Equatorial Guinea’s exiled opposition leader, Severo Moto, has been arrested in Spain after allegedly trying to transport illegal weapons

Equatorial Guinea’s exiled opposition leader, Severo Moto, has been arrested in Spain after allegedly trying to send illegal weapons to the oil-rich African nation. The arrest was the latest twist in a tangled case that has implicated figures such as Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British Prime Minister, and Simon Mann, the Eton-educated mercenary, who is facing trial in Malabo for his alleged role in a failed 2004 coup attempt. Mr Thatcher, who now lives on the Spanish Costa del Sol, was given a suspended jail sentence after he pleaded guilty to unwittingly financing the coup attempt and breaking the anti-mercenary laws of South Africa. The arrest of Mr Moto raises questions about whether a fresh coup attempt was under way. According to Spanish court sources, he was arrested on Monday...

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Posted in: Equatorial Guinea

Gary Glitter planning to buy a posh pad in Puerto Banus

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Posted in: Gary Glitter planning to buy a posh pad in Puerto Banus

BANKSY Art Destroyed,Westminster Council, which has voted to remove the 23ft high piece entitled One Nation Under CCTV

Jude Law, Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera are among those who have been prepared to pay high prices for one of his works. Westminster Council, which has voted to remove the 23ft high piece entitled One Nation Under CCTV from a wall in Newman Street, London, said it did not want to see the art destroyed, but was trying to take a stand against graffiti. The mural depicts a red-hooded figure painting the words "ONE NATION UNDER CCTV" on the wall, while a US-style police officer holding a camera and a brown dog look on. Deputy council leader Robert Davis said: "We are not saying the owners need to paint over this mural as we can see it has value in the right location, such as an art gallery. "We simply want it removed from this wall and the owner is perfectly entitled to remove it and sell...

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Posted in: Westminster Council

"European banks are five times more exposed to emerging markets than American and Japanese banks,"

"European banks are five times more exposed to emerging markets than American and Japanese banks," said Stephen Jen of Morgan Stanley. "Pressures on emerging market economies therefore could have a particularly negative boomerang effect on European banks." Concerns have suddenly shifted from liquidity and bad balance sheets to exposure to economies like Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania, where currencies are declining and economies faltering. In the last week, Eastern European currencies have slid by around 10.0%. The central banks of Hungary and Denmark have sought to prop up their currencies by raising interest rates, but the sell-off of emerging market currencies continued on into Friday. (See "Flight To Dollar And Yen.") "Currency is what people are focusing on now because it can exacerbate...

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Posted in: Eastern European currencies have slid by around 10.0%. The central banks of Hungary and Denmark have sought to prop up their currencies by raising interest rates

Croatian police continue to examine the crime scene of two murdered journalists in Zagreb.

Croatian police continue to examine the crime scene of two murdered journalists in Zagreb. Ivo Pukanic and Niko Franjic died after a bomb was placed under their car. The recent wave of mafia style attacks has prompted Croatia’s Prime Minister to act. Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said: ‘‘There is no need to declare a state of emergency in Croatia, but we will introduce extraordinary measures.’‘Pukanic, the owner of leading independent newspaper Nacional, had been targeted before in April, but escaped unhurt when a gunman opened fire outside his house. However Nacional, which often ran stories on organised crime, reported Pukanic believed he would be killed. Earlier this month the daughter of a prominent Croatian lawyer was also murdered after being shot in the head. Croatia has been warned to...

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Posted in: Croatia

Alexander Kindred,was arrested after HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officers intercepted him at Dover docks in Kent

Alexander Kindred, 55, of Glennturret Terrace, Perth, Scotland,sentenced to three and a half years in prison He was arrested after HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officers intercepted him at Dover docks in Kent on April 26 last year.They discovered 4,229,200 cigarettes among the crates of biscuits, which he claimed had been loaded into the vehicle in Germany to be transported to the UK.A jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard that the revenue evaded on the tobacco amounted to £580,000.HMRC spokesman Bob Gaiger said: "We will not hesitate to take action against those dealing in smuggled goods and evading duty."This sentence will serve as a deterrent to others. Selling smuggled tobacco products is not a harmless tax fiddle - it cheats the Government of revenue, which can be used to fund vital public...

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Posted in: Perth,Scotland

Russian regulators have halted Google's attempt to acquire one of the company's major online advertising firm.

