for any objects of value. The robbers had also removed two receptacles from the niche containing human bones, which had obviously been there for many years. Police say that the perpetrators used tools to break down...

Read more »

Posted in: San Miguel de Salinas

new police team is to be established in Spain which will pursue foreign criminals

new police team is to be established in Spain which will pursue foreign criminals. The decision to set up the new squad has been taken following what is described as the ‘social alarm’ which has been caused by several violent thefts and other actions carried out by foreign gangs across the country.Violent foreign criminals and re-offenders now face deportation to their countries of origin, as do those who take part in the ever increasing numbers of domestic violence.The new police squad will be called The Expulsions Brigade for Foreign Criminals BEDEX and will start operation in the autumn.News of the new force was given yesterday by the Secretary of State for Security, Antonio Camacho, speaking to the Interior Commission in Congre...

Read more »

Posted in: Expulsions Brigade for Foreign Criminals BEDEX

Three men who were shot and wounded in Marbella in Spain

Irishman is among three men who were shot and wounded in Marbella in Spain, it has emerged.Police responded to reports of an assault with a firearm in the Avenida del Prado area at 11.40pm , the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.The three, aged 39, 45 and 73, were taken to the Hospital Costa del Sol in Malaga, the paper said.One of the men, aged 45, has already been discharged and the older man was expected to leave hospital today.The third man, aged 39, suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder. El Pais said the reasons for the attack were not yet kno...

Read more »

Posted in: Marbella

Police are reported to be investigating possible links between the shooting of a British man in Calle Ramón Areces in Puerto Banús on Wednesday night,

The victim in the Puerto Banús shooting has been confirmed to be British and is in hospital in a serious but stable condition after being shot five times. Police are reported to be investigating possible links between the shooting of a British man in Calle Ramón Areces in Puerto Banús on Wednesday night, with an earlier shooting incident at the Nikki Beach discotec.They think the British victim of the latest shooting, named with the initials M.H. could be linked to those who took part in the shooting at Nikki Beach. He remains in a serious by stable condition in hospital after being shot five times including to his right eye, right arm, right leg, pelvis and to the genitals.He is from Liverpool and has been living in Marbella with his partner for some years. Government Sub Delegate, Hilario...

Read more »

Posted in: Puerto Banús shooting

As Ireland's gang war escalates, the coastal resorts of Spain have become home to dozens of Irish criminals who are on the run

As Ireland's gang war escalates, the coastal resorts of Spain have become home to dozens of Irish criminals who are on the run from Ireland for fear of their lives. Peter 'Fatso' Mitchell and John 'The Coach' Traynor are both living in Spain, and just last month Mitchell was shot outside a pub in what is believed to be a botched execution attempt. He was shot twice in the shoulder in the popular tourist resort of Puerto Banus. John 'The Mexican' McKeown also set up home in the Spanish resort, but after vanishing in December 2006 he is feared dead. John Gilligan, who is now jailed, also has links to Alicante in Spain, where his daughter had run a pub called The Judge's Chambers. In 2003, Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg, both believed to be Westies thugs, fled to the area following a shoot-out...

Read more »

Posted in: Spain

Liverpool victim resident in Marbella for some years wounded in Banus Shooting.

Police and forensic experts inspect the scene of the shooting in Puerto Banús last night The victim was said by witnesses to be a man in his 30's from Liverpool who has been resident in Marbella for some years. A man in his 30’s, first reported to be Eastern European by some sources, but now considered to be British by most media, has been injured in a shooting incident in a cafeteria in Puerto Banús, Marbella. At least five shots were fired in the port at 7,30pm last night, according to emergency service sources, with four of the shots hitting the man in the face after a first shot to the knee. He is reported to be seriously injured. Witnesses...

Read more »

Posted in: Marbella,Puerto Banús

Justice isn't the sentence. Justice is having our Gary home Steve and Lee Dunne want to get his body repatriated so they can hold a family funeral.

