MALAGA GAZETTE

Monday, March 30, 2009

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

Posted On Monday, March 30, 2009 0 comments

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 municipalities on the Costa del Sol say they are having none of it.They say they simply do not have the space to relocated the beach restaurants and say the economic cost of moving them and the threat to workers jobs also has to be considered.There is a clause in the Ley de Costas which allows exceptions when, given the nature of the construction of the beach restaurant, it cannot be moved, and now the local ayuntamientos say they are to use that clause to defend the status quo.
Mayor of Fuengirola, Esperanza Oña, said the movement of the chinguitos would lead to the elimination of the Paseo Marítimos, and that would prove disastrous for the local economy.
In Marbella, where 98% of the beach restaurant licences have expired, the Councilor for the Environment, Antonio Espada, said they did not want to see the restaurants disappear from the sand.


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

Posted On Monday, March 30, 2009 0 comments

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 the tax collection system, supported locally by the PP, which led to the current stalemate, with the Junta challenging the idea and the Granada courts which have meanwhile paralysing the operation.
The Diputación says that the Almuñecar Town Hall should have collected an income of some 3.4 million €, and they will help out, but the Mayor says he will not respond to ‘blackmail’.
After telling the municipal workers of their plight, El País reports the Mayor set off on a trip to Morocco.


Thursday, March 26, 2009

Benidorm bank robbery opposite the Trafico Guardia Civil barracks

Posted On Thursday, March 26, 2009 0 comments

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 the safe be opened. When the Guardia Civil crossed the street the two men tried to run off and a car chase ensued with the arrest of one of the robbers and the second was detained later in El Campello as he was packing to leave his home.The two, who had fake beards and moustaches, had also planned another robbery in Valencia.


Tuesday, March 24, 2009

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

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments

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 part in it where his widow who is expecting their child to be born next month and his mother who said that he “never messed around with anybody.” Some even compared Polanco Peralta’s murder to that of Lucrecia Pérez- another Dominican immigrant who in 1992 was murdered in an ugly bias attack.Polanco Peralta was killed in an area of the Tetuán district lined with bars and frequented by Latin Americans migrants. The neighborhood itself has been the scene of tensions between the growing immigrant community and traditional residents. As one old-timer callously observed:“There are daily brawls among them. They do not respect anyone. All they want to do is boss around. Now they cry out for justice over the death of that boy. What more do they want if, for starters, the shooter has already been detained! ” grumbled an elderly resident walking down the street. –


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments

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 and bulletproof vests.Vargas had been arrested in Madrid in July 2006 and was awaiting trial in a cocaine-trafficking case. He had been on a list of Colombia's most wanted drug traffickers.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments

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 far, as well as paying a total deposit for the two properties of 200,000 Euros (around £182,000). The total cost of the two holiday homes is 642,000 Euros (more than £590,000).But his dream turned into a nightmare when the properties were branded illegal in 2005 because the developer breached the planning permission. Since then, Mr Kerr has been caught up in a succession of court hearings and legal wrangling.He said: “I wanted to make an investment and have a couple of holiday homes. The developer had planning permission for 30 town houses but built 192 apartments.”Mr Kerr explained that the planning permission was retracted so when the properties were completed, Marbella Vista Golf was then unable to obtain a licence for first occupation.He said: “If they can’t get that, we can’t officially live there or rent out the properties and they are almost impossible to sell. “I tried to get a mortgage close to completion and was told by the bank that the properties were illegal and I would have to get a solicitor.“I asked the developer to cancel the contract and return the deposit but Marbella Vista Golf refused because it considered the properties to be complete and said we should go ahead with completion.“But it was illegal so I tried to enforce the bank guarantee.”Bank guarantees from developers have been compulsory in Spain for 40 years for off-plan properties — those that have not been fully constructed at the time of purchase. The guarantees ensure that if a developer does not build on time, goes into administration or does not build at all, buyers can have their money returned. Mr Kerr said he had a guarantee with Spanish bank, Banco Popular Hipotecario (BPH). He added: “I tried to get the deposit back. We spoke to the lawyer who said we could get our deposit back but the bank said no.“You hear about developers not standing up to their side of the contract but banks issue guarantees all the time and you would expect them to honour them.”Mr Kerr and a group of people involved in disputes about five additional properties took the bank to the Court of First Instance in Madrid.He said: “We won the first time but BPH appealed to the High Court and the original result was overturned. “The bank said the properties were not illegal and were licensed. We appealed to the High Court and we lost but there were mistakes made. The court would not re-open the case but said we did not have to pay legal fees.“We went to the Supreme Court but it refused to hear the case, stating it did not deal with that type of case.“We are now taking the case to the Constitutional Court to say it was not heard properly.”As yet, a date has not been set for this hearing.He said: “I have spent a couple of hours a day on the phone and have had to pay for trips to Spain.“It absorbs the holiday as I have to attend a couple of meetings each time I visit Spain and there are the invisible costs because I am self-employed. But there are a lot of people who are a lot worse off than me and have put their whole life savings into the project.”Ruth Genda, from Leicestershire, is in the same situation as Mr Kerr. She presented a petition to the governor of the Bank of Spain, who said in an article in the Spanish newspaper El Pais that banks should be honouring guarantees.A petition has also been submitted to Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking him to intervene and help the group of British buyers.Mr Kerr has also been in touch with members of the European parliament who represent the south-east area.But he said: “They have not been able to assist us in any way. They have responded to letters but they will not get involved in individual cases.But the issue involves more than 30,000 apartments in Spain and it is in no way individual.”Speaking to the News and Mail, Víctor Francisco Sánchez, a solicitor representing the development company, denied the properties were illegal and said the licence of first occupation had been approved provisionally and was on the verge of being approved definitively.A spokesman for the bank said he was unable to talk to third parties about customers.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments

