Juan Antonio Roca allowed to walk away from jail in Málaga on bail of one million euros.

Juan Antonio Roca, who amassed a 200-million euro fortune after allegedly awarding building licences in exchange for money, has been on remand since his arrest on March 31, 2006.
Now, magistrate Óscar Pérez will allow him to walk away from jail in Málaga on bail of one million euros.Fears persist, however, that the former chaffeur turned town planning chief will flee Spain after the state prosecutor claimed he had clandestine bank accounts in tax havens around the globe. Explaining his decision to give bail, judge Óscar Pérez said: “Disregarding the reasonable suspicion that Roca has hidden funds abroad, he has important financial interests to defend here.
“Furthermore, he has a wife and children and he has always lived in Spain.”
After Roca’s arrest in Operation Malaya, police confiscated original works of art, a helicopter and even a stud farm – all apparently amassed during his time at the town hall of the resort, which is popular with the nouveua riche of northern Europe and Russia.So far, 86 people, including councillors, constructors and even a former professional footballer, have been arrested during the Malaya investigation.

Britons with homes on the Costas are among those at risk from a £3.5 billion campaign by the environment ministry

"The state is destroying property without any concern for the law or human rights," said Mr Ortega."This will affect more than 500,000 people along the coast in Spain, of whom up to 100,000 are foreigners, including thousands of Britons. It is illegal and totally unfair. We already have 20,000 members whose homes are threatened with demolition."Announcing the plan last November, Cristina Narbona, the environment minister, attempted to placate owners by insisting: "We won't be demolishing entire developments, even if they breach the law."The latest government drive will do little to reassure homeowners in Spain who have been affected by a string of recent scandals. Local corruption and the flouting of planning laws have allowed swathes of Spanish coastline to be developed during the past decade.The owners of 4,500 illegally built homes in Marbella are still fighting in the courts to prevent them being bulldozed.In January on the Costa Almeria, Len and Helen Prior, a British couple, won widespread sympathy from the expatriate community after the home they had bought in good faith was torn down because it allegedly breached planning regulations. They are currently living in a caravan on the site of their former three-bedroom villa and have yet to receive compensation.

Britons with homes on the Costas are among those at risk from a £3.5 billion campaign by the environment ministry to restore and protect coastal areas from over-development."This is the single biggest assault on private property we have seen in the recent history of Spain," said José Ortega, a lawyer and the head of an action group launched in Madrid to challenge the Socialist government, which is using a 20-year-old law, the Ley de Costas (Coastal Law), to clear developments along 482 miles of coastline.Under the plan properties built within 550 yards of the beach could be confiscated by the state and in some cases demolished.Even homes constructed entirely legally decades ago are being targeted.
Clifford Carter, 59, recently discovered that the villa he and his Spanish wife, Maria, have owned since 1976 is under threat.Their villa is one of 75 in a seaside development on the Costa Blanca, 10 miles south of Valencia, that has now been "rezoned"."Out of the blue we received a letter... stating that the home we have owned for over 30 years had been confiscated," he said.
The couple, who spent holidays at the two-storey villa before selling their home in Croydon, south London, and retiring there four years ago, have been given permission to remain living there."Because we bought over 30 years ago we got a concession to stay in our home but our ownership has been taken away and we can't sell it even if we wanted to," he said, adding that they had hoped one day to leave the house to their two daughters. "The indication is that the house will be demolished but we haven't been told when," said the former electrical engineer.

Huelva Angry crowds shouted Asesino and hurled bottles and stones as the detainees

The first one breaking the orders from the police was the grandfather of Mari Luz, Juan José Fernandez, a fact that gave more strength to the protesters. ‘You criminal murderer, you have to pay for what you did! The prison is not enough for you!’ this was one of the various sayings directed to Santiago del Valle the confessed killer of Mari Luz.



Santiago del Valle, the man arrested in connection with the death of five year old Mari Luz Cortés, arrived at the court in Huelva shortly after 5 on Thursday afternoon, where a crowd of some 600 people had been waiting outside since the early hours of the morning. The angry crowd shouted "Asesino!"[murderer] and hurled bottles and stones as the detainees, Santiago and his sister, arrived in police vans. The security fences that were serving as a barrier between the public and the court were used like throwing weapons. The police, who had send to the place several intervention teams, were forced to move against the crowd, with shots to the air and using their batons, trying to keep the order and disband the crowd , who were, besides throwing stones, doing fires in the streets and vandalizing several parked cars.During the uproar, two Spanish journalists, who were covering the story, were slightly injured. Izidro Huete, a cameraman from Cuatro Television [Channel 4], was hit in the head with a stone and had to be carried to a hospital to receive medical treatment. As well, a journalist from the radio Onda Cero was injured in the arms, in the middle of the crowd clash.
Between the screams and pushes, the rage of the relatives and neighbours mixed with a will of provoking chaos by a group of young persons from the El Torréjon district forced the authorities to expand the perimeter of security, closing all the streets that had a connection to the court.

Mari Luz’s father, Juan José, forced his way into Santiago del Valle’s home, on the same day that Mari Luz disappeared

El Mundo reports that several people from the neighbourhood, including Mari Luz’s father, Juan José, and some of her uncles, forced their way into Santiago del Valle’s home, taking some papers on the same day that the child had vanished, knocking down the door in search of the youngster. This led the man who is now charged with the child’s murder to call the police for help. The police went to the home and initially thought it was a simple case of breaking and entering, deciding to put off making full enquires until the next day. When they returned, Santiago del Valle and his family had gone, and it was only some time later that police joined the dots in the case and realised that they were dealing with a known paedophile with a previous record.


Santiago del Valle García, the man arrested in connection with the death of five year old Mari Luz Cortés from Huelva, has been ordered to prison without bail by the judge in Instruction Court One in Huelva on charges of murder and against sexual freedom. The judge also told him that he must also serve the two years and nine month sentence handed down against him in 2006 by Penal Court One in Sevilla for abusing his own daughter.The judge also ordered prison without bail for Rosa del Valle, his sister who had also been arrested along with his wife and a brother. The wife, Isabel García, was released with charges after making her statement to the Instruction judge and is now reported to be staying outside Huelva province. Santiago and Rosa left the Huelva Provincial Court at a quarter to one this morning, bound for the jail in Huelva.Meanwhile the General Council for Judicial Power (CGPJ), the body which oversees the judiciary in Spain has opened an investigation as to why the alleged killer of Mari Luz had not served a single day in jail, despite two prison sentences against him. The latest was the firm 2 year 9 month sentence handed down against him by Penal Court One in Sevilla for the sexual abuse of his own five year old daughter. There was a second earlier sentence also, for two years in jail, handed down for the sexual abuse of a nine year old girl who he surprised on the stairs of her home, which he also somehow escaped serving.
It appears the official reason was that he was ‘whereabouts unknown' and had also appealed against the second sentence which had allowed him to avoid being placed inside. He had claimed that it was a gymnastics teacher who had abused his daughter, and not him, presenting a fake medical report at the time to support his case.

The court documents from Sevilla at the time make dramatic reading. Público quotes them as saying ‘On several occasions the accused, dropping his trousers, would make his daughter touch his member with her hands, and on other occasions he would masturbate while he touched her genital region. The mother was often present while this took place, and despite the opposition of the child who complained to her father that it hurt, never did anything to stop it taking place’. The court documents note that the mother, Isabel García, has an I.Q. of only 47, and she was clearly under the manipulative influence of her husband. The Sevilla court documents also indicate that Santiago del Valle suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, but also that the judge considered that when he abused his daughter he knew exactly what he was doing. The couple’s two daughters, now aged 9 and 15, are in the care of foster families. There is also a third case of a 13 year old girl in Gijón, against whom he was handed down a distancing order after he had been chatting to her on the internet and proposed sexual relations. The girl’s mother discovered the plan and informed the police in that case.The Government Delegate for Andalucía, Juan José López Garzón, commented that it was not for the police or the government to comment on the situation, and he was not going to make a judgement. He called for calm from the local population. However López Garzón did not deny that there was a search and capture order in place against Santiago del Valle since 2006. It appears that the Police investigators into the Mari Luz case knew nothing of this however, and were unaware that he lived less than 100 metres away from where she disappeared. However the local residents of this tight-knit community did know about Santiago del Valle’s past, and a few hours after Mari Luz vanished they had informed the missing girl’s parents.