Gary Dunne, 22, from West Derby, was attacked with a machete near Torremolinos in March 2006. His killer, Victor Posse Navas, was jailed for nine years by a judge in Malaga earlier this month. Mr Dunne's parents Steve and Lee Dunne want to get his body repatriated so they can hold a family funeral. But Spanish authorities have said the body needs cremating for hygiene reasons before it can be transported. Mr and Mrs Dunne have already handed petitions into Downing Street and have asked Arlene McCarthy, MEP for the north-west of England, for help. Now they are taking their case to the European Court of Human Rights. Mr Dunne, builder and father-of-one, was stabbed when he and a friend were attacked at Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol. He was taken to hospital but later died of his injuries....

Read more »

Posted in: Torremolinos

Málaga man has been arrested by the police for growing marihuana plants on his terrace.

27 year old Málaga man has been arrested by the police for growing marihuana plants on his terrace. Police seized 40 kilos of the plants and say that they were being grown also in two rooms of the property where as many as 14 time switches controlled heaters, ventilators and automatic watering systems.The arrested man is reported to have been running a seed business and the raid came after an anonymous tip-off to the poli...

Read more »

Posted in: Málaga

Two British men have been arrested in Spain for alleged drugs offences, the Foreign Office has said.

Two British men have been arrested in Spain for alleged drugs offences, the Foreign Office has said. It confirmed Brian Deans - thought to be from Dundee - and Dean Hinton, from Northampton, were arrested in Alicante on 12 September. The Foreign Office said consular assistance was being provided. But it could not confirm reports that the arrests followed a seizure of more than 350kg of cannabis, a spokeswoman went on to s...

Read more »

Posted in: Spain

28 kilograms (61.6 pounds) of cocaine had been carefully tucked inside the frame rails of a 1947 Chevrolet Stylemaster sedan.

Had it not been for an anonymous tip, it's likely the bad guys in this latest real-life drama would have gotten away. The 28 kilograms (61.6 pounds) of cocaine had been carefully tucked inside the frame rails of a 1947 Chevrolet Stylemaster sedan. "Drug dogs couldn't detect anything" when passing by the vehicle, said Claude Catto, head of the interregional judicial police in Lyon, according to local news reports. Loaded into a large shipping container, the car and its secret cargo had already passed undetected through ports in Chile, Spain, Fos-sur-Mer, France, and finally Lyon. Customs documents revealed that the container and the car originated from Bolivia. Only a tip finally alerted police and customs officials that all might not be as it seemed with the old Chevy.Even with the knowledge...

Read more »

Posted in: south of France

22-year-old man originally from Colombia is fighting for his life after a dramatic chase down the A-31 that ended in Alicante city centre

22-year-old man originally from Colombia is fighting for his life after a dramatic chase down the A-31 that ended in Alicante city centre in a collision with a National Police patrol car. The drama began at around 9am yesterday morning when Guardia Civil officers in Villena spotted the man arguing violently with a woman, now believed to be his sister. When they tried to intervene, the man got in his car, speeding off down the twisty A-31 freeway towards Alicante city centre, before ploughing into a police roadblock on the Avenida de Elche, near the old flour mill. He was taken by ambulance to Alicante General Hospital, where he is reported to be in a critical condition suffering from severe head injuries, multiple fractures and contusio...

Read more »

Posted in: Alicante

Body of 96-year-old Severino Basalo Cid, a convicted serial arsonist, was found by fire-fighters

Body of 96-year-old Severino Basalo Cid, a convicted serial arsonist, was found by fire-fighters at the point of origin of a forest fire that destroyed 0.01 hectares (0.025 acres) of chestnut tree woods near Viana do Bolo (Ourense) last Wednesday afternoon. It appears that Cid's fellow residents had prevented him from setting the fire after spotting him behaving suspiciously earlier in the day, but nobody noticed when he returned to the scene to complete his mission after lunch. The blaze, which was reported shortly after 3pm, was extinguished by 5.45pm by four teams of ground-based fire-fighters supported from the air by one helicopter. Cid's funeral took place at Viana do Bolo cemetery at 8pm yesterday eveni...

Read more »

Posted in: Viana do Bolo

Nearly 30% of Spain is in the process of becoming desert

Nearly 30% of Spain is in the process of becoming desert, according to a report by Adena, Spain's branch of the World Wildlife Fund."We have tried to raise the alarm, before everything goes to hell," said Oliveros, from the Toledo office of Ecologists in Action, Spain's largest consortium of environmentalist groups.Fueled by corruption, speculation and a hot market that only recently cooled, vast patches of regions such as Castilla-La Mancha are being swallowed up by enormous housing developments, often on land designated as national parks or as protected zones because of delicate ecosystems and near-extinct wildlife.Once a quiet countryside...

