Ley de Costas has to be respected and chiringuito beach restaurants be removed from the sand

Mayor of Torremolinos, Pedro Fernández Montes, described the statements from Juan Carlos Martín Fragueiro, as a barbarity and a new attack on the Costa del Sol, while in Benalmádena the Mayor, Javier Carnero, said the law did not understand the idiosyncrasies of this type of business, even though no restaurants in Benalmádena would be affected.Ley de Costas has to be respected and chiringuito beach restaurants be removed from the sand, ten large...

Almuñecar has run out of money.Mayor set off on a trip to Morocco

Following the privatisation of its tax collection system, Almuñecar has run out of money.The Mayor, from the Convergencia Andaluza party, Juan Carlos Benavides, has warned municipal workers that this month’s wages are the last ones he can guarantee as the Town Hall is bankrupt.Benavides blames the crisis on a lack of funding from the Junta and the Diputación, both, he said Socialist controlled. An ex Socialist himself, it was his decision to privatise...

Benidorm bank robbery opposite the Trafico Guardia Civil barracks

Two French Citizens, both aged 39, have been arrested in connection with an attempted bank robbery. The bank branch is directly opposite the Trafico Guardia Civil barracks in Benidorm, and one of the bank employees managed to attract the attention of Civil Guards who were at the door of their barracks at the time of the robbery.It happened just before 2pm in Avenida Beniardà, when the two now in custody entered the bank armed with a pistol and demanding...

Murder of a young Dominican in Madrid has helped galvanize that immigrant community.

23-year-old Luis Carlos Polanco Peralta died last Friday after being shot twice in the neck. Madrid police arrested the alleged shooter who is of Spanish decent who worked as a private security guard. The exact motive for the murder is unknown, though police said that the assailant confused Polanco Peralta with a drug dealer.Several hundreds mourners held a silent vigil for Polanco Peralta and clamored for justice to be served. Among those who took...

Four suspects were in custody in Spain in the January slaying of a reputed Colombian drug trafficker

Four suspects were in custody in Spain in the January slaying of a reputed Colombian drug trafficker, authorities said.The suspects, identified only as three Colombian nationals and a Romanian, were being questioned Friday in the slaying of Leonidas Vargas, 59, who was fatally shot while being treated in the cardiology wing of Madrid's October 12th Hospital, the Spanish news agency EFE reported Saturday.Police told EFE they also seized guns, ammunition...

Mike Kerr paid nearly £200,000 as a deposit for two holiday homes on the Marbella Vista Golf is fighting to get his cash back

Mike Kerr who paid nearly £200,000 as a deposit for two holiday homes on the Costa del Sol is fighting to get his cash back after the properties were deemed illegal.Mike Kerr, a design engineer from Knaphill, signed a contract with developer Marbella Vista Golf, which is owned by Moleón, in 2003 to build two dream properties in Elviria, near Marbella, on the southern coast of Spain.Mr Kerr has spent 6,500 Euros (more than £5,900) in legal fees so...

Four people aged 23 to 28 years have been detained in Torrevieja for the suspected distribution and sale of explosives

Four people aged 23 to 28 years have been detained in Torrevieja for the suspected distribution and sale of explosives, during a high profile investigation known as ‘Operation Palmera’. Agents of the National Police intercepted almost 20 kilos of goma- 2, thought to have been stolen from a quarry in the Vega Baja area sometime ago. Goma-2 is a gelatinous, Nitroglycol-based explosive manufactured within Spain for industrial use. The substance was...

DOLORES VASQUEZ, who was wrongly imprisoned for 17 months in the much-publicised ‘Wanninkhof’ case

DOLORES VASQUEZ, who was wrongly imprisoned for 17 months in the much-publicised ‘Wanninkhof’ case for the murder of her lesbian lover’s daughter, Rocio, has finally managed to clear her criminal record, although she is yet to receive any compensation.Now that her name has been deleted from police records, her lawyers are demanding the sum of four million euros in compensation for false imprisonment and emotional damage although, so far, the government...

Arrested four members of a gang found to be in possession of a substantial quantity of explosives

Police officers investigating a recent spate of robberies have arrested four members of a gang found to be in possession of a substantial quantity of explosives. Searches carried out in properties in Torrevieja as part of a police operation, code-named, ‘Palmera’, have uncovered between 15 and 20 kilograms of Goma-2, a dynamite-type industrial high explosive manufactured in Spain for use chiefly in mining.Police are confident that the explosives...

Christine Baker did not realise that a casual visit to a neighbour’s house could result in the loss of a limb.