Russian regulators have halted Google's attempt to acquire one of the company's major online advertising firm.Google may have broken through American and European governmental opposition to its high-profile mergers in the past, but a new attempt to partner with a Russian company has left the company stymied by Moscow. According to the New York Times, Russia’s antitrust authorities nixed Google’s attempt to acquire online advertising firm Begun on Friday.The proposed merger would have given Google access to a network with 40,000 advertisers across 143,000 Russian Web sites. The Federal Antimonopoly Service put a stop on the deal, but didn’t provide many details as to why, besides a generic desire to foster competition.“We are very disappointed to hear that FAS has come to this decision,” Google...

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Posted in: Russia’s antitrust authorities nixed Google’s attempt to acquire online advertising firm Begun

Russia's wealthiest 25 individuals have collectively lost $230bn (£146bn).

Russia's wealthiest 25 individuals have collectively lost $230bn (£146bn). Tycoons like Oleg Deripaska - Russia's richest man and friend, we now know, of British politicians - have seen their fortunes vaporised. On paper, Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea FC owner, has suffered a $20.3bn wipeout. Alisher Usmanov, the Arsenal shareholder-tycoon has lost $11.7bn, Bloomberg estimates. Analysts say that private jets could soon be going for bargain basement prices, while some super-rich are scrambling to sell off their villas in Sardinia and Surrey. In Moscow, elite nightclubs have relaxed their strict entry rules - there aren't enough customers. The capital's top restaurants, meanwhile, have stopped accepting credit cards.Not that Russia's oligarchs are in the mood for entertaining. Since hosting...

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Posted in: twilight of the oligarchs

Paris Hilton is planning a permanent move to London.

Paris Hilton is planning a permanent move to London.The hotel heiress is currently in the British capital filming her new TV show Paris Hilton’s My New BBF (British Best Friend). And she is ready to leave Hollywood for good and settle down in the UK.She told friends, “I love it here, I am going to move here permanently. I have already been here for one month and am much, much happier here.“I love guys with English accents. I have met a really cute English guy, but its early days.”I can hear many people rejoicing with this piece of news. I am not rejoicing, just so you know. Do you honestly think the UK is going to allow Paris to move to London?So...

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Posted in: Paris to move to London is like waging war to the UK.

National Police officers received a tip off that the group was transferring ‘hashish’ in a van to the United Kingdom

The gang were stopped by National Police officers after they received a tip off that the group was transferring ‘hashish’ in a van to the United Kingdom. According to the National Police, they carried out operation ‘Rostel’ in a bid to stop the gang, after they discovered that there was an organised group based in south-east Spain who had managed to smuggle a large quantity, thought to be about a tonne, of the drug through a Murcian port. They said that they suspected the drugs were bound for the UK and that they expected it to be transferred in vehicles through France and across the Channel. Police discovered a member of the group getting ready to load a van at a villa in Garruchal, where one of the gang’s main members resides and following extensive investigation, they raided a house in...

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Posted in: Garruchal

1kg of heroin, Cleveland Police stopped a Vauxhall Vectra driving from North Yorkshire towards the Guisborough area and arrested the driver.

Officers from Cleveland Police stopped a Vauxhall Vectra driving from North Yorkshire towards the Guisborough area and arrested the driver. A search of the vehicle discovered 1kg of heroin. At the same time, on Sunday afternoon, officers stopped a BMW on the A19 near Crathorne, near Yarm, before raiding addresses in Guisborough, Redcar and Middlesbrough, where cash and more drugs were found. In total, nine people were arrested for conspiracy offences, four males – three teenagers and a man in his 40s – and one woman in her 40s, have been released on bail pending further inquiries. The four men initially arrested, were charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and were remanded to appear at Langbaurgh East Magistrates’ Court. Detective Inspector Dave Mead, of Cleveland Police, said: “This was...

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Posted in: Cleveland Police

CONSTRUCTION worker who was sexually harassed has been awarded a total of €49,700 by the Equality Tribunal.

CONSTRUCTION worker who was sexually harassed has been awarded a total of €49,700 by the Equality Tribunal. The worker took a case under the Employment Equality Act against his former employer - "a construction company" - for whom he worked from June 1996 until April 2006.He said he was sexually harassed and that the company "treated him in a discriminatory manner and victimised him when it changed his conditions of employment, placed him on sick leave and ultimately made him redundant," said equality officer Bernadette Treanor in her report.In 2000 and 2001, he complained about sexual harassment to his foreman, who took written statements from him and the alleged harasser."The only result of the complaint was that [he] was moved to another site. The complainant is satisfied that as as result...