Santiago del Valle García, imprisoned without bail by the judge in the Court of First Instance in Huelva charged with murder of Mari Luz

Santiago del Valle García, has been ordered to prison without bail by the judge in the Court of First Instance in Huelva on charges of murder of Mari Luz and and against sexual freedom.. The judge told him that he must also serve the two years and nine month sentence handed down against him in 2006 by the Court of First Instance in Sevilla for abusing his own daughter.The judge also ordered prison without bail for Rosa del Valle, his sister who had also been arrested along with his wife and a brother. The wife, Isabel García, was released with charges after making her statement to the Instruction judge and is now reported to be staying outside the Huelva province. Santiago and Rosa left the Huelva Court at a quarter to one this morning, bound for the jail in Huelva.Meanwhile the General Council for Judicial Power (CGPJ), the body which oversees the judiciary in Spain has opened an investigation as to why the alleged killer of Mari Luz had not served a single day in jail, despite two prison sentences against him. The latest was the 2 year 9 month sentence handed down against him by the Court of First Instance in Sevilla for the sexual abuse of his own five year old daughter. There was a second earlier sentence also, for two years in jail, handed down for the sexual abuse of a nine year old girl who he surprised on the stairs of her home, which he also somehow escaped serving.It appears the official reason was that his ‘whereabouts were unknown' and had also appealed against the second sentence which had allowed him to avoid being placed inside. He had claimed that it was a gymnastics teacher who had abused his daughter, and not him, presenting a fake medical report at the time to support his case.The court documents from Sevilla at the time make dramatic reading. Público quotes them as saying ‘On several occasions the accused, dropping his trousers, would make his daughter touch his member with her hands, and on other occasions he would masturbate while he touched her genital region. The mother was often present while this took place, and despite the opposition of the child who complained to her father that it hurt, never did anything to stop it taking place’. The court documents note that the mother, Isabel García, has an I.Q. of only 47, and she was clearly under the manipulative influence of her husband. The Sevilla court documents also indicate that Santiago del Valle suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, but also that the judge considered that when he abused his daughter he knew exactly what he was doing. The couple’s son and daughter, now aged 9 and 15, are in the care of foster families.
There is also a third case of a 13 year old girl in Gijón, against whom he was handed down a distancing order after he had been chatting to her on the internet and proposed sexual relations. The girl’s mother discovered the plan and informed the police in that case.
The Government Delegate for Andalucía, Juan José López Garzón, commented that it was not for the police or the government to comment on the situation, and he was not going to make a judgement. He called for calm from the local population. However López Garzón did not deny that there was a search and capture order in place against Santiago del Valle since 2006.
It appears that the Police investigators into the Mari Luz case knew nothing of this however, and were unaware that he lived less than 100 metres away from where she disappeared. However the local residents of this tight-knit community did know about Santiago del Valle’s past, and a few hours after Mari Luz vanished they had informed the missing girl’s parents.
El Mundo reports that several people from the neighbourhood, including Mari Luz’s father, Juan José, and some of her uncles, forced their way into Santiago del Valle’s home, taking some papers on the same day that the child had vanished, knocking down the door in search of the youngster. This led the man who is now charged with the child’s murder to call the police for help. The police went to the home and initially thought it was a simple case of breaking and entering, deciding to put off making full enquires until the next day. When they returned, Santiago del Valle and his family had gone, and it was only some time later that police joined the dots in the case and realised that they were dealing with a known paedophile with a previous record.

According to the site of the Spanish newspaper ABC, Santiago del Valle, confessed to the police that he "touched" Mari Luz on the day of her death. There are no official confirmations on the details of the confession, however, judicial sources advance that the suspect confessed to be obsessed with the girl. Mari Luz was lured to the house of Santiago with a toy and then he touched the 5 year old girl in the buttocks.
Rosa del Valle was living with the brother Santiago and his wife, Isabel, in the district El Torrejón up to the date of the disappearance of Mari Luz (13th of January). Rosa is detained by suspicion of having transported the body of the girl in her blue Hyunday. Compromising evidences were found in a wet cardboard that was in the luggage of her car. The neighbourhood in Huelva thinks that she was ‘weird’. They say, for example, that she had the routine of washing her car in the night. After his arrest on Tuesday, Santiago del Valle said he had invited the child into his house and attempted to abuse her, but she struggled and accidentally fell down the stairs and was killed. He also admitted that he had put his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. The post mortem showed that she had died of asphyxiation. Frightened and with fear of being incriminated, he launched Mari Luz body to the river Huelva.It was reported that del Valle had a pending prison term of more than two and a half years for the sexual abuse of his young daughter, who was the same age as Mari Luz when the abuse took place. He was originally sentenced in 2002, and the sentence was confirmed by a higher court at the end of 2005.It’s understood that his wife, who was released with charges in the Mari Luz investigation, was also sentenced in that previous case, and that the couple tried to blame a gym teacher for the abuse suffered by their daughter.
There was no warrant out for his arrest in connection with the sentence, Europa Press reports, but a Seville court had issued an order in March 2006 to locate his whereabouts after ruling that he should serve the term. Juan José López Garzón, central government delegate for Andalucía, told the news agency that del Valle has been under watch by police since the beginning of the investigation into Mari Luz’s disappearance. National Police have also confirmed that they received no warrant for his arrest, and noted that there was insufficient evidence to charge him when he was originally questioned in the investigation.Del Valle was sentenced by another court in Seville for abusing a nine year old girl, and received a two year suspended sentence in that case.

Spanish police fired rubber bullets and clashed with protesters gathered outside a court Thursday in the town of Huelva for the arrival of two suspect

Spanish police fired rubber bullets and clashed with protesters gathered outside a court Thursday in the town of Huelva for the arrival of two suspects in the disappearance and death of a 5-year-old local girl.
The crowds shouted «murderer» and hurled bottles and stones as the suspects _ a man and his sister _ arrived in a police van. Three police officers and two journalists were slightly injured. Two people were arrested.
«I insist in asking people to stay calm and to let the courts do their work,» Juan Jose Lopez Garzon, Interior Ministry delegate for the southern region of Andalucia, told reporters.
The detained man and his sister were arrested Tuesday in the central city of Cuenca.
Mari Luz Cortes vanished Jan. 13 when she left her home in the southern town of Huelva to buy sweets. After weeks of searches, police found her remains March 7 in an estuary near the city.The case was major news in Spain given that the child had disappeared in an area about two hours' drive from the Portuguese town where British girl Madeleine McCann went missing in May of last year while on vacation with her parents.
Lopez Garzon said the detained man is the main suspect. He had been a neighbor of the dead girl, Mari Luz Cortes, but had left Huelva shortly after her disappearance. He was arrested weeks later but released for lack of evidence.
The General Council of the Judiciary, an oversight board, said Thursday it had ordered an inquiry into why the suspect had been free despite having been sentenced twice in recent years for child abuse. Santiago del Valle García, the man being held in connection with the death of five year old Mari Luz Cortes was arrested in Cuenca, along with his wife and his two brothers, although del Valle is the only one to remain in custody.In his original statement, Santiago del Valle García apparently confessed to killing the young girl but later amended his statement to say that although he taped the girl’s mouth and was present when she died, her death was accidental. This latest version claims that Mari Luz had willingly accompanied him and died as a result of falling down some stairs. He admits putting tape over her mouth and then removing the body using a shopping trolley.Meanwhile, the McCann family are keen to question Santiago del Valle García in relation to the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine last May 3rd.

Violent attack in Benidorm ends in death

The suspect is a 42 year old Moroccan man and reports in Diario Sur say that several victims of theft have recognised the attacker in police identification parades.
One of the alleged attacks from the 42 year old Moroccan led to the accidental death of a 77 year old German pensioner
A 77 year old German pensioner, named with the initials J.G., has died from a blow he received during a violent robbery attempt in Torre del Mar on March 18. His body was found in the doorway of his house in Edificio Faro II.
The attack happened as he returned home late after fishing, and the National Police say they have arrested a suspect who they consider has carried out a series of similar violent attacks in Vélez-Málaga which have been seen in the area after ten at night.

Five-hundred and seventy eight women have been murdered by their husbands or ex-husbands in Spain.

