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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

Amy Fitzpatrick renewing their efforts to find her with a new campaign to distribute between 100,000 pamphlets with her photos

No sign of missing Irish teenager Amy Fitzpatrick since her disappearance on January 1 from Mijas Costa. During that period the Guardia Civil have tried to trace two cars and have now found the second vehicle they were looking for.According to an eyewitness, either Amy or a girl...

Malaga prostitution in the city centre

Residents in Málaga are threatening unprecedented protests against prostitution in the city centre. Referring to “the serious situation in which we find ourselves,” the collective ‘Centro Sur’ says it will create road blocks, stage demonstrations and patrol the streets to bring to...

Organized crime on the Costa del Sol

The Spanish ministry is determined to tackle organized crime on the Costa del Sol. It is targeting the large international gangs that are using the latest technology and modern methods of moving money. Two new special police units are to be formed to work alongside the existing drugs, organized and violent crime groups. They will gather intelligence on gangs and liaise with international law enforcement agencies in the criminals’ countries of origin,...

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...

Mohamed Taieb Ahmen Spanish police arrests "El Nene" fugitive Moroccan citizen

Spanish police arrests "El Nene" fugitive Moroccan citizenPolice say he had bribed his way out of jail and Moroccan authorities issued an international arrest warrant in December after discovering he was missing.A man known as ‘El Nene’, one of the most wanted hashish drug traffickers...

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...

across-the-board personal income tax rebate of EUR 400, worth a total of around EUR 6 billion.

The Finance Department on Wednesday reported that the public surplus shrank to EUR 3.280 billion in the first quarter, or 0.29 percent of GDP. The surplus in the first quarter of last year was EUR 6.747 billion, equivalent to 0.64 percent of GDP.The government's coffers are starting to feel the effects of a sharp slowdown in the economy as the housing market moves from boom to crisis.Spain posted a surplus of 1.83 percent of GDP last year when the...

medical records of 11,000 patients on an internet file-sharing programne.

Spain's Data Protection Agency has fined a medical centre in Bilbao EUR 150,000 after an employee accidentally disclosed the medical records of 11,000 patients on an internet file-sharing programne.The records include details of 4,000 women who underwent abortions at the Lasaitasuna clinic and are therefore of an exceptionally sensitive nature."This is an inexcusable mistake on the part of the medical centre, which did not have adequate security...

Years of overbuilding means Spain has around half a million new homes on the market, a Spanish property developer association said on Wednesday.

Spaniards have borrowed heavily by guaranteeing consumer loans against the value of their homes, which have more than tripled in the last ten years.Households are feeling poorer since Spanish house price growth fell below the rate of inflation for the first time in a decade during the first quarter.Expectations Spanish house prices will fall this year have led to a sharp decline in housing demand, especially for second homes, real estate firm CB...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

“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...

Benalmadena Ray Griffin,"It's getting terrible in Spain. Villains are making a living out of ripping off tourists."

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,...

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...

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...

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...

The preliminary report from the Civil Guard into the Benalmadena bypass accident

The preliminary report from the Civil Guard into the accident, which says that the KIA was travelling at excessive speed for the conditions at the time, and that the overtaking manoeuvre on the left saw a collision first with the central reservation which caused a rebound into the bus which then turned over. The definitive report on the accident is now expected in a few days time.13 of the injured in the accident remain in different hospitals in...

Playa de Bakio attacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean

According to the El País newspaper today, the Spanish Ministry of Defence is planning a rescue operation as a last option in the case of the Basque tuna fishing boat, ‘Playa de Bakio’ which has been kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Somalia in the demand of a ransom.The Spanish...

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...

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...

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,...

syndicate had been using Madrid as its centre in Europe and recruited Malaysian women as couriers to Brazil, Australia, Mexico and China.

On Thursday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said the ministry would seek Interpol's assistance in tracking international syndicates using Malaysian women as drug couriers.The previous day, it was reported that more than 20 Malaysian women in their 20s were detained by a drug syndicate in a house in Madrid.The syndicate had been using Madrid as its centre in Europe and recruited Malaysian women as couriers to Brazil, Australia, Mexico and...

Nine Finnish tourists including a seven-year-old girl died following a bus crash near the Spanish resort town of Benalmadena

Nine Finnish tourists including a seven-year-old girl died following a bus crash near the Spanish resort town of Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol yesterday. Some 16 others were injured, some seriously, when their bus veered off the road and over-turned after a collision with another vehicle. The driver of car has been detained on suspicion of being over the drink driving limit The bus was taking the tourists to Malaga airport to catch their flight...

Repossessions loom as the once buoyant homes market goes into freefall,

The Santa Ursula based publisher of The Tenerife Property Price Guide, today releases the results of its survey of Tenerife property prices, showing falls in prices for the three regions of Tenerife, (the South and South East, the North, and the Metropolitan region). During the last six months, property prices have fallen by 3,48% in the South and South East (from Candelaria around the coast to Santiago del Teide). In the North, prices have fallen...

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...

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...

Costa del Sol Home Information Packs are a legal requirement

Felipe Martinez de Marmol, from solicitors Martinez-Echevarria Perez & Ferrero Abogados, explained in further detail the regulations surrounding Decree 218, passed in 2005, which requires all agencies selling property on the Costa del Sol to have a Documento Informativo Abreviado (DIA) and a Ficha Informativa (FI) - similar to the UK’s Home Information Packs (HIPS). De Marmol believes the need to be compliant with the Decree is becoming increasingly...

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...

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...

International drug trafficking ring originating in Spain

Malta Police drug squad has smashed a international drug trafficking ring originating in Spain after capturing two young Malaysian women smuggling drugs through the Malta International Airport a few weeks ago.The case was kept under wraps by local authorities as the two women were also charged in Maltese Courts 'behind closed doors'. But the story was exposed in the Malaysian press which reported how Malaysian women are being lured by a Spanish drug...

Juan Antonio Roca attempted robbery at Cala d'Or villa

A 45 year old Austrian woman with no previous criminal record is on bail pending trial after being arrested for attempting to steal a number of high-value items from a chalet in Cala d'Or (Mallorca) belonging to Juan Antonio Roca, who is one of the main suspects in the 'Operación...

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...

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...

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...

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....

Smuggling routes in the sub-Saharan Sahel region of Africa that were traditionally used for cigarettes, arms and illegal migrants

Smuggling routes in the sub-Saharan Sahel region of Africa that were traditionally used for cigarettes, arms and illegal migrants are now becoming highways for cocaine, heroin and hashish, with kidnapping and banditry rife, the United Nations chief crime fighter warned today.“The...

Spain "It's a spoiled generation. They've suffered little, matured little and are not well-educated,"

Spain has become the top consumer of cocaine in continental Europe, according to a recent European Union study on drug use. By a United Nations count, 3% of Spain's adult population consumes cocaine; that's a bigger percentage than the erstwhile leader, the United States, at 2.3%....

'Martin the Bag' Lance from Marbella arrested suspected of being the Cocaine boss of Marbella.

Spanish police have arrested a British man suspected by French authorities of being the head of a cocaine trafficking network, the interior ministry said Monday.It identified the man as Martin Lance N., 40, also known as "Martin the Bag", born in the central English town of Oadby...

Juan Antonio Roca told the press on his release that he is considering returning to his job in Marbella Town Hall

Juan Antonio Roca walked free from prison in Granada – two years since his arrest on charges of urban corruption, fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, the misappropriation of public funds, falsifying official documents and the illegal possession of firearms.Judge Óscar Pérez –...