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Posted in: Ireland

One in 20 Irish people and almost one in 10 young people has taken cocaine

One in 20 Irish people and almost one in 10 young people has taken cocaine, a major all-Ireland study of the use of the drug has established.Men are twice as likely to use cocaine as women and regular and even daily use of the drug is increasing, according to the drug prevalence study carried out for the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD). North Dublin, where almost 16 per cent of young people reported use of the drug, emerges as the country’s cocaine blackspot, but prevalence rates are rising steeply throughout the country.Use of the drug by 15-34-year-olds has risen five-fold in the north-eastern counties over the past five years, and more than three-fold in the midlands and the west. The vast majority of cocaine users start taking their drug in their early twenties and the most...

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Posted in: Ireland

Taxi mafia, Forced to pay a thousand kroons for a ride from the city centre to the Tallinn Airport.

Italian friends promised recently never to return to Estonia after he was forced to pay a thousand kroons for a ride from the city centre to the Tallinn Airport.“This is daylight robbery!” said the Italian who had not asked how much the ride would cost assuming that it would be normal price for a 15 kilometre ride. When arriving and being asked to pay a thousand kroons he asked the taxi driver for a price list which said 65 kroons a kilometer. “I pay twice less at home although the distance is three times longer,” he said.Sooäär writes that the lack of interest of Savisaar’s city government to stop such daylight robbery leads one to believe that this taxi mafia is secretly funding the City Government. According to the MP, Savisaar is not understanding that such problems affect the image of...

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Posted in: Estonia taxi mafia

Emilio Di Caterino, had become an informant. Di Caterino and his wife and three children are already in the witness protection programme

More and more important mobsters are turning state's evidence, the DNA said. Oreste Spagnuolo, one of a killing squad suspected in 15 murders over the last five months, ''inflicted a major blow'' to the clan when he decided to help the police earlier this month, investigators said. The DNA is confident of turning more Camorristi, they said. On Monday that another clan member, Emilio Di Caterino, had become an informant. Di Caterino and his wife and three children are already in the witness protection programme, it said.Camorra clan Italy has sent the army against is feeling ''hunted'' as turncoats desert it, Italian anti-Mafia police said on Monday. Hundreds of police and troops are stopping the Clan dei Casalesi from going about its business, the Anti-Mafia Directorate (DNA) in Naples said....

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Posted in: Gunter Grass,Mikhail Gorbachev,Orhan Pamuk and Desmond Tutu,Rita Levi Montalcini,Six Nobel Prize winners - Dario Fo

International Monetary Fund believes that more banks in the European Union could fail

The International Monetary Fund believes that more banks in the European Union could fail as efforts to raise additional capital begin to slow.According to the IMF's annual review of the European economies released on Tuesday, the need for banks to rely more on government support will grow as investors and sovereign wealth funds show less inclination to put money into banks and volatile money marke...

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Posted in: International Monetary Fund

Three banks belonging to the Greek buyout firm Marfin Investment Group said they will not participate in the government's bail out.

Three banks belonging to the Greek buyout firm Marfin Investment Group said they will not participate in the government's 28 billion euro ($37.09 billion) bank rescue plan.The three are the first Greek banks to respond officially to the conservative government's plan, worth up to 11.4 percent of its GDP, to help lenders ride out the global financial crisis, although Greek banks had little exposure to toxic assets."Marfin Popular Bank (MRBr.AT: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Marfin Egnatia Bank EGMr.AT and Investment Bank of Greece do not need and do not intend to use any state aid of any nature whatsoever," they said in a statement.Banking sources said on Tuesday many Greek banks would not participate in the plan until they see the exact terms, although they welcomed it as a future...

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Posted in: Bank of Greece

HSBC announced a $607m (£351m) deal in Indonesia yesterday which allows Britain's largest bank to double its presence in the world's fourth-most popu

HSBC announced a $607m (£351m) deal in Indonesia yesterday which allows Britain's largest bank to double its presence in the world's fourth-most populous nation.The arrangement to buy an 88.9% stake in Bank Ekonomi follows frenzied speculation that HSBC would buy a troubled investment bank or bail out one of Britain's banks. Instead, it defied the rumours and stuck to its preference of making acquisitions in emerging markets. It is able to fund the deal from its own resources.The transaction is the latest illustration of the banks' divergent approaches to dealing with a crisis that has forced Lloyds TSB, HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland to raise capital from the government. Barclays, however, has bought the Wall Street businesses of collapsed Lehman Brothers in a signal it is determined to...

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Posted in: HSBC

The International Monetary Fund believes that more banks in the European Union could fail as efforts to raise additional capital begin to slow.

The International Monetary Fund believes that more banks in the European Union could fail as efforts to raise additional capital begin to slow.According to the IMF's annual review of the European economies released on Tuesday, the need for banks to rely more on government support will grow as investors and sovereign wealth funds show less inclination to put money into banks and volatile money marke...