Christine Baker did not realise that a casual visit to a neighbour’s house could result in the loss of a limb. Tom and Christine Baker have lived in Javea, on the Costa Blanca, for 25 years but, in May 2004, Christine was the victim of a savage attack by their neighbour’s Spanish Mastiff dog. Christine, who had gone to her neighbour’s home to reclaim some frozen food from his freezer, had telephoned him in advance, asking him to lock away his dangerous...

unnamed British man in his mid thirties has died after falling from the balcony of a hotel when he was trying to flee from the Guardia Civil.

unnamed British man in his mid thirties has died after falling from the balcony of a hotel when he was trying to flee from the Guardia Civil.The man died around 5am on Friday morning after falling from the first floor of the hotel in Guardamar, Alicante, and suffered severe head injuries. It’s thought he was trying to escape after the Guardia Civil were called because of his allegedly drunken and rowdy behaviour which had been disturbing other hotel...

29 year old Romanian man who is accused of killing his 25 year old girlfriend

29 year old Romanian man who is accused of killing his 25 year old girlfriend, also Romanian, by stabbing her with a pair of scissors 33 times is facing a demand for a 20 year prison sentence from the prosecutor in Málaga.The accused told the court that he carried out the attack in a fit of jealousy after he heard she was leaving him for her boss who had promised to lift her out of poverty. His defence team says that he was under the influence of...

Search for the body of Marta del Castillo continues today at the main rubbish tip for the city, in Alcalá de Guadaira.

Search for the body of Marta del Castillo, the 17 year old from Sevilla who is thought to have been killed on January 24, continues today at the main rubbish tip for the city, in Alcalá de Guadaira.Scientific and Judicial Police are supervising the search which has now reached the waste which was thrown away on the day concerned. Bags of rubbish are now being search by hand at the site.It comes after the self-confessed killer of Marta, Miguel Carcaño,...

Andalucia must must pay 100 million euros for failing to prevent the capture of young boquerones and chanquetes

Andalucia must must pay 100 million euros for failing to prevent the capture of rare fishSpain has been fined a record 100 million euros for illegal fishing off Andalucia. The massive fine has been levied after constant warnings about the illicit capture of, in particular, young boquerones and chanquetes.The European Court has ruled that Spain has continually failed to control the illegal fishing in its waters.In particular it is being punished for...

Kevin John Palmer Costa timeshare salesman disappeared

Kevin John Palmer is thought to have been murdered after he disappeared after a night out in a pub and country club in Hampshire – but nobody has ever been charged or convicted over his death. A murder inquiry was launched four years later when fresh evidence came to light that led...

Flight from Spain 53-year-old man has been arrested at Prestwick Airport

53-year-old man has been arrested at Prestwick Airport on suspicion of trying to smuggle a quantity of cocaine into the country. The man was stopped by officers from the UK Border Agency on Tuesday night after he got off a flight from Spain. Police were called after he was found to be in possession of drugs, believed to be cocaine, with an estimated street value of £60,000. The man was expected to appear at Ayr Sheriff Court on Wednesd...

24 people, all Spaniards, have been arrested so far in a civil guard operation, codenamed Mansion, against organised crime in Madrid

24 people, all Spaniards, have been arrested so far in a civil guard operation, codenamed Mansion, against organised crime in Madrid. The burglary of a house in Griñon led to the Guardia Civil identifying the group which operated in three different groups, assaulting private homes in the Madrid region and even stealing from lorries when in roadside rest areas.Investigations also link the group to theft from industrial estates, and new charges against...

Mármoles Ballester Man, from the Almanzora district of Almería has been arrested for allegedly shooting dead two members of a gypsy clan, Los Pertolos

Businessman from the marble company, Mármoles Ballester, from the Almanzora district of Almería has been arrested for allegedly shooting dead two members of a gypsy clan, Los Pertolos, who were allegedly extorting local businesses including his own. The shooting happened in Olula del Río at just after 9am on Wednesday morning inside the marble factory close to the municipal boundary with Purchena.There is some confusion as to the identity of the...

Jose Luis Romeu Galvan arrested by the Guardia Civil for misappropriation of public funds

Jose Luis Romeu Galvan, was sacked on March 4 by his employers, the Spanish airport authority, Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA). Earlier that day, he had been arrested by the Guardia Civil for misappropriation of public funds, faking documents, embezzlement and obtaining money under false pretences.An employee in charge of keeping the accounts for Seguridad Integral Canaria, the private company which provides security guards for Reina...

Paul Logan Donnelly fled after abandoning a six-inch knife

Two Britons have been arrested after apparently trying to fire a gun at police who confronted them for urinating in a Spanish street. The officers were not injured because the 9mm pistol reportedly used by one of the men jammed twice. The arrests following a stand-off in Alhaurin el Grande, a hillside village 30 miles from Marbella on the Costa del Sol, a Guardia Civil spokesman said. One of the arrested men has been named as Paul Logan Donnelly...

