Officers of the Azerbaijan State Customs Committee prevented drug trafficking and smuggling of alcohol to Azerbaijan,

As a result of joint operation conducted by police and customs officers in Bilasuvar region of Azerbaijan, 2 011 g of heroin and 14 895.1 g of hashish were confiscated from residents of Barda region of Azerbaijan Ruslan Ibrahimov and Jalil Jabbarov. Customs office of Astara region of Azerbaijan discovered 251.566 g of heroin in the luggage of Iranian citizens Turkambur Golamreza Ahmadi and Ismayil Mahmoud Amirturani, who traveled from Iran to Azerbaijan by passenger bus. Officials of the Khacmaz Customs office confiscated 54 bottles of Russian vodka without excise duty stamp from the Russian citizen Svetlana Gamidovna Adilova. The customs officials also detained Russia citizen Sirajudin Saypulaev, who tried to smuggle 9 950 boxes of Marlboro Gold and 1500 boxes of Kent Nanotech cigarettes...

Read more »

Posted in: Officers of the Azerbaijan State Customs Committee prevented drug trafficking and smuggling of alcohol to Azerbaijan

Benjamin and Solomon Marrache, appeared before the Magistrates Court yesterday charged with false accounting in respect of E1.8m of client money.

Two senior executives at a prominent Gibraltar law firm, brothers Benjamin and Solomon Marrache, appeared before the Magistrates Court yesterday charged with false accounting in respect of E1.8m of client money.The two men were arrested on Tuesday and spent the night in police cells before being ferried to court in a police van.The two Marrache brothers were ushered by police through a side entrance to Central Police station just before 10am and appeared before the magistrate in a crowded courthouse a short while later.Attorney General Ricky Rhoda, appearing for the Crown, urged the magistrate to impose stringent bail conditions for fear that the two men might flee the jurisdiction.Keith Azopardi, the defence lawyer representing the Marrache brothers together with Samantha Sacramento, said...

Read more »

Posted in: Gibraltar bank account supposed to hold the company’s cash in fact had a balance of less than nine Euros and no credit facility.

Killing the Golden Goose More demolition orders have been issued in Albox

More demolition orders have been issued in Albox despite confusing statements by the Town Hall and the Mayor, Sr. José GarcíaIn an interview published on the English language Arboleasnow website , Sr. Garcia is reported to have denied the rumour that nine houses are affected, saying that only eight demolition orders have been issued "by the courts".This statement belies the fact that on the 15th December another of our members was issued with an order not by the courts, but by Albox Town Council itself!And on January 20th, the Official Bulletin board carried an instruction to demolish a building on a plot of land near Alcantarilla, Albox. However, the plot referred to has two homes on it as well as an uncompleted structure.We notified the owners and met with the Town Hall Secretary, who agreed...

Read more »

Posted in: Killing the Golden Goose More demolition orders have been issued in Albox

Helen and Len Prior have been ordered to be given a temporary home by a judge’s order.

British Couple Helen and Len Prior have been ordered to be given a temporary home by a judge’s order.Lawyers acting for the couple are claiming compensation from the local council for the loss of their home and also applied for ‘provisional measures’ to house them in a similar property to the one they lost, and it is these measures which the judge has ordered be met. The local council now has to find them a similar property or pay the rent on another one while the case is completed.AUAN, Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No, the protest group acting against the demolition of property in the area, reports that Helen and Len have found a suitable property, and are waiting for the council to agr...

Read more »

Posted in: Helen and Len Prior have been ordered to be given a temporary home by a judge’s order.

Spanish real estate developer Habitat filed for protection from creditors which hold 2.3 billion Euros in debt.

The main creditors of the developer are La Caixa, Caja Madrid, Banco Santander, BBVA and Banco Popular, a total of 38 entities. This is not the first real estate company to go into administration. The total debt of real estate companies in administration is over 10,500 million Euros.The president of Habitat, however appears rather optimistic as he announced that “the company will face all their obligations and has enough active capital to confront its deb...

Read more »

Posted in: Spanish real estate developer Habitat filed for protection from creditors which hold 2.3 billion Euros in debt.

court has registered a condition of ‘bankruptcy’ for Polaris World Sports Centre, Polaris Development, Polaris World Development, Polaris World Indus

Polaris World returned to court with their creditors with the debt now owed to the Bank of Valencia by the Murcian constructor estimated to be around 62-million euros and around 100-million euros owed overall. According to the economic newspaper Cinco Días, the principle creditors are Caja Mediterráneo, Bancaja Group y Banco Popular.Polaris World accepted that 15 of its companies, are in a ’state of insolvencia’ and thus the group is seeking to initiate a period of negotiation with their creditors before entering suspension of payments. The insolvency affects four of the urbanizations, two hotels and El Oasis de Alhama commercial centre among others. The debt of the company, that also accounts for some 700 employees, approaches 100 million Euros.In particular, the court has registered a condition...