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 favoured for terrorist attacks carried out by ETA during the 1980’s and 1990’s and is also the explosive allegedly used in the Madrid train bombings of 11th March 2004. Investigations were opened when the Department received information that an organized crime ring, comprising mainly of Eastern European nationals, intended to purchase explosives for use during robberies. The first series of enquiries resulted in the arrest of two Spaniards, aged 24 and 28 years, who were accosted on the day that the exchange was scheduled to take place, carrying a rucksack containing half a kilo of explosives. A second pair of Spaniards, aged 23 and 27 years, was subsequently arrested under suspicion of collaborating with the other two, as “runners” in the transfer of the explosives.
During the investigation, Agents executed two house searches in Torrevieja, where an additional 9.5 kilos of goma-2 and a detonator were also uncovered. The band had hidden a further 7.5 kilos in a hole beneath a palm plantation at the ‘Granja de Rocamora’ farm, divided into several small packages surrounded by plastic bags. The stash was eventually uncovered with the help of the specialist Police Dog Unit from the National Police Headquarters
The defendants were initially presented before the Custody Officer of ‘Juzgado nº1 de Torrevieja’, who ruled that the four suspects be detained in prison without granting bail, and will be tried later by the ‘Juzgado de Primera Instancia Número 5 de Torrevieja’. The Sub-Delegate of the Valencian Government, Encarna Llinares, and the Provincial Commissioner for Alicante, Enrique Durán, appeared before the court to explain the details of the case, presenting a selection of the packages that the Agents had confiscated as evidence. Finally, the Councillor for Police and Security of Torrevieja City Council, Tomás Arenas Buenas, assured citizens that there was no great cause for concern and gave his word that the matter would be addressed promptly and accurately. He also dismissed reports that the explosives have been used in previous attacks carried out in the area.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments

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 has only agreed to 120,000 euros .On October 9, 1999 the 19-year-old daughter of Alicia Hornos, Rocio Wanninkhof, left her home to visit her boyfriend in Mijas. At about 9:30pm, she left his house to go home and get ready to meet him later at the Fuengirola fair. She was never seen alive again.When she failed to return home, Alicia asked her other daughter, Rosa, to contact Rocio’s boyfriend, Antonio, to find out where she was. He said he had not made it to the fair but that Rocio had been seen there by other friends, so she had probably spent the night at one of their houses.The restless mother went for a walk and found Rocio’s blood-stained clothes. Rocio’s badly-burnt body was found three weeks later, on November 2, at La Cala de Mijas, although forensic evidence indicated that this was not where she had been murdered. An autopsy revealed that she had been stabbed once in the chest and eight times in the back, although, on account of the poor condition of the corpse, it could not be determined if she had been sexually assaulted.Police initially suspected Antonio of involvement but, after he was cleared, their attention switched to Alicia’s former lover, Dolores Vasquez. The media frenzy that followed the brutal murder secured a guilty verdict against Dolores, who has always maintained her innocence.In August 2003, whilst Dolores was waiting for an appeal hearing date, 17-year-old Sonia Carabantes from Coin disappeared and was found murdered in very similar circumstances, five days later, in Monda. Forensic specialists found human flesh under Sonia’s finger-nails from which they were able to recover DNA that matched DNA recovered from a cigarette butt found at the scene of the Wanninkhof murder. Celia Pantoja, the ex-wife of English expatriate, 41-year-old Tony Alexander King, told police she thought her ex-husband may have been the culprit in the Carabantes murder after he returned home on the morning of Carabantes’ disappearance with blood on his clothes and scratch marks on his face. Londoner, King, was arrested in Alhaurin el Grande in September 2003 and convicted of the Carabantes murder in October 2006, when he was sentenced to 36 years in prison.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments