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Posted in: International Monetary Fund

Prudential speculation that the insurer is working on a potential deal to buy part of US insurance giant AIG.

Prudential shares jumped by 22% yesterday on speculation that the insurer is working on a potential deal to buy part of US insurance giant AIG.The Pru's shares had slumped by almost 30% in two sessions at the end of last week, amid worries that an economic downturn could put pressure on insurer solvency. The Financial Services Authority had helped to stoke the anxiety by admitting it was in discussion with insurers over the issue. An FSA briefing note had raised concerns over "weaknesses" in the calculation of capital ratios.Yesterday Standard Life shares rallied by 4.4% and Legal & General by 3.4% though Aviva shares were flat.But investors cheered the hope that the Prudential was interested in raising money to fund a potential deal, rather than to bolster its balance sheet. They also...

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Posted in: US insurance giant AIG

Bank Failures in Iceland Cause UK Council Delay Funds for Genome Analysis Center

Norfolk County Council last week postponed to November its plan to award a £1 million grant toward the center — which would be the first of its kind in the UK — after it learned how much of a £32.5 million investment in three failed Icelandic banks it will lo...

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Posted in: Genome Analysis Center

Russia, Iran and Qatar, holders of more than half of the world's natural gas, agreed to form a ``gas troika'' for joint exploration and production

Russia, Iran and Qatar, holders of more than half of the world's natural gas, agreed to form a ``gas troika'' for joint exploration and production, OAO Gazprom said. ``We have agreed to create a technical committee, and one of its missions will be to review projects that can be implemented in a trilateral way,'' said Alexei Miller, chief executive officer of Russian gas exporter Gazprom. Miller spoke to reporters in Tehran after talks today with Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari and Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiy...

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Posted in: ``gas troika''

Tamboskaya mafia organisation Vladislav Reznik being investigated on the orders of a Spanish judge

Vladislav Reznik, a deputy of Putin's United Russia party and the chairman of the State Duma Financial Markets Committee, is being investigated on the orders of a Spanish judge for alleged links to the Tamboskaya mafia organisation.The gang is accused of a series of serious crimes including murder, kidnap, arms and drugs trafficking, money laundering and racketeering and has been mentioned in connection with match fixing UEFA cup games.A luxury villa belonging to Mr Reznik in the exclusive La Toro resort on the island of Majorca was raided by the Guardia Civil who seized computers, files, and works of art including paintings and sculptures.Cars,...

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Posted in: La Toro resort on the island of Majorca

Guardia Civil is currently investigating the discovery of a body, in an advanced stage of decomposition, in waters close to sa Foradada

Guardia Civil is currently investigating the discovery of a body, in an advanced stage of decomposition, in waters close to sa Foradada, between Deya and Soller. The body was found by a fisherman who, upon making a closer inspection of a large object he had seen floating in the water, realised that it was a human corpse and immediately called the emergency services. Units from the Guardia Civil, Maritime Rescue and Red Cross all took part in the recovery operation, which lasted some hours. Initial identification has been made even more difficult due to the fact that the body is so badly decomposed. In fact, at this stage, it is not even possible to say whether the body is that of a male or female.The corpse was taken to the Port of Soller where it was examined by judiciary and a forensic doctor....

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Posted in: Deya and Soller

SIX Americans arrested in Torrevieja for possession of cocaine

SIX arrested in Torrevieja for possession of cocaine and for allegedly being part of a narcotics ring.According to the police, all those arrested are American and aged between 30 and 40 years. They said that the gang ringleader, known as M.V.C, had been arrested previously in 2001 for the same drug related activities. The investigation into the Americans’ activities began three months ago when two properties in Torrevieja were identified as the bases where drug operations were being conducted. When arrested, the police found several amounts of cocaine in packages of various sizes and weights, totalling over 3.5 kilograms. According to reports, it was cocaine of the purest and highest grade and worth a lot of money on the street. Once the ringleader was arrested, police carried out several...

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Posted in: Torrevieja

Six kilos of heroin has been taken off the streets of Alicante

Six kilos of heroin has been taken off the streets of Alicante and it is one of the largest drugs hauls.It occured when a North African man was being tailed from Murcia by the police as a suspect , he was stopped and resisted arrest by dangerous driving . The drugs were discovered in his car .The last major drug bust was in 2006 when more than 20 kilos was found on a boat in Alicante . This came in from Turkey via the so called Balkan route . Heroin is now less popular than cocaine and other synthetic drugs...