Read more »

Posted in: Spain deserts

Dismantled a crack and powder cocaine distribution ring operating in parks and neighborhoods in and around the Allapattah area of Miami

multi-agency Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation has successfully disrupted and dismantled a crack and powder cocaine distribution ring operating in parks and neighborhoods in and around the Allapattah area of Miami from August of 2007 until the present. The twenty-one individuals charged, were indicted on August 28, 2008. The indictment charged defendants Pablo Mendez-Trenches, a/k/a "Maka," Felipe Jesus Nunez, a/k/a "Chocolaté," Silvia Maria Zayas, a/k/a "China," Ricardo Terry Domech, a/k/a "Eugenio Arguin," a/k/a "Polopui," a/k/a "Puntilla," Antonio M. Cruz-Ramirez, a/k/a "Tony," Lazaro Soto-Rodriguez, a/k/a "Charlie Chaplin,"Aris Lara Jr., a/k/a "Gordo," Gerardo Pendas-Mechado, a/k/a "Rogelio," a/k/a "Rogelito," Felix Herrera-Cartaya, Belinda Bernal, a/k/a...

Read more »

Posted in: Miami

Princes House purchase price includes curtains and furniture and a pink car.

Located in the hills above the New Golden Mile, only a 5 minutes drive away from San Pedro, surrounded by different golf courses and only 10 minutes away from Puerto Banus and a couple of minutes away from the beach with many beach restaurants. This most elegant high standard property, perched over the valley enjoys fantastic sea views and is situated in a magnificent private park-like garden with the most beautiful subtropical trees and flowers, with swimming pool, private tennis court and all the privacy and tranquillity that one could desire. This property designed in a particular architectural style offers 3 large bedroom suites, each with...

Read more »

Posted in: Marbella

Acting on a tip from the DEA, police tracked Edgar Vallejo-Guarin to a luxury hotel in Madrid, police said Friday

Spanish police have arrested a suspected Colombian drug trafficker listed among the most wanted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the police force said in a statement Friday.Acting on a tip from the DEA, police tracked Edgar Vallejo-Guarin to a luxury hotel in Madrid, police said Friday, confirming a U.S. Embassy statement.Vallejo-Guarin, 47, who has a US$5 million reward posted for information leading to his capture, was arrested Thursday, the embassy statement said.Vallejo-Guarin, also known as "Beto el Gitano," has a history of violence, money laundering and corruption, the police statement said.In June 2001 the South District of...

Read more »

complex crime involving a rare and expensive Ferrari that was stolen in Marbella in 1993.

Connecticut police have helped unravel a complex crime involving a rare and expensive Ferrari that was stolen in Spain in 1993.Car smugglers falsified documents and records for the car, valued at between $4 million and $5 million, and sold it to a car enthusiast to Sharon, police said.Troopers from the State Police Motor Vehicle Fraud Task Force started their investigation in to the rare Ferrari 250 PF in June after learning that the car was registered in Connecticut. It turns out, police said, that the Ferrari was reported stolen in Spain in 1993. The original Police report identified the victim from Switzerland.The car was then smuggled into...

Read more »

Posted in: Marbella

Nikki Beach shooting Iranians have been arrested

Two Iranians have been arrested by the UDYCO Organised Crime Unit of the Marbella police, in connection with the shooting seen at Nikki Beach in Marbella last Saturday August 23. Judicial sources told La Opinión de Málaga that neither of the two men actually carried out the shooting. One of the two has now been released after making a statement to the police, while the other is still being held. It’s understood they took part in trouble between a group of Iranians and a group of Britons which broke out in the discotec ahead of the shots being fired. One 42 year old man needed surgery in the Costa del Sol hospital after being shot in both l...

Read more »

Posted in: Costa del Sol

22 hotels in Lanzarote declared illegal by the Supreme Court of the Canary Islands still face an uncertain future.