The ex boyfriend of a woman found dead in Asturias on Friday is reported to be in custody A man reported by Cadena Ser as an ex boyfriend has been arrested for the murder of Patricia Fernández Guzmán, whose burnt body was found dumped on an illegal rubbish tip near a disused mine in Asturias on Friday. Her body was found on the tip in Ciaño, a district of Langreo, and it was later discovered that she had been reported missing by her family on the day she disappeared. The 22 year old lived at the family home in Sama, also in Langreo, and worked in a local hairdresser’s.
The Civil Guard in Gijón said she was stabbed before her body was thrown onto the tip and set alight.If Patricia’s death is confirmed as a domestic violence death it will be the third in Spain in recent days, after two more fatalities in Almería province and Tarragona last week. In Albox, Almeria, a local policeman, named with the initials J.J.A. shot his wife with a shotgun, before committing suicide by turning the gun on himself. It happened on Thursday afternoon in the family home, with the authorities alerted by the couple’s daughter who found the bodies. The man was still alive when the medics arrived, but he died in hospital in the early hours of Friday morning. Apparently he was off work because of some psychological problems and his regulation firearm had been taken from him.In the centre of Tarragona on Thursday night, a 27 year old Moroccan woman, named as Sanaa Haddadi, was stabbed several times by a man, also thought to be Moroccan who fled the scene. A large scale police search has been established in the area for a 26 year old man who is said to have been in a relationship with the victim.
Murders of women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, have become known worldwide. During the last 10 years, over 400 women have been murdered in the region, according to Amnesty International.
While the violence against women in Mexico is well-known, people would be dismayed to know that Spain has an even higher murder rate due to domestic violence. Five-hundred and seventy eight women have been murdered by their husbands or ex-husbands in that same period of time in Spain. Governmental measures, such as creating the Courts for Violence Against Women in 2004, a special court that only handle cases of domestic violence, haven’t helped solve a problem that is deeply rooted in Spanish society. Each day more and more people get used to reading stories of domestic violence in the news: When online news sites pull down the story of the last woman killed, a new murder is committed. According to advocates, because of the lack of pressure by the Spanish justice system, authorities and society, domestic violence has been an ongoing problem in Spain, to the extent that even those women who denounced their husbands didn’t get any help or protection. It is not difficult to find cases in which the woman had previously made several reports to the police, got a restraining order against the husband or started the legal process to get a divorce and got killed before the papers were signed. Also, Spanish violence analysts have noted similarities among murders committed close in time. Experts have even advised that media coverage is not helping. The everyday presence of murders in the news, instead of telling the public how big the problem is, has spread the knowledge of how many people are accused of domestic violence for years without showing up at the court room. On Feb. 26, four women died. The presidential campaign for the March 9 general elections was held at that time, but domestic violence wasn’t a big issue on the candidates’ agendas. It took the deaths of four victims within a 24-hour time span for them to initiate discussions about how they were going to re-educate a society that has overlooked this problem for too long, how to better protect the victims and even help those men who have requested attention from psychiatrists and got a sad “we are not ready for this” as a response. Considering that all the details the news media are offering about each and every homicide are having a negative effect, the Spanish government has had informal meetings with editors aiming to find a better way to report the cases. The goal is to report on the penalties and sentences for those who are accused of domestic violence and have a restraining order, instead of reporting on the details of the crime.
As vice president Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega expressed, the details reporters are offering are leading the problem toward the wrong direction. For example, one of the changes they are trying to introduce is that the media stop referring to these cases as “woman murdered by her husband” and just say that a woman has been killed.
In a different approach to the problem, the Spanish socialist government of Rodriguez Zapatero has been reinforcing measures that support equality between men and women for the last four years. When President Zapatero presented his first governmental team, it was the first time in the history of Spain that there were as many men as women in the highest positions. In 2007, the Spanish Congress approved the Law on Equality. With the Popular Party, the second major political party in the country voting against it, the socialists managed to pass a measure that requires companies to name the same number of men and women in the higher management positions.With examples like these and the news media involvement, the Spanish government and society are looking forward to a future where people are no longer desensitized to the domestic violence issue after finding the same story over and over in the news and share the efforts to reduce the number of victims to zero.

The main suspect is named in reports as Santiago del Valle, who was a neighbour of the Cortés family until recently

Mari Luz´s father, Juan José Cortés, gave a press conference on Wednesday thanking officers for their work in the investigation into his daughter’s death, and commented that he would not wish the pain he suffered in the 54 days she was missing on anyone else, not even on ‘my daughter’s murderer.’
arrests took place in Pajaroncillo, Cuenca, where del Valle and his wife recently moved to avoid reprisals, according to reports. Del Valle has a previous criminal record for sexually abusing one of his daughters, EFE says, and was suspected by Mari Luz’s family from the very first moment. He was in fact arrested in Granada in the early stages of the investigation but released for lack of evidence.


The Civil Guard now have four suspects for the death of Mari Luz Cortés, the five year old from Huelva who disappeared from her home in the El Torrejón district of the city on 13th January on a short trip to the local sweets kiosk, and was found dead 54 days later. The main suspect is named in reports as Santiago del Valle, who was a neighbour of the Cortés family until recently, and lived on the route she would have taken to the kiosk. He was arrested along with his wife on Tuesday. It’s understood the wife has now been released with charges, and she and del Valle’s brother and sister are said to be charged with covering up the crime.He is reported to have confessed to police to his involvement in the child’s disappearance, and said she fell and died accidentally when she was with him ‘at her own choice.’ El Mundo gives a few more details on his confession, that he claims she died when she hit her head after falling down the stairs at the entrance to his block, and that he panicked and hid her in a shopping trolley. He is also said to have admitted that he covered her mouth at one stage.His arrest is said to have come thanks to evidence from the autopsy results on Mari Luz’s body, after she was found floating in the Ría de Huelva on 7th March. There has been no confirmation of what that evidence is, but EFE said the results showed there were no signs of sexual assault, and that asphyxia was the cause of death. She had suffered a broken rib, which could have been the result of a struggle or an attempt to keep her quiet.The suspects are expected to appear before the investigating judge in Huelva on Thursday.

The parents of Mari Luz suspected this man from the first moment. Juan José Cortés, said this morning: “We know that it is him, we are sure, and this

The parents of Mari Luz suspected this man from the first moment. Juan José Cortés, said this morning: “We know that it is him, we are sure, and this is no surprise to me”One of the suspects of the death of Mari Luz confessed today to the Spanish police that the girl died in an accident, falling down the stairs. Santiago del Valle García also said that the girl went with him to his house willingly. The man is one of three neighbours of the Cortés family detained yesterday in the afternoon by the Spanish police and he had already a previous record as a paedophile.His wife, Isabel García, has also been arrested, although initially there is no suspicion that she has intervened in the actions, but only to interrogate her. This man was the number one suspect of the homicide since the first moment, mainly because the little girl was last seen alive while walking in front of his house, in the same neighbourhood, El Torrejon, where she resided with her family. Mari Luz disappeared on January 13, when she went to buy sweets at a kiosk. The sister of the suspect was freed meantime. The couple keeps on being questioned.
The principal suspect of the death of Mari Luz lived a few meters away from the Cortés family. The man went away from the district the following day after the disappearance of the child, with fear of retaliations. The Police, later on, found and questioned Santiago in Granada. He was detained some days later after the arrest, but was released at that time since there was no sufficient proof to indict him.
The police arrested him again yesterday in Pajaroncillo, a village of 100 inhabitants in the hills of Cuenca, hundreds of kilometres away of Huelva, together with his wife, Isabel, and sister. This arrest was done as a result of new evidence arising from the autopsy carried out on Mari Luz Cortés. He had travelled there, to receive his monthly pension, according to police sources. After his initial statement, during which he confessed to the crime, he now assures that the child "fell" and accidentally died. Frightened and with fear of being incriminated, he launched Mari Luz body to the river Huelva.
The 52-year-old man, Santiago del Valle García, had already been arrested for paedophilia and sexual abuses, including to one of his daughters, which was the motive why a judge had issued an order to keep the child at a distance from her father, to prevent him from harassing her again, according to police sources. The Spanish authorities suspect that the cause of the crime has a sexual nature. In 2002, Santiago was convicted by a court in Sevilla of continued sexual abuse against his own daughter, he tried to accuse the gymnastics teacher of abusing his 5 year old daughter and claimed compensations of 60.100 euros.He was condemned to 2 years and 9 months of imprisonment. In a later audience in the year of 2006, a judge considered that Santiago suffered 75% of paranoid schizophrenia and that his wife, Isabel suffered 65%. They children, a girl who has now 15 and a 9 year old boy, were taken from their custody and were sent to a 'foster' care family.

Lottery Scam’

14 Nigerians and 1 Chilean have been arrested by Police at Málaga following investigations into a ‘Lottery Scam’. Victims received letters, sometimes at their home address abroad, informing them they had won a lottery and were asked to supply bank details and a small ‘transfer fee’. Investigators have estimated that the proceeds from their joint operations could have exceeded six million euros in 12 months. As well as 43 mobile telephones and a quantity of cash, officers confiscated false documentation used for opening bank accounts. Into these accounts, 19,000 euros had been transferred from abroad by victims of the fraud, while a total of 100,000 euros had been transferred within two months into 15 other accounts. The police are now appealing for anyone who thinks they may been a victim of these gangs to come forward.

Santiago del Valle García convicted for child abuse and indecent assault on minors, and is already said to have confessed to Mari Luz's murder.