Read more »

Posted in: court has registered a condition of ‘bankruptcy’ for Polaris World Sports Centre,Polaris Development,Polaris World Development

Since 2004, more than 1,100 fugitives have been caught, most of them foreigners from Germany, the UK, South America and Eastern Europe

Since 2004, more than 1,100 fugitives have been caught, most of them foreigners from Germany, the UK, South America and Eastern Europe, and there are hundreds more cases waiting to be solved. Many of them choose Spain due to the quality of life and the climate. Between 15 and 20 per cent have been solved thanks to the help of the public, leading to the arrests of paedophiles, hired killers, fraudsters, thieves, drugs barons, pimps, Mafiosi, forgers, torturers, war criminals and a long list of othe...

Read more »

Posted in: 100 fugitives have been caught,more than 1,most of them foreigners from Germany,Since 2004,South America and Eastern Europe,the UK

body of a 31-year-old Moroccan man was found in the Straits of Gibraltar

body of a 31-year-old Moroccan man was found in the Straits of Gibraltar, some 8.9 miles southeast of Tarifa, Cadiz. Sea Rescue in the town received a call from a ship heading for the Atlantic which had sighted a body floating in the water, and Algeciras Guardia Civil Sea Rescue team and the Salvamar Alkaid Sea Rescue vessel found and retrieved the body some 30 minutes later. The body, which was decomposing, was taken to Tarifa port where the death was certified by a judge and forensic doctor before it was taken to Los Pinos morgue in Algeciras for an autopsy. The man was carrying a work permit in the name of Nouredin Jounama...

Read more »

Posted in: body of a 31-year-old Moroccan man was found in the Straits of Gibraltar

Maria Jose Carrascosa, a Valencia lawyer who was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the USA for taking her daughter out of the country

Maria Jose Carrascosa, a Valencia lawyer who was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the USA for taking her daughter out of the country, be set free. Maria Jose married Peter Innes in 1999, and their daughter Victoria was born the following year, however, in 2001, Maria Jose was classed as an abused woman, and in 2004, the couple separated and she returned to Spain with her daught...

Read more »

Posted in: a Valencia lawyer who was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the USA for taking her daughter out of the country,Maria Jose Carrascosa

murderer of Sandra Palo, who was released in 2007,

murderer of Sandra Palo, who was released in 2007, continues his trajectory of crime ON the evening of May 17, 2003, 22-year-old Sandra Palo, who was mentally handicapped, was walking home with a friend, also handicapped, after they had missed the last bus home in Madrid. Fate led them to cross paths with four youths in a stolen car, one of them, Rafael Garcia Fernandez, known as Rafita, was just 14, he was in the back of the car, his cousin ‘Malaguita’ was driving, and two other minors, Ramon and Ramoncin were with them. They were looking for some acti...

Read more »

Posted in: murderer of Sandra Palo,who was released in 2007

PASSENGER tried to force his way into the cockpit on a Thomson Airways flight

PASSENGER tried to force his way into the cockpit on a Thomson Airways flight from Cardiff to the Canary Islands. Staff and other passengers had to restrain the man, who was arrested at Las Palmas airport, Gran Canaria. A spokeswoman for the airport said the man, a Spaniard from the Canary Islands, was "nervous" and "panicked" during the flight. He was later freed by poli...

Read more »

Posted in: Cardiff to the Canary Islands

PAOLO DI MAURO, the 58-year-old head of the Camorra’s Contini clan who was arrested in Casteldelfells (Barcelona)

PAOLO DI MAURO, the 58-year-old head of the Camorra’s Contini clan who was arrested in Casteldelfells (Barcelona) on January 26 after seven years on the run, was the country’s third most wanted man said the Italy’s Interior ministry. Arrested at the same time was 50-year-old Luigi Mocerino, who headed the clan’s international drugs netwo...