22 hotels in Lanzarote declared illegal by the Supreme Court of the Canary Islands still face an uncertain future. As the controversy over their fate continues. Some of Lanzarote´s best known hotels are in the firing line, such as the five star Gran Melia Volcan in Playa Blanca, the Natura Palace and the Gran Castillo. In total eight five star hotels, ten Apart-hotels and four new developments still in the planning stage have been decreed to have flouted an edict controlling construction on the island. Which was created back in 2000 to militate againstunfettered building work.However two local councils essentially chose to ignore these new rules. And granted licenses to hotels which contravened this ruling in two of Lanzarote´s main resorts, namely Costa Teguise and Playa Blanca.Established...

Read more »

Posted in: Gran Melia Volcan in Playa Blanca,the Natura Palace and the Gran Castillo.

Half of the 165 passengers on an Air Europa flight from Tenerife to Salamanca Wednesday refused to travel in the Boeing 737-800 aircraft

Half of the 165 passengers on an Air Europa flight from Tenerife to Salamanca Wednesday refused to travel in the Boeing 737-800 aircraft after the pilot informed them about a fault in the antifreeze valve before takeoff. The Air Europa plane was preparing for takeoff when the captain informed the passengers of the fault. He said the plane would change its route and fly to Madrid, where passengers would board another flight to Salamanca. Eighty-seven passengers demanded to be allowed off the aircraft while the remaining passengers continued to Madrid on the original Boeing 737-800. Meanwhile, the passengers who had gotten off the plane had to be transported by coach to the island's other airport in the north where they were found room on a larger Airbus 330, also bound for the capital. Officials...

Read more »

Posted in: Air Europa plane

Graeme Berry, 42, of Millerstone Rise, Kirkby Thore, Penrith, was arrested.

lorry driver has been charged with trying to smuggle drugs into the UK after about 420kg of cannabis resin was found at a British port.The drugs, with a street value of more than £880,000, was discovered by UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers in Plymouth among 20 pallets of foodstuffs.The seizure was made on Tuesday after the vehicle arrived from Santander, Spain.During a search of the vehicle, officers discovered hessian-wrapped drugs hidden among the pallets.Graeme Berry, 42, of Millerstone Rise, Kirkby Thore, Penrith, was arrested.He was later charged with attempting to smuggle the drugs into the UK and was bailed to appear before Plymouth magistrates on September ...

Read more »

Posted in: Santander

Raymond Nevitt, thought to be lying low in Spain, doesn't pay up he'll face nearly 14 years in jail - when police finally get their hands on him.

fraudster on the run since 2006 has been ordered to pay back £1.6m he made through crime.If Raymond Nevitt, thought to be lying low in Spain, doesn't pay up he'll face nearly 14 years in jail - when police finally get their hands on him.Nevitt, 43, from Whitefield, Bury, vanished on bail after being sentenced to three years and nine months for a complex business fraud involving more than £3.2m.Now, following a proceeds of crime hearing in his absence in Manchester, Judge Martin Steiger ordered him to pay back £1.6m within six months or face a further decade in jail when police catch up with him.Police hope the prospect of a lengthy sentence will...

Read more »

Posted in: Ravelle and a series of associated businesses called PC2Go and Just Printers based in Trafford Park

Mother of missing Irish girl Amy Fitzpatrick met Taoiseach Brian Cowen

Taoiseach Brian Cowen met the mother of missing Irish girl Amy Fitzpatrick this afternoon.The 16-year-old disappeared after leaving a friend's house at about 10pm on January 1st to walk to her home on the Costa del Sol in Spain.Her mother, Audrey Fitzpatrick, and her partner, Dave Mahon, met Mr Cowen at Government Buildings for half an hour during which they updated him on the investigation.A spokesman for the Taoiseach said Mr Cowen offered the assistance of the Irish embassy in Madrid to help the couple deal with Spanish authorities in the search for Amy.Originally from Clarehall in north Dublin, Amy had been living with her mother in the Riviera...

Read more »

Posted in: Amy Fitzpatrick

Tambovskaya branch of the Mafia makes it's money from a network of criminals in Russia

The Spanish Anticorruption 'Bureau' has asked its counterpart in Portugal for collaboration in investigating the presence and actions of the Russian Mafia operating on Madeira, and suspected of stripping profits and / or laundering money in the 'Zona Franca', the tax protected business community. The Tambovskaya branch of the Mafia makes it's money from a network of criminals in Russia, and last June in Spain 20 members of the gang were arrested in Spain and charged with numerous offences including money-laundering, murder, extortion, drug dealing, illicit association, falsification of documents and tax fra...