Santiago del Valle García, 52, has confessed to the murder of Mari Luz Cortés, according to news sources. He had already been questioned in Granada but was released for lack of proof. Santiago G. and his wife and sister, who had been neighbours of the Cortés family in Huelva, were detained in Cuenca, to where they had moved well before the body of little Mari Luz was found downriver from the family home.Del Valle had always been the prime suspect in the case but police lacked evidence against him. According to police sources quoted in the newspaper, he had a history of child molestation, even on his own daughter, and had left the El Torrejón district of Huelva to avoid possible reprisals from indignant neighbours. His wife, whose name does not appear, was detained for questioning with her husband although she is not a suspect; his sister could be accused of collaboration in the execution of a crime.
Mari Luz disappeared on her way back home from buying a packet of crisps on January 13th and was the subject of a wide search throughout the country, with European extensions. Her body was found accidentally on March 7th by workmen at the Cepsa refinery in Huelva. Autopsy reports indicated that she had been murdered very near, or on the date she disappeared.The man being quizzed by Spanish police is reported to have convictions for child abuse and indecent assault on minors, and is already said to have confessed to Mari Luz's murder. man has been arrested in Huelva in connection with the disappearance and death of the five year old Mari Luz Cortés, whose body was found floating in the Ria de Huelva last March 7. She had vanished when going to buy some crisps on the previous January 13 in the Torrejón district of Huelva.The Government Sub-delegation offices in Huelva have confirmed that an arrest was made yesterday, and that this person is now in police custody answering questions.The identity of the arrested man has not been given, and a reminder was given that reporting restrictions are in force in the case.Mari Luz's body was found floating in an estuary in Huelva near the Portuguese border on March 7 shortly after the posters went up around Spain.

Mari Luz Cortes Questions remain where Santiago del Valle Garcia was on the day Madeleine disappeared from her Algarve holiday flat.

The questions remain where was 52-year-old Spaniard Santiago del Valle Garcia was on the day Madeleine disappeared from her Algarve holiday flat. Garcia was detained yesterday in Portugal, on suspicion of killing five-year-old Mari Luz Cortes.
Four people have been indicted in connection with the death of 5-year-old girl Mari Luz Cortes, whose disappearance shocked Spain, police said Wednesday. The main suspect was a man with a criminal record for sexual abuse of children, who lived near the family of Mari Luz in the southern city of Huelva. Those indicted included the man and his wife, who were detained near Cuenca in central Spain, as well as the man's brother and sister. The wife was released with charges. The man was believed to have taken Mari Luz to the couple's home, where she fell down the stairs and died accidentally, after which the other suspects helped the man get rid of the body, according to television reports. The girl's body was found floating in a river on March 7 after two months of searches. An autopsy showed that she had not been sexually abused.The man, a known paedophile named as Santiago del Valle Garcia, lived locally in the Torrejón area and had been a suspect of the family from the start
A man, who was arrested in Spain yesterday is reported to have confessed to his involvement in the death of Mari Luz Cortés, the five year old girl who vanished in Huelva on January 13. The man, named by the victim’s father Juan José, as Santiago del Valle Garcia , lived locally in the same Torrejón district of the city, but has recently moved to Cuenca with his wife to avoid reprisals.The suspect, who has a previous criminal record for child sexual abuse, was arrested with his wife in Pajaroncillo, a village in Cuenca province. Canal Sur reports that his sister has also been detained by the police.Known as the Spanish Madeleine in the British press, she vanished when going to buy some crisps on the previous January 13 in the Torrejón district of Huelva. Her body finally appeared floating in the Ria de Huelva on March 7.
Reporting restrictions remain in force in the case, but the child’s father, Juan José Cortés, told the Huelva Infomación newspaper that the man is called Santiago, lived locally and has a criminal record for child and sexual abuse. He said that the family had suspected him from the very first moment in the case.
‘We know that it is him, we are sure, and this is no surprise to me’, said the father this morning.Europa Press reports that the arrested man has now confessed, to the police but not to a judge, to his involvement in the disappearance of the five year old, but says that she died accidentally. According to his statement to police, he said that she fell and died accidentally when she was with him ‘at her own choice’. The paper reports that this man had been arrested earlier in Granada just a few days after Mari Luz vanished, and was released on a lack of any evidence.
Police say that they are sure that the man is responsible for the death of the child, and they believe that the motive was sexual. He is also reported to have a distancing order in place against his own children. The analysis from the police forensic department indicates however that the man could not manage to sexually force himself on the child.Spanish news also reports that a couple has been arrested in connection with the death of 5-year-old girl Mari Luz Cortes, whose disappearance shocked southern Spain, police said Wednesday. The detainees lived in the same neighbourhood in the city of Huelva as Mari Luz's family. The circumstances of the death of Mari Luz, whose body was found floating in a river on March 7 after two months of searches, have been unclear. The case of Mari Luz has been compared with that of 4-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann, who went missing on May 3, 2007, in a southern Portuguese holiday resort not far from where Mari Luz disappeared. The fate of Madeleine, who made headlines all over the world, has not been clarified

Moroccan customs officers have stepped up there hunt for drug smugglers in Tangiers

Moroccan customs officers have stepped up there hunt for drug smugglers in Tangiers, a short ferry hop from Europe's profitable shores.Smugglers coming through the northern port know they can't simply conceal their contraband under the floor or in the doors of their vehicle -- even behind the instrument panel or inside the petrol tank would be naive.Instead they are finding more and more ingenious places to hide their drugs or ways to fool the officials.The country's record haul for hashish seizures in 2007 suggests the law enforcers are at least keeping pace with a growing band of smugglers.In hundreds of operations last year, officers seized a total of 35 tonnes of hashish worth an estimated 140 million euros (215 million dollars) on the European market. That was more than 25 percent up on 2006.
Morocco's customers officers also arrested 437 people, half of them foreigners. Spanish nationals topped the list at 78, followed by 61 French nationals and 22 Portuguese.But Abdelhalek Marzouki, the director of customs for northern Morocco, admits that despite his team's apparent successes the smugglers learn quickly from their mistakes.Their capacity to innovate has been a source of constant surprise, he said. "They monitor how we operate in order to come up with new methods."Marzouki tells the recent story of one officer who, alerted by a tiny trace of welding near a vehicle's clutch, followed his instincts to discover a whole string of cannabis bricks, strung together like sausages.Officers have also discovered drugs inside the tyres of vehicles and even car batteries stuffed with cannabis resin.Another smuggler tried to disguise his haul as a cargo of olives, painting his drugs green and adding fake stalks.Every year, customs officers at Tangiers have to deal with a steady flow of foreign-registered vehicles: 380,000 cars and 80,000 lorries.
To get there, many will have passed through the northern Rif mountains, where according to government figures producers grow 1,200 tonnes of cannabis resin for export.In a vast car park, officials send about half the lorries past two scanners that check for hidden cargo.When it comes to the cars however, it's about instinct and experience, said Marzouki. The main tools of their trade, are "a screwdriver, a pair of sharp eyes and an extraordinary sixth sense."Any officer worth his salt knows there is no such thing as a typical smuggler, he added. "They are young people and the less young; couples or pretty girls," he explained.

"Before they didn't search luxury cars because they thought that smugglers wouldn't waste their money on that kind of vehicle, but recently they have been leasing them."
This year, officers even arrested a Spaniard travelling with his wife, his mother and their two little girls in a camping car.He tried to bluff his way through by flashing an out-of-date Spanish police identity card, clearly hoping that officials would not look twice at a family of holidaymakers.He was wrong and officers found him in possession of 1.3 tonnes of hashish.For France's consul general Alain Bricard, smugglers who use their own children to try to fool the police are beneath contempt.Last summer, he had to look after two twin girls and also a young boy after their respective parents were arrested on smuggling charges.For a week, these children were without a familiar face until relatives could get over from France to fetch them."I have the sad distinction of having under my consular (jurisdiction) the largest number of French prisoners in the world," he said.At present a total of 98 French nationals including six women are serving time in Moroccan prisons, he said.Tangiers prosecutor Echafi Abdelkrim said a large part of his time was spent with drugs cases."Foreign smugglers know they are playing with fire and that the trap can close on them because these are international networks who are using them to feed the foreign markets," he said.For those that get caught the cat-and-mouse game can turn nasty as they face up to 10 years behind bars.

Algerian gang based in Malaga

Suspects are thought to be responsible for more than 300 crimes, including robberies with violence at domestic properties, document falsification, drug trafficking, crimes using stolen credit cards and conspiracy. The Guardia targeted the suspects by studying documentation seized in several raids. The gang was identified as being made up of 14 Algerians, six Spanish, Four Morrocans and one French person. The gang was divided into three cells directed by an Algerian head based in Malaga. In and around Cieza, in Murcia, the Guardia Civil carried out three operations which resulted in the recent arrest of five people thought to be involved in 21 robberies with violence at homes. A major operation took place in Cartagena recently when some 40 officers of the National Police swarmed the streets of the suburb of Lo Campana in an anti-drugs operation targeted at three families said to be drug traffickers in control of a large part of the illegal market. The three families are said to have cooperated closely and offered drugs on a menu system with fixed prices.