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Posted in: Alicante

Mayor built a house on non-urban land by claiming it was just a garden shed

Residents have complained that the mayor has built a house on non-urban land by claiming it was just a garden shed. According to the village’s inhabitants, Juan Jose Puchol (PSPV) had a house built of some 40 square metres, which he said was just a storeroom for tools and a DIY room, but then later installed a small bathroom and kitchen. They say the windows of the ground floor are blanked out so passers-by cannot see that it is lived in, and the upper floor windows ‘have sea views’. Properties built on land classified as ‘rural’ or ‘rustic’ must not be residential, meaning that planning permission is not available. In this respect, residents claim the mayor’s house was built without the correct legal licence. But the mayor says the council’s architects gave the green light to the construction....

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Posted in: VALL de Laguar

Google has started to take 360 degree photos of the city of Málaga as part of the internet portal’s Street View program.

Google has started to take 360 degree photos of the city of Málaga as part of the internet portal’s Street View program.A car covered in cameras has been seen taking the photos which will shortly appear on the internet.Street View was named as the most innovative product of 2007 by Time magazine, and reports are that Google are currently also filming in seven other Spanish cities, Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia, Galicia, Salamanca and Bilbao.Some may consider Street View more evidence of Google’s dominance of the net, while others may have privacy issu...

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Posted in: Google Málaga

David George Hartley, 41, from Mansfield, Notts, was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for murder

David George Hartley, 41, from Mansfield, Notts, was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for the murder in June, 2002, of Danish holidaymaker Paul Pedersen.He was also sentenced to a further two years imprisonment for stealing 200 euros - then worth about £135 - from his victim after strangling him.Hartley denied the charges.The written sentence was published at the Barcelona provincial court today following Hartley's conviction by a jury of nine at the end of a five-day trial last month.Hartley met Pedersen at a campsite near Barcelona airport in June, 2002. They became friends and shared the same tent, the court heard."Witnesses from the campsite said they were always together," says the written sentence.On the night of June 23, the jury heard during the trial, Hartley attacked the Dane while...

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Posted in: Barcelona

residents on the Ana Maria 2 find dead body hanging from a tree only a few metres from their front doors

horrified residents on the Ana Maria 2 urbanisation in Calypso awoke to find a dead body hanging from a tree only a few metres from their front doors. The man, in his 30s, appears to have committed suicide, by hanging himself by the neck from a lower branch. One local resident said: “At 8.30, my wife walked with me to the front gate when I was leaving for work. “We noticed that the Guardia Civil had blocked off the road a little further up the hill. We were then horrified to see a body hanging from a tree only a few metres from the front of our house. “My wife burst into tears and I must admit that I felt shaken, too. We went back inside our house and when we left together an hour later the body was still hanging there. “I asked a policeman if they knew who the man was and he said they had...

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Posted in: Calypso

The Latin Kings are the best-known among the Hispanic youth gangs that have formed in Spain among the immigrants from its former colonies.

They call themselves kings and queens. They rule over streets they have named the Inca, Aztec or Hispanic kingdom. They believe in God, honour and brotherhood. And whoever breaks the code of silence, does so at his own risk. The Latin Kings are the best-known among the Hispanic youth gangs that have formed in Spain among the immigrants from its former colonies. Gradually, Spanish police experts are beginning to understand the mentality of the street gangs born or based on models in poor and crime-infested neighbourhoods in the Americas. The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation was initially formed to help and defend Latin American immigrants in the Chicago area of the United States in the 1940s. Its members later became involved in violent crimes. The Spanish branch of the Latin Kings was...

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Posted in: The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation

Spanish police has seized seven tons of marijuana and detained five people in recent crackdowns in the southern province of Andalucia

Spanish police has seized seven tons of marijuana and detained five people in recent crackdowns in the southern province of Andalucia, provincial commissary Jose Maria Deira said Tuesday."The drug, coming from Morocco, is very pure, which has a market value of 10 million euros (about 14 million U.S. dollars),"Deira said, "it is the biggest volume seized in Andalucia this year."Deria said the marijuana was captured on two ships respectively, one ton in Cadiz on Sept. 21, and the other six tons in San Lucar de Barrameda a day later."It took several days to report the seizure because the police was trying to make more arrests and seizures," police authorities said.Deira added that all the detainees were Spanish and they would face judicial punishment.Spain is one of the main arrival points in...

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Posted in: Andalucia

Body of a woman has been found floating on a beach of La Manga del Mar Menor in Murcia.

Body of a woman has been found floating on a beach of La Manga del Mar Menor in Murcia.Lifesavers found the body of the woman on the Galúa beach around 5pm last night and alerted the Guardia Civil. There are no details about her possible identity or nationality as yet.It comes after the body of another woman was found on Monday floating in swimming pool in a water park, also in La Man...

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Posted in: La Manga del Mar Menor