Read more »

Posted in: Madeira

60 year old father and his 33 year old son have been arrested for drug trafficking in l’Alfàs del Pi

60 year old father and his 33 year old son have been arrested for drug trafficking in l’Alfàs del Pi, after marihuana plants were found in their garden in the El Patró area of the town.Police say they removed 22 of the plants which were between 1.5 and 2.5 metres tall. Two shotguns and a simulated pistol were also removed from the scene.The police were reportedly alerted to the case by neighbours and found a greenhouse covered by green fabric at the sce...

Read more »

Posted in: l’Alfàs del Pi

Owners of a jewellery store have been robbed three times in the past year

Owners of a jewellery store located on a busy corner opposite the Mosque in Cordoba have installed so many anti-robbery devices that it now looks like a fortress. The store has been robbed three times in the past year, twice by having a car driven into the window. On the third occasion the thieves smashed the window with a drain grill. In addition to the usual burglar alarm and "thief-proof" locks, bullet-proof unbreakable glass was installed last week, as well solid iron beams across the windows to stop the cars. The owner said the store had never been robbed during opening hours, only at night, but with all that extra protection, the thieves are going to have to change their working hou...

Read more »

Posted in: Cordoba

Thirty robberies at chemists shops in Málaga province

Thirty robberies at chemists shops in Málaga province, and the authorities are so concerned about the situation that the police have drawn up a special plan to try to give better protection to the chemists and their staff. Working in conjunction with the College of Pharmacists, which is to provide the addresses and phone numbers of every one of the 600 shops, police all over the province will now change their patrol routes to include all the streets in which pharmacies are located, and hope that this will dissuade would-be robbers as well as providing reassurance to the staff. The police will give talks about possible security measures and what to do if a robbery does occur, regular meetings will be held with the councillor for public safety, and the College is promising to provide assistance...

Read more »

Posted in: Málaga province

Police discovered 200 marijuana plants when they searched a rural property just outside Almayate recently

Police discovered 200 marijuana plants when they searched a rural property just outside Almayate recently, and as one plant can be sold for 3,000 euros on the black market, the total haul was probably worth 600,000 euros. Two men have been arrested, one of whom is Spanish. This was one of the largest plantations of marijuana to be found in Málaga province, but top place goes to the discovery last year of 400 plants in the basement of a luxury villa in Marbella. Those plants were being grown in an artificial lake, with heat lamps directed at them to stimulate their growth. Investigators also discovered that the drugs which were allegedly produced there were subject to genetic modificication before being sold, to make them more addicti...

Read more »

Posted in: Almayate

British man who is allegedly a member of an international drug trafficking network involved in a shooting incident in Ibiza

Officers from Fuengirola's Local Police force have arrested two people who they think were involved in a shooting incident in Ibiza in July last year. The men were travelling on a motorbike which was stopped during a routine check at the Torreblanca roundabout, and although the driver produced documentation in a different name, the police suspected that he is a British man who is allegedly a member of an international drug trafficking network, and who took part in a shoot-out between gangs in San Antonio, Ibiza, last summer. The drug trafficker is wanted by the Guardia Civil in San Antonio and there is also an extradition warrant out on him, issued by Belgi...

Read more »

Posted in: Fuengirola

“The drums of crisis have started to roll,” says the vice-chairman of the Alliance for Tourism Excellence, Jose Luis Zoreda. “The outlook is stormy."

Holidaymakers affected by the growing credit crunch have deserted Benidorm, as Spain’s traditionally strong and resilient tourist industry sees a downturn during the peak season.Visitor numbers to beach resorts along Spain’s Costa del Sol dropped by eight per cent in July, as the government makes a pledge of €500 million to upgrade facilities.This unprecedented decrease in foreign visitor numbers in July has meant deserted bars, empty sun loungers and highly-discounted offers extending the length of the Costa del Sol, and has sent a warning signal throughout the industry.“The drums of crisis have started to roll,” says the vice-chairman of the Alliance for Tourism Excellence, Jose Luis Zoreda. “The outlook is stormy. There’s nothing to indicate that the rest of the year will compensate for...

Read more »

Posted in: Costa del Sol