Operation Toroyano a fishing boat carrying drugs was intercepted close to the shoreline

Puerto de Mazarrón, a major case involves the alleged smuggling of huge quantities of drugs coming in from North Africa. The criminal activities are said to have involved drugs being carried by large vessels sailing up the Mediterranean. The drugs were then dropped off onto fishing boats which brought them into Puerto de Mazarrón. The network is said to have been operated by a Spanish-Moroccan group. In Operation Toroyano a fishing boat carrying drugs was intercepted close to the shoreline. The boat sunk but suspects who dived in the water trying to escape were later arrested suffering from hypothermia. Navy divers have now succeeded in recovering 1,785 kilos of hashis from the sunken fishing boat to bring the total amount of drugs seized in the operation up to 2,600 kilos. Organised crime gangs that attack homes, petrol stations and businesses have been a particular target for Guardia Civil Action. This month a major operation, code named Centry, saw the Guardia break up a gang that had been attacking locations throughout the Costa del Sol. A total of 19 people were arrested and another six are being sought.

luxurious hotels on Lanzarote are illegal

A third of the most luxurious hotels on Lanzarote are illegal, according to a string of recent court rulings that are expected to lead to at least some of them eventually being demolished.The rulings by the Canary Islands High Court affect 22 hotels and apartment hotels built under licenses issued by the town halls of Yaiza and Teguise in violation of a ban on new construction imposed in 2000. Combined, the hotels - eight of which are four or five star - offer about 15,000 beds, approximately 23 percent of all beds available on the island.


While conservationists and some island officials are trumpeting the rulings as a victory for the environment, others are concerned that demolishing the hotels will cost jobs, reduce tourism and cause further harm to Lanzarote's already flagging economy."These town halls broke the regulations we had imposed to preserve the island, which has been declared a biosphere reserve," notes Carlos Espino, a Socialist member of the island council.Together with the César Manrique Foundation, a cultural association, the council brought the lawsuits against the hotels built in Yaiza and Teguise, including emblematic establishments such as the Princesa Yaiza, a luxurious five-star complex, and the nearby four-star Meliá Volcán.The cases echo the drawn-out legal processes that led to thousands of apartments and dozens of hotels being declared illegal in Marbella, a sprawling resort on mainland Spain's southern Costa del Sol. However, as in Marbella, where years of unchecked construction have blighted a once-picturesque coastline, it is unlikely that the illegal status of the buildings in Lanzarote will be sufficient to have them demolished.
Though Espino stresses that there "will be no amnesty" and we "will tear down those that must go," he admits that in all likelihood that will not mean all of the complexes. In some instances, razing the buildings may do more harm than good, and in others the developers may be allowed to stop the bulldozers from rolling in if they cede land elsewhere as compensation. However, the buildings that most flagrantly violate the law will be razed, especially those built on beachfront land, officials say. In the meantime, prosecutors have also launched investigations against the former mayors of Yaiza and Teguise who issued the illegal licenses between 1991 and 2004. Evidence suggests that, like in Marbella, they may have received substantial bribes from developers to break the rules.

Moroccan Pirates sieze Spanish trawler?

Spanish authorities on Thursday launched a search for the two-man crew of a fishing trawler that has not been seen or heard from since setting sail for the Canary Islands from the southern Spanish province of Cádiz a week ago.José Quevedo, who bought the boat over the internet and was transporting it home to the Canaries, and Cristo Herrera, a retired merchant captain helping with the delivery, were last heard from shortly after they set sail on 13 March.
While authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation, relatives of Quevedo suspect that the trawler may have been boarded while in Moroccan waters and that the two men may be being held captive in what would constitute the first case of piracy the area in decades. The boat owner's daughter, Jennifer Quevedo, said that the only time she managed to get through to her father on his cell phone the call was answered by "someone speaking in Arabic."So far two ports along the Moroccan coast have said they have no record of the 10-metre long trawler, Saulo, docking in their facilities.
The boat is reported to have two valuable 580-horse power engines on board.

Costa Destruction, Britons owning houses on the Spanish coast will have their homes demolished

Britons owning houses on the Spanish coast will have their homes demolished, it was claimed yesterday. The Spanish environment ministry last year announced an ambitious £3.5billion drive to protect the country's coastline from over-development by knocking down houses built illegally close to the shore. It insisted that there would be no widespread demolition of properties built before the relevant laws were passed. However, a campaign group set up last month to fight the government scheme yesterday revealed it already has 20,000 members whose homes are under threat. It claimed that more than 500,000 will be affected in total. A significant number of these are likely to be Britons, because Spain is a popular destination for UK residents taking holidays or retiring abroad. Jose Ortega, a lawyer who heads the campaign group, the Platform for those Affected by the Coastal Law, said: "This is the single biggest assault on private property we have seen in the recent history of Spain. "They are destroying property without any concern for the law or rights. "This will affect more than 500,000 people who live along the coast in Spain, of whom up to 100,000 are foreigners, including tens of thousands of Britons." Spain's 1988 Coastal Law banned building within 330ft of the shoreline. Until now homes built before the law came into force were exempt. But the environment ministry is now targeting thousands of homes that were built before 1988, which protesters say is unfair and illegal.

Moroccan drug baron was jailed along with the former head of Tangier's judicial police after a lengthy trial

The dark green fern-like plant grows well in poor soil of the northern Rif mountains and has come to be known as "green gold" because it staves off grinding poverty for thousands of local families.Smugglers hide the drug in containers and trucks or use powerful speedboats to ship it to Barcelona in Spain or Marseille in France.

Casablanca court jailed Mohamed Kharraz, better known as Cherif Bin Louidane, for eight years, the government said on Thursday. It ordered 5.2 million dirhams of his fortune to be seized and fined him 500,000 dirhams.Moroccan drug baron was jailed along with the former head of Tangier's judicial police after a lengthy trial that pitted the Rabat authorities against powerful interests in the kingdom's northern cannabis growing region.Judicial police officers grabbed Kharraz in August 2006 at the Al Ghouroub (Sunset) cafe near the northern port city of Tangier, acting on a warrant issued after a separate drugs trial years earlier, newspapers said.
The arrest surprised locals for whom Kharraz had seemed virtually immune from the law and benefited from a reputation for generosity among the poor of a region neglected for decades by the central government, the papers said.
He named over 30 members of the security services as being implicated in the drugs trade including Abdelaziz Izzou, head of the Tangier judicial police from 1996 to 2003, who was suspended from his job as head of security at Morocco's royal palaces.
Izzou was imprisoned for 18 months and had 700,000 dirhams seized by the state. Two others were jailed including Kharraz's brother while nine people were acquitted including another top former Tangier police official, the government said.
Those imprisoned were found guilty of offences including international drug trafficking, abuse of power, incitement to illegal immigration and failing to report crimes.Morocco had aimed to erase its cannabis industry by this year, a campaign given added momentum by suspicions that hashish was used to partly pay for dynamite that blew up trains in Madrid in 2004, killing 191 people.But the north African country is still the world's biggest hashish producer.Moroccan customs said drugs with a value of 30 million dirhams were seized at the port of Tetouan near Tangier last year, up six times from a year earlier.But catching the top criminals and keeping them behind bars is still proving difficult.
Last year drug lord Mohamed El Ouazzani, known as El Nene, was allowed to stroll out of prison and probably fled to Spain to avoid serving the rest of an eight-year prison sentence. Six prison guards were jailed for allowing him to escape.

Allan Foster wanted for a gangland shooting on Tyneside has gone to the top of a Most Wanted list after becoming one of just two villains on the run

Allan Foster wanted for a gangland shooting on Tyneside has gone to the top of a Most Wanted list after becoming one of just two villains on the run from police on the Costa del Crime.Allan Foster is believed to have flown from his Spanish hideaway to assassinate David ‘Noddy’ Rice in South Shields in May 2006.Detectives believe Foster flew out of the country the day after the killing, which happened at a seaside car park near Marsden Grotto, and has remained a fugitive since.
Last month Foster, 31, was named among 10 suspects by Crimestoppers on a most-wanted website targeting the Costa del Sol.Now eight of those have been tracked down after support from the Spanish public and authorities, leaving just Foster and one other at large.An update from Crimestoppers yesterday said: “The Operation Captura campaign encourages anyone who recognises the wanted criminals on its website to call Crimestoppers from Spain, to give information anonymously on a dedicated Spanish free phone number. Calls are answered in the UK by Crimestoppers call handlers.“Crimestoppers worked with both UK and Spanish law enforcement agencies and the British Embassy to set up the operation.
“On the day of the publicity launch in Malaga, Most Wanted saw eight times more people visiting the site, with 77,000 page impressions on the first day. Two weeks after the launch, more than 700 calls had been received which produced 65 useful pieces of information.“Eight offenders have been located so far, for crimes including drug trafficking, murder and fraud.“In Spain, the concept has caught the public’s imagination. The Spanish media have continued their interest and media coverage of the campaign. Commentators have expressed considerable interest in setting up a similar mechanism to aid Spanish investigations.”The Spanish coastal resorts have been dubbed the Costa del Crime since the 1970s because hundreds of British criminals have fled there.Mr Rice, 42, was shot nine times by two masked men on the seafront at South Tyneside after being lured to the meeting by Steven Bevens, 39. Bevens worked for Foster, who police believe fired the fatal shots.
Last year Bevens was sentenced to life for murder, while getaway driver Derek Blackburn, 51, of Humberside, who turned informer, was given four years for assisting an offender, later cut to two and a half years.
Foster sometimes goes under the name Sean Wilkinson, and is known to have associates in the Kent area and links to the Canary Islands and Majorca.
He is also wanted for two offences of conspiring to supply controlled drugs and for the theft of a diamond ring.Yesterday a Northumbria Police spokesman said: “We are still trying to trace Allan James Foster. We would urge anyone who has knowledge of Mr Foster’s whereabouts to get in touch.”