23 people have been arrested across nine provinces (including Malaga and Almeria) accused of several offences ranging from tax fraud

23 people have been arrested across nine provinces (including Malaga and Almeria) accused of several offences ranging from tax fraud, falsifying documents and illegal association. Those arrested were part of an organisation that converted industrial-use diesel (‘gasoleo bonificado’, types B and C, used for farm machinery and heating) into regular diesel (‘gasoleo ordinario’, type A) used in vehicles. During the operation called ‘Toelum II’ police...

Police have arrested a 40-year-old Cuban doctor accused of stealing 126 morphine phials from the A&E department at Marbella’s Costa del Sol Hospital

Police have arrested a 40-year-old Cuban doctor accused of stealing 126 morphine phials from the A&E department at Marbella’s Costa del Sol Hospital, where he had worked as an intern since December 2008. An investigation was launched after police received information from hospital chiefs on March 2 that morphine phials had started going missing from hospital crash trolleys over a period of several shifts. During the enquiry officers established...

Francis O'Brien, of C-Granada No. 3, Argon, 18132, Granada, Spain, pleaded guilty to the importation of drugs

Francis O'Brien, of C-Granada No. 3, Argon, 18132, Granada, Spain, pleaded guilty to the importation of drugs through Rosslare Port on June 27, 2008, for the purpose of selling or otherwise supplying.Garda Brian Cummins told the court that the defendant driving a Ford Box Van arrived on the Oscar Wilde Ferry from France. On the occasion he was accompanied in the vehicle by his son. When an inspection of the van was carried out cannabis resin to the...

Two Brits,are facing charges of attempted murder after shooting at police in Spain

Two Brits,are facing charges of attempted murder after shooting at police in Spain.Police say the men started shooting after officers asked them to stop urinating outside a shop in a Costa del Sol village.The officers survived only because the 9mm pistol used by one of the men jammed...

Junta de Andalucía will shortly be able order the demolition of any property it considers to be ‘manifestly illegal’ within a month

Junta de Andalucía will shortly be able order the demolition of any property it considers to be ‘manifestly illegal’ within a month, in other words any property which is never going to be accepted into an Urban Plan because it has been built on protected land, or on land of high...

Marbella Town Hall has issued a statement confirming that work to demolish a home built illegally in the municipality at Golf Río Real

Marbella Town Hall has issued a statement confirming that work to demolish a home built illegally in the municipality at Golf Río Real, by the promoter Naviro Inmobiliaria, has now started.The building, which is one of 34 at the site, lacks a municipal licence, was unoccupied, and...

Baltasar Garzon, Spain’s most famous judge, is again at the centre of the country’s political life, this time over a corruption probe

Baltasar Garzon, Spain’s most famous judge, is again at the centre of the country’s political life, this time over a corruption probe that is becoming increasingly embarrassing for the conservative opposition. Conservative spokeswoman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria has indirectly accused...

14 year old girlfriend of Miguel Carcaño,now says that he confessed his crime to her on the night he carried it out, January 24.

14 year old girlfriend of Miguel Carcaño, the man who has confessed to killing the 17 year old girl from Sevilla, Marta del Castillo, now says that he confessed his crime to her on the night he carried it out, January 24.Sources close to the investigation also say that he told her that he had thrown Marta’s body into the Guadalquivir River with the help of his friends 15 year old El Cuco, and Samuel B.P.The 14 year old changed her story to the police...

Pensioner opened fire with a 32 caliber revolver at an ambulance driver and the doctor with whom he had had an appointment at 7pm that afternoon.

34 year old doctor was shot just after midnight in the early hours of Wednesday, but did not die until 1530 in the afternoonThe judge in Instruction Court One in Caravaca de la Cruz, has ordered preventative prison for the 74 year old retired taxi driver, Pedro N.S. who opened fire at 25 minutes past midnight on Tuesday night after he had gone to the health centre in Moratalla, Murcia.The pensioner opened fire with a 32 caliber revolver at an ambulance...

Princess Anne Wednesday arrived in Gibraltar on a three-day official visit that has sparked complaints from Spain

Princess Anne Wednesday arrived in Gibraltar on a three-day official visit that has sparked complaints from Spain which contests London's rule over the strategic territory.The princess flew into Gibraltar on a Royal Air Force jet for her second visit in four years to the largely self-governing British outpost which lies at the western entrance to the Mediterranean.Her programme includes a walk-about in the city centre, a tour of a British naval base...