Read more »

Posted in: PAOLO DI MAURO,the 58-year-old head of the Camorra’s Contini clan who was arrested in Casteldelfells (Barcelona)

house market crash has seen the value of homes on the Costa del Sol crash to below 65 per cent their original asking price

one million Britons living in Spain some 74 per cent revealed that repatriation is now a distinct possibility, according to a study undertaken by Moneycorp.Some 37 per cent of those surveyed admitted that they were already looking into returning to the British Isles.The house market crash has seen the value of homes on the Costa del Sol crash to below 65 per cent their original asking price.“Brits living in Spain are particularly affected by the struggling property market with many owning holiday homes and letting out their Spanish properties.”Add the plummeting pound and limited job opportunities, the survey has fuelled fears that there could be a widespread exodus.“Brits living in Europe are feeling the effects of the weak pound as they are more likely to be reliant on income from their...

Read more »

Posted in: house market crash has seen the value of homes on the Costa del Sol crash to below 65 per cent their original asking price

Public Prosecutor is asking for 16 and a half in prison for a man accused of killing a couple and injuring two motorcyclists in Alicante

Public Prosecutor is asking for 16 and a half in prison for a man accused of killing a couple and injuring two motorcyclists in Alicante in February 2008. The private accusation is asking for 30 years in prison, considering that the accused was completely aware of what he was doing. The accused drove 16 kilometres in the wrong direction on the A-70, but told the court that he didn’t intend to kill himself, and had suffered a psychotic episode which drove him to the motorway. However, the doctor who examined him four days after the event ruled that he was completely sane at the time and had confessed he was in a hurry to get to San Vicente and entered the motorway in the wrong direction by mista...

Read more »

Posted in: Public Prosecutor is asking for 16 and a half in prison for a man accused of killing a couple and injuring two motorcyclists in Alicante

Denia Judge has sent a young man who allegedly belonged to a gang who perpetrated four attacks against teenagers, stealing their mobile phones

Denia Judge has sent a young man who allegedly belonged to a gang who perpetrated four attacks against teenagers, stealing their mobile phones and money, to prison on remand without bail. The gang covered their faces with balaclavas and threatened the victims with kniv...

Read more »

Posted in: Denia Judge has sent a young man who allegedly belonged to a gang who perpetrated four attacks against teenagers,stealing their mobile phones and money,to prison

DAVID BROOKES, 59, a former Royal Artillery warrant officer and an ex-policeman, was killed by smoke in a fire in the town of Jimena de la Frontera

DAVID BROOKES, 59, a former Royal Artillery warrant officer and an ex-policeman, was killed by smoke in a fire in the town of Jimena de la Frontera His wife Florence, 58, was found by a passerby in hysterics in the street outside. The fire had already been extinguished when the man entered the house and found the lifeless body of Mr Brookes in a bedroom. Mrs Brookes, originally from Edinburgh, is recovering from severe shock in hospital.But her family did not know about the tragedy until they read about it in a newspaper on Friday, January 8.Mr Brookes' son Paul, 37, said: "It was awful to read this in the paper. It was a dreadful shock’’"It seems there was a breakdown in communications and the British consulate was not informed about dad's deat...

Read more »

Posted in: Jimena de la Frontera

one million Britons living in Spain some 74 per cent revealed that repatriation is now a distinct possibility

one million Britons living in Spain some 74 per cent revealed that repatriation is now a distinct possibility, according to a study undertaken by Moneycorp.Some 37 per cent of those surveyed admitted that they were already looking into returning to the British Isles.The house market crash has seen the value of homes on the Costa del Sol crash to below 65 per cent their original asking price.“Brits living in Spain are particularly affected by the struggling property market with many owning holiday homes and letting out their Spanish properties.”Add the plummeting pound and limited job opportunities, the survey has fuelled fears that there could be a widespread exodus.“Brits living in Europe are feeling the effects of the weak pound as they are more likely to be reliant on income from their...

Read more »

Posted in: one million Britons living in Spain some 74 per cent revealed that repatriation is now a distinct possibility

Fernando del Valle was the toast of Marbella community

Fernando del Valle was the toast of Marbella community. An aficionado of classical music, he plays a number of instruments proficiently, including the cello. His life was single of luxury, befitting his feelings – designer go as well as, a beautiful villa, the best schools for his children.Now, however, the multilingual Chilean-born lawyer, described by his friends as a ‘devoted nuclear family male’ along with a ‘person of great culture’, is sitting in Alhaurín de la Torre prison, accused of someone the kingpin of Europe’s largest ever wealth-laundering operation fancy his office in the centre of Marbella.Del Valle has strenuously denied any wrongdoing through his lawyer, Francisco Javier Nunez, who has flick accused the authorities of raids more appropriate to terrorism.For his portion,...