3.2 tons of cocaine were found in a swoop on an Elche warehouse

3.2 tons of cocaine were found in a swoop on an Elche warehouse in 2004
Sentencing has been released in the trial of the eight men charged after one of Valencia’s biggest ever drug hauls, three and a quarter tons of cocaine found in a lorry-load of bananas in the El Altet area of Elche four years ago. Total sentencing in the case amounts to more than 77 years and the smugglers will also have to pay the value the drug would have brought on the black market: more than 112 million €.The longest terms went to six of the suspects, who admitted their guilt and accepted sentences of 11 years, with two of them also getting another six months each for falsifying documents.
Two others claimed they had got lost looking for a car boot sale and were only at the warehouse where police swooped by mistake, but the court ruled it proved that their role in the smuggling operation was to distribute the cocaine. They received terms of five years and four months each.

British man from South Shields was being held in a Spanish police cell last night

British man from South Shields was being held in a Spanish police cell last night, accused of trying to smuggle more than half a tonne of cocaine through the Mediterranean.The 50-year-old South Shields man, named only by his initials RPJ, was held after undercover officers from both Spain and Portugal intercepted a shipment from the West African country of Gambia.The 514kg of cocaine, concealed in paper handkerchiefs and worth more than £21.5m on the streets, was identified first by Portugese authorities when the freighter arrived in Lisbon.The drugs were in packages found within boxes marked ‘Comfort tissues by Gardenia’ – a South African tissue firm that is not being investigated by police. Yesterday a Spanish police spokesman said: “In the search that took place of the industrial unit, it was verified that there were numerous boxes of handkerchiefs that corresponded to two dispatches done previously, which possibly relate to verifying ‘signals’, regular methodology in drug traffic network systems when they open a new drug entry route.They removed the drugs from the container and then allowed it to be transferred on to a lorry, which continued under surveillance to south eastern Spain, where the 50-year-old was arrested.Detectives said last night they believed the route taken by the smugglers was a new one for shipments from Columbia into Europe.‘Operation Paper’ was launched after customs officials in Lisbon became suspicious of the container when it arrived from Gambia on February 29.After inspecting it, 470 parcels of cocaine were detected, hidden in 352 boxes of the paper handkerchiefs.A simultaneous undercover operation was launched by police in Spain who kept watch on the Torres industrial estate unit in Villajoyosa, Alicante, where the goods were destined.Meanwhile, the truck’s journey from Lisbon to Alicante was shadowed by Spanish police and officers swooped to arrest the Tynesider as he took delivery of the container.When they searched the warehouse, officers also found two other consignments of paper hankerchiefs, indicating that the smugglers had previously carried out two dummy-runs on the new route before sending the cocaine.Officers are not ruling out further arrests in the case, as they continue to analyse the shipping route and associates of ‘RPJ’.Detectives told reporters in Spain they believe the arrested man would have sent the cocaine on to the UK where it would be expected to fetch £21,588,000 on the streets.“The operation is still open and further arrests are not discounted, since documentation obtained in the registers is been analysed in the hope of identifying other members of the traffic network.”

Ola Brunkert bled to death after a shard of glass pierced his neck

Civil Guard headquarters in Madrid said: "All the indications are that this was a tragic accident. "A glass door in the kitchen of the house was shattered and it appears that this man fell through the door. "He then managed to get out into the garden where he died."Brunkert had been a jazz drummer and a member of the blues band Slim's Blues Gang, before joining the pop group Science Poption in the mid-1960s. His first-known session with Abba was also the group's first single, People Need Love. Brunkert was one of only two musicians to appear on all of Abba's albums.

Ola Brunkert, the session drummer heard on nearly every Abba hit the legendary Swedish band had in the 1970s and early 1980s, has died after a freak accident on the Spanish holiday island of Majorca, local justice authorities said Monday.
The 61-year-old apparently bled to death after a shard of glass pierced his neck when he stumbled through a glass door leading from the kitchen to the garden of his holiday home where he lived alone. Authorities said after an initial post mortem examination that the musician apparently lost consciousness after falling, and then bled to death. The drummer was discovered by a neighbour who late Sunday chanced by the house, which is in a compound of holiday homes near Areta, in the east of Majorca. Authorities said the compound was largely empty during the winter months - accounting for no one being immediately available to offer first aid. Brunkert was one of the most sought-after session drummers in Sweden in the 1970s, and played in a variety of jazz and blues bands as well as on the Abba hits that dominated pop music from their 1974 hit Waterloo to the band's break-up in 1982.

Swedish super-band ABBA's long-time drummer Ola Brunkert was found dead in his Mallorca, home over the weekend.

Swedish super-band ABBA's long-time drummer Ola Brunkert was found dead in his Mallorca, home over the weekend. Spanish police say the gruesome death was caused by a freak accident in which Brunkert bled to death after puncturing his throat with a broken piece of glass. According to CNN, police believe the drummer may have fallen against a glass partition that separated his kitchen from his garden, causing the glass to break and fatally cut his throat.A former drummer for 1970s Swedish pop group ABBA, Ola Brunkert, has been found dead after an apparent accident in his house in Mallorca, Spanish police said on Monday.Brunkert bled to death from a throat wound which police suspect was caused after he accidentally smashed a pane of glass, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard police said, adding that authorities were awaiting the result of an autopsy.

Gibraltar non co-operatation in Spain’s fight against money laundering

The government of Spain has requested has requested the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) to return Gibraltar to its list of non-cooperative off-shore financial services centre because of its ‘opacity’ and its location close to the Costa del Sol, as part of Spain’s fight against money laundering.The OECD has so far considered the Rock ‘co-operative’ because of its ‘commitment to European law and response to recommendations made by international organizations such as the International Financial Action Group.Nevertheless, Spain alleges that Gibraltar makes no effort to co-operate with the fiscal services of its northern neighbour, despite the fact that the British Colony is in a ‘risk zone’ between Southern Spain and Northern Africa, as well as close to the Costa del Sol, where ‘real estate’ corruption, money laundering and drug trafficking are present.Over the last few years, Gibraltar has become a ‘paradise’ for online gambling, which is also a worry for experts in money laundering techniques, and is an international financial centre that is ‘not as modest as the Gibraltar authorities insist on saying.
The Rock has close to 30,000 inhabitants, yet is home to 19 banks, 10 branches of international organizations, 17 insurance companies, over 30 insurance brokers, 30 investment companies, 15 money exchange offices and 28,000 active companies of various denominations. Spain considers these facts as contributing to the colony’s ‘opacity’ and puts forward an example: neither Britain nor Gibraltar were willing to co-operate with investigations into the ‘Ballena Blanca’ case uncovered in Marbella. Sources close to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and to others such as the Banco de España and the National Stock Exchange Commission have stated that, in terms of fiscal control, ‘nothing has advanced as far as Gibraltar is concerned’.
Therefore Madrid wants Gibraltar to once again be placed on the ‘black list’ of uncooperative off-shore centres that includes Andorra, Liberia, Liechtenstein, the Marshall Islands and Monaco, among others.

Russian Mafia corrupt Marbella Police?

Inspectors Alfredo Marijuan and Carlos Farré from Marbella were detained following an investigation into alleged corruption of the elite Udyco force, which saw 40 officers questioned.both are members of the Costa del Sol’s crack anti-corruption police force have been arrested for alleged fraud and embezzlement. A further two high ranking officers – Fuengirola-based Issac Pacheco Suárez and Eusebio Vázquez – were released with embezzlement charges.The charges relate to alleged payments made by Russian nationals for information relating to police operations.The Udyco division of the Costa del Sol police force was involved in several corruption crackdowns in Málaga in recent years – including Operations Malaya, Ballena Blanca and Hidago, which all centered upon illicit dealings in Marbella.

Gibraltar to a blacklisted as an outlaw tax haven.

Spain is due to ask the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to return Gibraltar to a blacklist of tax havens that refuse to cooperate in fighting money laundering and other financial crimes, despite the British colony's promises of greater transparency. A spokesman for the Spanish tax office told EL PAÍS last week that the only fiscal information Spanish authorities receive from Gibraltar is "scarce and mostly useless," and that the government of the rocky outcrop on Spain's south coast routinely refuses to cooperate in investigations into money laundering and tax evasion."As far as we are concerned, Gibraltar is still a non-cooperative tax haven," the Spanish official said.