British journalist Selina Scott,has denied any building irregularities in the construction of her home at Andratx on Mallorca

Spanish website www.ultimahora.es reports that British journalist Selina Scott, who is best known in Spain for an interview with King Juan Carlos in 1992, has denied any building irregularities in the construction of her home at Andratx on Mallorca.British journalist purchased undeveloped...

James “Pancake” Taylor identified as Gang Leader in Costa Drugs War

James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police trying to stop a violentdrugs war that has broken out on the Costa del Sol. Liverpool gangster was today behind bars in Spain after being arrested for attempted murder.James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police trying to stop a violent drugs war that has broken out on the Costa del Sol.The 29-year-old is also being investigated over claims he is the ringleader of a gang which has brought terror to...

Sun Village urbanisation at the foot of the La Albera Sierra in Palau-saverdera, is to be demolished after years of legal fighting

Sun Village urbanisation at the foot of the La Albera Sierra in Palau-saverdera, is to be demolished after years of legal fighting. The development has been deemed to illegal by the Catalan High Court TSJC, and owners have been given six months to knock their properties down.The local Town Hall has attacked the court’s decision to rule out any other option in the case which dates back to 2001 when the CiU Mayor, Narcís Deusedas, approved the development...

Parents of Gary Dunne have been in Benalmadena cemetery, near Malaga, to see his coffin for the first time

Family of a builder murdered in Spain today finally got his body back after a heartbreaking three-year wait.The parents of Gary Dunne have been in Benalmadena cemetery, near Malaga, to see his coffin for the first time.The West Derby family fought a long battle over Gary's remains after the 22-year-old was killed by a machete-wielding thug on the Costa del Sol in 2006.Legal complications and complex foreign hygiene laws meant the family came up against...

Giususeppe U arrested Camorra bosses refer to the Spain's Mediterranean coast as "Costa Nostra" or "our coast"

The latest Italian mafia leader to be arrested was once a security guard for an Italian government minister, say Spanish police. Police in Spain said Monday they had detained a leader of the Italian mafia who was once a security guard for an Italian government minister, in the latest in a string of arrests of top mafia figures.The man, identified as 48-year-old Giususeppe U, is wanted in Italy for drug trafficking and is suspected of involvement...

Maxine Daniels, 60, was hit over the head with a crowbar, after a night out with friends.

Maxine Daniels, 60, was hit over the head with a crowbar, after a night out with friends. British woman has been knocked unconscious during a brutal attack in Peurto Duquesa . The author and medium, who lives in Estepona, had a brain scan after being left for dead in the popular port.Unconscious for around ten minutes she awoke to discover her handbag had been stolen, along with her passport, money, bankcards and driving licence. “Someone tripped...

ski lift chair at the beginners run of the Sierra Nevada resort in Granada came away from its pulleys

A ski lift chair at the beginners run of the Sierra Nevada resort in Granada came away from its pulleys and dragged another six chairs down with it. The accident happened at 10.17, when the area was not overly busy. Nevertheless, 23 people were injured, mostly only slightly, although...

Ronald B was taken to the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella where he was treated for serious injuries to his left eye and the area surrounding it

Ronald B. (53), a business owner from Ipswich in England, tried to help a girl in distress and came off worst. Doctors think that the tourist who has been holidaying on the Costa del Sol regularly for 15 years could lose the sight in his left eye.Events took place last Monday in...

Philip Doo and David Mufford, and Christopher Wiggins, from Spain's Costa del Sol, are charged with attempting to import 1.7 ton of cocaine

Philip Doo and David Mufford, from Devon, and Christopher Wiggins, from Spain's Costa del Sol, are charged with attempting to import 1.7 tonnes of cocaine - believed to be valued at more than 650 million euro.Three Britons accused of being involved in an international drugs smuggling ring intercepted off the coast of Ireland have appeared briefly at Cork Circuit Criminal Court as the start of their trial was adjourned.Barristers asked for the case...

Barcelona airport,Cocaine disguised as 52 bars of chocolate

National Police have arrested an Ecuadorian man at El Prat airport in Barcelona after he was found to be carrying four kilos of cocaine in his luggage on arrival on a flight from Colombia.The drug was disguised as 52 bars of chocolate, perfectly individually wrapped as the Jumbo...

Las Dunas Hotel in Estepona not paid its employees in over four months.

Las Dunas Hotel in Estepona (Costa del Sol) was not long ago considered Spain’s most expensive hotel, with some rooms costing as much as 6,000 euros per night. Today it stands on the spotlight for not having paid its employees in over four months.The Hotel Las Dunas employs over 100 employees, all of which have not been paid since November 2008, according to the president of the comittee of the company, Juan Luis Diaz.During 2007, the hotel Las Dunas...