Read more »

Posted in: accused of someone the kingpin of Europe’s largest ever wealth-laundering operation fancy his office in the centre of Marbella

European stocks sank for a fifth day in a row on Tuesday, extending the market's worst sell-off in six months

European stocks sank for a fifth day in a row on Tuesday, extending the market's worst sell-off in six months, with banks taking a beating and miners retreating along with metals on worries over tightening in China.Investors were also rattled by data showing Britain crept out of recession in the fourth quarter of 2009 but only just and with a far weaker growth rate than expected.Britain's Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday gross domestic product rose by 0.1 percent between October and December, well below analysts' forecasts for growth of 0.4 percent after an 18-month recession which wiped out 6.0 percent of output. [ID:nLDE60P0WS]At 1244 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was down 0.35 percent at 1,015.10 points, after dropping to as low as 1,008.01,...

Read more »

Posted in: Banking stocks,have been sharply falling since the White House shocked the market with a plan to curb risk-taking by financial firms.,which were among the top gainers in 2009

demolition of nine British owned properties in Albox, Almería.

President of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán, told Europa Press on Thursday that he had not received ‘any notification or letter’ from the British Ambassador to Spain, Giles Paxman, regarding the demolition of nine British owned properties in Albox, Almería.British diplomats are insisting that Ambassador Paxman has written and sent a fax asking for a meeting to try and find a solution to the problem, but speaking to journalists in Córdoba, José Antonio Griñán, said that the building licences for the properties had already been contested by the Junta at the time as not being considered as legal. He insisted that the Junta had therefore met its obligations regarding the matter, and that the properties were illegal.However also speaking on Thursday the Junta’s Councillor for Housing,...

Read more »

Posted in: Almería.,demolition of nine British owned properties in Albox

fraud paid for a luxury lifestyle in the UK and Spain which included the purchase of a villa in Marbella

Alan James Wilson was the director of a company which designed and rented portable refrigerated units from its base at Staffordshire Technology Park in Beaconside.Wilson took part in a fraud, as sole director of the business, which centred on falsifying rental agreement documents, misappropriation of company funds and disposal of equipment.The fraud paid for a luxury lifestyle in the UK and Spain which included the purchase of a villa in Marbella, currently on the market at 850,000 Euros, a 47-foot yacht which has a list price of £490,000, a luxury home in Derbyshire and Mercedes cars.The 57-year-old, from Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire, was investigated by officers from Staffordshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit. He was arrested and admitted offences of theft, false accounting and fraud...

Read more »

Posted in: fraud paid for a luxury lifestyle in the UK and Spain which included the purchase of a villa in Marbella

Three men were seriously injured yesterday

Three men were seriously injured yesterday when scaffolding collapsed at a football pitch in the town of Santa María del Águila in El Ejido.The three men, aged between 40 and 51, were taken to the Poniente hospital where two of the men are reported to be seriously ill.All three men suffered bruising while one of the men has a broken leg.One of the men was released from hospital the day of the accide...

Read more »

Posted in: Santa María del Águila in El Ejido

Third person has been arrested in connection with last Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city

Police arrested 27-year-old Spaniard, F.J.R.G., yesterday. A search of the address also revealed an Astra 9mm pistol which police believe to be the weapon used in Saturday’s killing, in which a 29-year-old Moroccan man was shot at point blank range in the city centre.Police believe F.J.R.G. to be the person actually responsible for the shooti...

Read more »

Posted in: Third person has been arrested in connection with last Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city

Spanish association supporting the opening of civil war graves, the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (AMRH)

Spanish association supporting the opening of civil war graves, the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (AMRH), yesterday said they intended to push for further attempts to locate the grave of poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca.In a statement published yesterday, the AMRH said they did not consider December’s failed attempt to find the mass grave a “failure” as it allowed certain erroneous oral testimony to be discounted.Lorca was killed in August, 1936 and buried in a mass grave along with three other men. Lorca’s family do not support the search for the poet’s remai...

Read more »

Posted in: Spanish association supporting the opening of civil war graves,the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (AMRH)

Police yesterday arrested two Spanish men in connection with Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city in which a 29-year-old Moroccan man was shot

Police yesterday arrested two Spanish men in connection with Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city in which a 29-year-old Moroccan man was shot at point blank range and killed.The two arrested men, 22-year-old, J.M.S.S., and 23-year-old, D.R.M., both have criminal records for a variety of crimes. Police have said they expect more arrests to follow in the course of the next few days.The Moroccan man is the third person to be murdered in the province of Almeria this ye...

Read more »

Posted in: Police yesterday arrested two Spanish men in connection with Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city in which a 29-year-old Moroccan man was shot