Mariluz Cortes police to believe she was grabbed from behind

Police believe five-year-old was suffocated before being thrown into river
The autopsy on the body of Mariluz Cortes shows the five-year-old died only hours after she went missing on January 13.Police recovered her badly decomposed body from a river estuary in Huelva on March 8 – almost two months after she disappeared while buying sweets near her home.Tests revealed Mariluz had suffered a broken rib before her death, leading police to believe she was grabbed from behind.
Marks on her face show her mouth and nose were covered until she suffocated to death.Police have ruled out the possibility that the five-year-old died as a result of accidentally falling into either of the two rivers that run through the city.
Officers are now searching the banks of the Odiel and Tinto rivers to discover the location she was thrown in to the water.Her body was found fully-clothed and tests revealed no sexual assault had taken place.The girl’s parents - Juan Jose Cortes, 34, a former professional footballer, and Irene Suarez – had maintained from the first day of her disappearance that she had been abducted.The case has drawn parallels with that of missing British toddler, who disappeared in May last year. Huelva is a short drive from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz from where Madelaine McCann disappeared in May last year while her parents were dining with friends.

200 vultures apparently killed a cow and its newborn calf on a farm near Villar de Peralonso

Colony of around 200 vultures apparently killed a cow and its newborn calf on a farm near Villar de Peralonso (Salamanca) yesterday lunchtime. It seems that the cow went into labour shortly before noon, but when the farmer returned to check on progress around two and a half hours later, he found around two hundred vultures hungrily devouring the two corpses. The local mayor said that "It's a very unusual incident because vultures never eat live animals," adding that there had been reports of a similar case recently in the nearby village of El Manzano "though nobody paid very much attention at the time." Unusually large colonies of vultures have also been reported in the Arribes del Duero area recently. Being carrion birds, their chances of survival have been severely hampered by the introduction of legislation in 2001 in response to the 'mad-cow' crisis, that obliges farmers to remove animal corpses from their fields immediately

Método 3 has said that some bones found in a plastic bag at the bottom of a lake in Portugal are not those of the missing British youngster Madeleine

The Spanish detective agency Método 3 has said that some bones found in a plastic bag at the bottom of a lake in Portugal are not those of the missing British youngster Madeleine McCann. The Portuguese Judicial Police confirmed that the bones are from a small animal.A search had been carried out in Arade reservoir all last week by seven divers who were working for the Portuguese lawyer, Marcos Aragao Correia. The lawyer has been working by himself at his own expense for more than a month in the search for Madeleine, and had said that he is 99% certain that the girl is dead, and that her body was thrown into the reservoir which is found some 40 kms from the apartment where the McCann family were staying in Praia da Luz last May 3. He now says he will abandon his search in the area, as he no longer has the resources to continue. He says he decided to start his own search after receiving some clues in the case three days after Madeleine vanished, and that his line of investigation coincides with that of the Spanish detective agency contracted by the McCanns.

Armed Robbery in Orihuela on Saturday night

Police in the Vega Baja are looking for three men responsible for a robbery at a petrol station near the district hospital in Orihuela on Saturday night and who left a member of staff seriously injured as they made their escape. The injured man, reported by the Información newspaper to be from Almoradí, was shot in the side and is now recovering after emergency surgery. It’s understood his life is not in danger.
The robbery came after the owner had left with the day’s takings, and all the thieves took was the money bag he was carrying around his waist. They were seen driving away in a black Volkswagen Golf, and it’s believed that their faces were also filmed on the security cameras at the petrol station.

British man in Alicante arrested at a warehouse in Villajoyosa where he was waiting to receive drugs

The Interior Ministry gave news last Friday of an operation run jointly with Customs and police in Portugal which seized more than half a ton of cocaine in port in Lisbon and led to the arrest of a British man in Alicante.He was arrested at a warehouse in Villajoyosa where he was waiting to receive the drugs which reached port in Portugal in a cargo of nappies The Ministry said 514 kilos of the drug were discovered in a cargo of paper nappies from Gambia on 29th February, which was due to be sent on to Spain. The cargo was allowed to continue on with its journey, once the drugs had been removed, and police were waiting to swoop on a warehouse on an industrial estate in Villajoyosa, Alicante province, when the lorry arrived to unload its cargo. There, a 50 year old man named by his initials of R.P.J. was taken into custody. The operation remains open and further arrests have not been ruled out.

Roshan Jamal Khan detained in Spain

Roshan Jamal Khan was detained in Spain on January 19 and kept in jail since, accused of being an Al Qaeda-linked suicide bomber. Spain has not explained his crime. This despite the Indian Ministry of External Affairs writing to Spain in March first week that Roshan was “clean”.From her, it is difficult to get the story of how the ex-student of south Mumbai’s cosmopolitan St Xavier’s College, popular as a boxer, went on to be an olive trader before being picked up from a mosque in Barcelona and branded a terrorist.“I fear of repercussions on the children. The family name is at stake. Only my two eldest children know about his arrest. The four younger ones — between seven and 12 — don’t know,” she said.
And as Roshan goes about his routine in a Spanish jail 7,000 km away, his 16-year-old son Talha will be writing his SSC Physics exam on Monday.“My exams are near, but I’ll manage. I’m worried about Talha,” said teary-eyed 17-year-old Safiya, a first-year commerce student. “He’s upset. He wants to hear father’s voice.”The government, meanwhile, ran its cold, officious lines. “The embassy was given consular access to Roshan Jamal Khan, and two officials from the Indian embassy in Madrid went to meet this gentleman in prison,” said a senior Indian diplomat in Spain. “They have confirmed that he is indeed an Indian and is in good health.”
A Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson in Delhi just said: “We are in touch with the Spanish authorities.”
Meanwhile, brother Mehboob Khan shows some of Roshan’s certificates. “Shri Khan comes from a respectable family and... bears a good moral character,” says a certificate issued by Professor AA Kazi, St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, on November 7, 1981.A letter of appreciation issued by the American Embassy in Kuwait in 1994 reads: “Your professionalism and willingness to provide assistance... is sincerely appreciated.” (This was in connection with services Roshan Khan provided while with a Kuwait-based aviation company).Roshan’s younger brother Mehboob Khan, a BJP worker for 25 years, says he called Roshan two days after he was detained on January 19 in Madrid.“His cell was switched off and it continued being so for the rest of the week. I got worried and called his brother-in-law in Barcelona. He told us about the charges. Till then neither the Spanish authorities nor our authorities informed us,” Mehboob recalled. “I then started corresponding with the Ministry of External Affairs and the PMO, which told me they are looking into the matter. I offered to go to Spain but was told it was not required at this stage.”More than a month after Jamal’s detention, the family received a letter (dated February 25) from Sujata Mehta, Ambassador of India in Madrid, stating that two officials had met Roshan and he was being looked after well and that he had asked them to inform his family members in this regard. He also conveyed a message that “his family should await a resolution of the situation”.“That is what we are doing: waiting,” said Mehboob. Mehboob is preparing to go to Spain. “I have requested the embassy to help me with a visa. I will go to fight for my brother,” he said.Their father, Babu Peshgar Khan, who runs a dairy in south Mumbai, is in shock and refused to speak.

Alfredo Marijuán, Carlos Farré , Isaac Pacheco Suárez, Eusebio Vázquez Fernández have been charged

Alfredo Marijuán and Carlos Farré have been detained in custody and Isaac Pacheco Suárez and Eusebio Vázquez Fernández were released on bail.Four inspectors from an elite unit that combats organised crime in Malaga have been charged with bribery, embezzlement, dereliction of duty, ownership of illegal arms, and revealing confidential information. Forty officers have been questioned in connection with the case, which relates to alleged payments received by Inspector Marijuán from Russian nationals for reports on police surveillance operations.The officer was also alleged to have delivered an envelope containing details about the girlfriend of a Russian who was arrested for cocaine smuggling in the US. The Costa del Sol has become the base for a dangerous breed of gang, from the UK, Russia, Colombia and eastern Europe. The Russian mafia are known to have a major presence on the Costa del Sol, exploiting lax property laws and lack of police resources to launder millions from arms dealing, drug dealing and prostitution. A Spanish interior ministry report said nearly a third of organised crime in Spain is based in the area, with 102 known gangs. Three years ago, Spain launched a major crackdown there, forming specialised units to combat the problem.

William McFarlane with four other Englishmen arrested in Benidorm

five men arrested in a swoop on drugs and illegal gambling in Spain yesterday. William McFarlane, 56, from Glasgow, was taken into custody along with four Englishmen when police targeted a suspected drugs distribution and gambling den in the centre of Benidorm. Officers recovered £77,000 as well as a quantity of illicit drugs, prescription drugs and cigarettes.