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 were not destined to be used by terrorists. Although this kind of explosive has been previously used by ETA in terrorist attacks, police are satisfied that the four suspects have no links with terrorism, but are common criminals who planned to use the explosives to open bank safes and jewellers’ shops or in attacks on armoured security trucks.
Early evidence suggests that the gang, most of whom had previous police records, planned to sell some of the Goma-2 to other gangs and police investigators are now faced with the difficult task of identifying the source of the explosives, which may have been stolen from a local quarry. Alicante National Police said that they were able to positively identify members of the gang after coming across the explosives by chance, during the course of their investigations. Tomas Arenas, Security councillor for Torrevieja Town Council, stressed that such finds are rare and came as a surprise. Praising the National Police on the success of the operation, he appealed to residents to keep calm and assured them that the gang had not had the opportunity to use the explosives in the area.The four defendants, all Spanish (two men, aged 28 and 27 and two women, aged 24 and 23) have been remanded in custody.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments

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 dog, ‘Cuqui’. Her neighbour met her at the gates to his home and told her it was safe for her to enter. After a brief chat, she was about to leave when the dog appeared from nowhere and latched on to her right arm with such ferocity that she could do nothing to help herself. The neighbour, a Caribbean man aged 80, who had failed to secure the dog properly, could do little to help. After being mauled for approximately eight minutes, Christine managed to escape the animal’s clutches by poking the fingers of her left hand into its eyes. The neighbour, rather than help her, fled the scene and was later found in hiding by Guardia Civil officers investigating the incident.
According to Tom, the laws in Spain are very strict regarding the keeping of dogs, especially breeds like the mastiff which are listed as ‘dangerous’. All dogs must be micro-chipped and should have adequate insurance cover for any such incident. “Stupidly, this man (very wealthy in his own right) had no insurance on the dog, or even third-party liability on his own home,” says Tom. “He didn’t believe in ‘wasting’ money!” Dogs listed on the dangerous breed list must also be registered and licenced by the council. The process is a fairly elaborate and lengthy one (including psychological and physical tests on the owner - to ensure they are suitable - and criminal record checks).

The laws of Spain also state that the onus is on the witness to call for help. This he also failed to do and it was left for Christine to struggle her way home and dial the emergency services. “I must say they provided an excellent, rapid, service.” Tom says.

In the absence of insurance cover, the Bakers had no option but to sue their neighbour, who had been a friend of theirs for four years. Three years later, in February 2007, the case was finally heard at a Denia court. In the meantime, Tom says, “My wife had no choice, after two different opinions from hospitals in Denia and Valencia, but to have her arm completely amputated at the shoulder.”
At the age of 60, it has been very difficult for Christine to adjust from being a healthy, active and lively woman to depending totally on her husband, for whom she had previously cared after he suffered a stroke in 1999. The court awarded Christine 338,000 euros, plus costs (estimated at 120,000 euros) and interest. She had previously turned down a derisory offer of 155,000 euros as it would not cover the cost of her care for the years ahead. Their neighbour lost a subsequent appeal at the Alicante High Court.To date, Christine has not received a single euro in compensation. According to Tom, the neighbour disposed of all his assets in Spain (including his house), moved any money he had off-shore and declared himself insolvent.“So the next step is a criminal fraud case,” says Tom, “possibly to be heard in Alicante within the next five months, or failing that, in Benidorm in possibly another two years time!” “Can you imagine our financial status after all this time? It beggars belief, as we have been obliged to pay for everything – carers, drivers, solicitors’ costs etc.” He says, “Stress and anxiety have certainly taken their toll on us both.”The Bakers are yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel and, despite the horrific nature of the attack on Christine, have had to contend with long-winded legal procedures that do little to ease their suffering and much to protect the guilty. Tom ended his plea with, “This is not justice, even by Spanish standards.”


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.