Armed Robbery in Sotogrande

There are renewed fears amongst residents of the luxury Sotogrande urbanisation in San Roque after yet another house raid, this time targeting a British family. In recent years the wealthy zone has been targeted by sophisticated criminal gangs. Sotogrande employs its own private security firm and both the Guardia Civil along with the local police have stepped up vigilance but seemingly without effect.
The details of the latest robbery were revealed by the Guardia Civil last week. The raid took place in a British-owned property close to Valderrama golf course. The thieves made off with cash, jewellery, various valuable items as well as the family’s credit cards.
The thieves entered the property at around 9pm two Thursdays ago and held the sole British occupant at gunpoint. They then laid in wait for the three other members of the family to arrive and locked them in an interior room of the house. The thieves then went through the property taking anything of value.
Once they had fled, a member of the family managed to break free in the early hours of Friday and raised the alarm with the Guardia Civil. The local police searched the area but without success. It is believed that between three and five robbers were involved and it is suggested they were part of a criminal gang from Eastern Europe.
The fact that the intruders were armed and held the family captive set the robbery apart from previous break-ins in the zone, in which raiders have either entered late at night and used a gas spray to knock out already sleeping occupants or have staked out the house then broken in when the residents went out for the evening.

Madeleine McCann: Método 3 99% certain that the girl is dead, and that her body was thrown into the reservoir

"We found two bags, one of which contains some small bones."We don't know at this stage if they are human bones. If they are, they look like they come from a child's fingers. They are too small for an adult. I can't tell you how many we found, because we didn't count them. "As soon as we made the find, we handed them over to the Portuguese authorities and the private detectives working for the McCanns."

bones were found by divers in a reservoir some 40 kms from Praia da Luz
The Spanish detective agency Método 3 say they are bring some bones found at the bottom of a lake in Portugal back to Spain to have them analysed. First reports say that the bones are more likely to be from a small animal rather than those of the missing British youngster Madeleine McCann, but they are already in the hands of the detective agency for analysis.A search has been carried out in the Arade reservoir all week by seven divers who have been working for the Portuguese lawyer, Marcos Aragao Correia. He has been working by himself for months in the search for Madeleine and says that it is 99% certain that the girl is dead, and that her body was thrown into the reservoir which is some 40 kms from the apartment where the McCann family were staying in Praia da Luz last May 3.
The lawyer says he decided to start his own search after receiving some clues in the case three days after Madeleine vanished, and that his line of investigation coincides with that of the Spanish detective agency contracted by the McCanns.

Police UDYCO anti-drugs and organised crime chiefs who were arrested on Tuesday accused of corruption, were ordered to prison

Minister for the Interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, on Thursday asked for respect for the four arrested police chiefs, reminding his audience about the presumption of innocence.Two of the four National Police UDYCO anti-drugs and organised crime chiefs who were arrested on Tuesday accused of corruption, were ordered to prison without bail on Friday evening. They are the UDYCO chief from Marbella, C.F. and the chief inspector from Málaga, J.A.M. Instruction judge number 5 in Marbella, Julián Cabrero, also granted bail with charges remaining for the other policemen. A translator at the National Police station in Marbella was granted bail and the director of the Marbella Clinic, which is also linked to the case, was also granted bail of 30,000 €. They are charged following a Police Internal Affairs investigation which began two years ago into alleged misappropriation of items seized in the course of police operations from mafia-type criminal gangs. The men spent all of Friday in the court building in Marbella, finally leaving with heads covered around 6pm.



Meanwhile unions have criticised what they describes as the ‘systematic ill-treatment’ of the arrested policemen. They accuse the man who is the assistant operations director, Fernández Chico, of not respecting the presumption of innocence, and they have called for his resignation. They also say the men were given no food or water for a 24 hour period.

Spanish T.V. reporting the Mari Luz Cortés case say she was suffocated to death, and then thrown into the water afterwards.

Spanish T.V. reports Telecinco has revealed what it calls the definitive results of the autopsy carried out on the body of the five year old
There has been new information in the Mari Luz Cortés case, the five year old girl from Huelva whose body was found in Ria de Huelva a week ago.Telecinco is reporting that the definitive results of the autopsy carried out on the child, which they say has proved that she was suffocated to death, and then thrown into the water afterwards. The autopsy concludes that the child died in the following 24 hours of her disappearance, and that the injuries to her head and ribs were also carried out before she died.The child’s father, Juan José Cortés, has called for time to ‘cry in silence’ and says that he will fight to find who is responsible and to see them pay for what they have done.Police say they think a local person may have seen Mari Luz with her killer, but is too frightened to come forward.

British girl arrested for drug trafficking in Morocco

British girl was arrested on Wednesday while trying to sail from the Tangiers Port (northern Morocco) for Algésiras (southern Spain) with 10 kg of chira (cannabis resine).The drug was found in a cache set up in the front of a Spanish-registered four wheel drive vehicle, a Moroccan security source said without disclosing the identity of the British national.Some 70% of the processed kif (cannabis) in Europe comes from Morocco.

Deputy Mayor of Palma spent 45,000 euros in gay clubs using a Town Hall credit card

Baleares newspaper claims he spent 45,000 euros in gay clubs at the time he was Deputy Mayor of Palma
The prosecution service on the Balearic Islands has placed an official complaint with the courts against a former Partido Popular councillor in Palma for allegedly spending public money in alternative nightclubs. The Baleares newspaper Última Hora claims that Javier Rodrigo de Santos spent 45,000 € in gay clubs using a Town Hall credit card between the end of 2005 and the end of May last year. The newspaper said police have already spoken to staff at the clubs in question, who said the ex councillor was a regular customer.
The action from the prosecution service comes after a complaint from the Socialist Mayor of Palma, Aina Calvo, and an informative investigation then followed, starting on 20th February. Catalina Cirer, who was Partido Popular Mayor of Palma at the time in question, said in a press conference on Thursday that she totally condemns the alleged misappropriation of public funds and said she felt ‘deceived’ by her party colleague. She said she only had only heard about it herself on Thursday morning, in the media.Javier Rodrigo de Santos was Deputy Mayor of Palma at the period under investigation, and also had responsibility for town planning. He is now a civil servant and works at the Town Hall in the tax department

Alfredo M., who is responsible for the organised crime section of the Udyco unit across the Costa del Sol.is awaiting trial in two other cases

four top police officers arrested in Málaga on Tuesday have been questioned by National Police internal affairs on allegations of corruption and all say they are innocent. They are expected to be called before an Instruction Court on Friday, along with the two other suspects arrested in the case, a police interpreter and the director of a Marbella clinic.They are charged in a Police Internal Affairs investigation which began two years ago into alleged misappropriation of items seized in the course of police operations from mafia-type criminal gangs. El Mundo newspaper reported on Thursday that one of the officers in custody is Alfredo M., who is responsible for the organised crime section of the Udyco unit across the Costa del Sol. Udyco investigates offences involving organised crime and drugs, and two of those in custody head the Udyco branches in Marbella and Fuengirola. The fourth suspect is an assistant to Alfredo M., the paper said.El Mundo quotes sources in the police saying that Alfredo M.is awaiting trial in two other cases. One of them involves the previous head of the Udyco unit on the Costa del Sol, Valentín Bahut, where they both allegedly supplied an Italian drug dealer based in Benalmádena with confidential information from police records to allow him to escape arrest under a European warrant for extradition.The crimes under investigation in this latest case are revealing secret information, illegal searches and misappropriation.

Equatorial Guinean opposition leader Severo Moto to retain the status of a political refugee

Spain's Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Equatorial Guinean opposition leader Severo Moto to retain the status of a political refugee despite his implication in coup attempts against the regime of President Teodoro Obiang. The court revoked a 2006 decision by the Spanish government to lift the status of a political refugee that Moto had enjoyed in Spain since 1986. Had the court not agreed with Moto's appeal against the decision, the politician, who claims to be under persecution by the Obiang regime, would have had to leave Spain. Moto is one of the top opposition politicians in Equatorial Guinea, a Spanish-speaking, oil-rich Central African country of around half a million residents.

Spanish police have detained four police officers

Spanish police have detained four police officers, including three chiefs responsible for fighting organised crime, on charges of several criminal offences, police said Wednesday. The four worked on the southern Costa del Sol coast, which is known for the presence of numerous international criminal rings. The three chiefs were based in Malaga, Marbella and Fuengirola. The officers were suspected of keeping objects they had confiscated from criminals, making illegal house searches and revealing confidential information to outsiders. One of them was already awaiting trial on charges of helping an Italian drug trafficker flee. An entrepreneur and an interpreter were also held. The affair was "painful and delicate," because it affected the reputation of the national police force, government delegate Hilario Lopez Luna said. Senior official Antonio Camacho stressed that police themselves had discovered the alleged irregularities in their midst.