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments

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 guests.He was taken by helicopter to hospital but died shortly after.Información newspaper reports that the two British people in the room refused to open the door to the Guardia Civil when they arrived, and when the Guardia managed to gain access one of the men tried to escape over the balcony which was only three metres high.An autopsy has been carried out and the friend of the deceased has been arrested.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments

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 drugs and alcohol at the time and was now very sorry for his action. The case continues.Meanwhile a 40 year old man has been arrested for beating his wife in Marbella, and using a baseball bat and knife to threaten two police who went to scene. It happened last Saturday.
And another two Málaga men, aged 32 and 44, were arrested on domestic violence charges in the city after threatening a 28 year old woman, against whom one had already a distancing order. It happened on Sunday in the ‘25 años de Paz’


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments


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, changed his story about what he had done with the body, from throwing her into the Guadalquivir river, to placing her in a rubbish container at the end of his street.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments

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 the regular catches of underweight and baby fish.It has failed to stop a ban of the endangered chanquete, which has been in force since 1989.A source at Spain’s fishing ministry told Diario Sur, that there were so many illegal fisherman that the price had dropped from 150 euros a kilo to just 30 euros.He estimated that up to 70 “bolicheros” as they are known head out every night from Torre del Mar, in the Axarquia alone.Over a dozen bars and restaurants in central Malaga have been denounced for selling the illegal fish.
A further 100 or more are selling the fish up the Costa del Sol.At the central fish market at Huelin inspectors found 20 kilos of chanquetes for sale, with around 25 kilos of other prohibited fish being sold just outside.Now Spain’s Ministry of Fishing is to clamp down by levying a new fine of up to 60,000 euros for the catch of more than 100 kilos of underweight fish. The smallest fine has been increased to 1000 euros for illegal fishing.It is also ordering the immediate seizure of any boats or lorries involved in the fishing or delivery of the products.Over the last month some 30 boats have been seized by members of the Guardia Civil.But, as the source, at the ministry explained: “There are lorry drivers who are driving all over Spain every day taking baby boquerones and chanquetes, who when they are stopped pay a fine and then continue doing it as it is so lucrative.”


Kevin John Palmer Costa timeshare salesman disappeared

Posted On Tuesday, March 24, 2009 0 comments


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 detectives to believe Mr Palmer had met his death that night. Now ten years since he vanished, an inquest will be held to determine how he was killed – even though his body has never been recovered. The hearing, which will take place on Wednesday, will bring some closure to Mr Palmer’s family who have not been granted a death certificate, though they are sure he is dead. It was in the early hours of March 13, 1999, that Mr Palmer – nicknamed Jon Bon Jovi because he had similar hair to the rock star – was last seen alive, having returned to England that day from his Malaga home where he lived with his wife and child.He had spent a night at the Sir Joseph Paxton pub in Hunts Pond Road, Locks Heath, and the Abshot Country Club in Titchfield Common. Detectives know he caught a taxi from there with two other men and a woman, travelling to Bishop’s Waltham during the early hours. But a row broke out and the men are said to have got out of the vehicle, had a fight in Botley Road, near Burridge Social Club and the Horse and Jockey pub – and only two men got back in to continue the journey. They made their way to Hoe Road, to the home of convicted drug smuggler John Howett who also owned a second property in the Costa del Sol. In 2002 – three years after Mr Palmer vanished – Howett was jailed for his involvement in a drugs ring that saw £16m of cannabis smuggled into the country.
A year later, in October 2003, while Howett was serving his 12-year sentence in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, detectives from the major crime department got a breakthrough. They spent the best part of a week digging up the garden of Howett’s former home in Hoe Road as they searched for clues to Mr Palmer’s disappearance. In particular they were looking for a suitcase, a driving licence and a chunky gold necklace. Neighbours watched as police moved into the small cul-de-sac and forensic teams began digging up the garden and removing items from the house, including carpets and interior doors. As they officially launched a murder inquiry days later, senior detectives said that they believed Mr Palmer had been taken to the house in Hoe Road, dead or alive. The inquiry also saw a team of officers fly to the Costa del Sol for six days as part of the investigation. Back home, all taxi drivers working in Fareham, Eastleigh and Winchester districts at that time were approached by officers who have to this day never been able to trace the man who collected Mr Palmer and his associates that night. A 51-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and released on bail while files on the investigation, called Operation Arkholme, were passed to the Crown Prosecution Service. They later decided not to proceed with charges because of insufficient evidence. In deciding how Mr Palmer died, the coroner has the option of recording a verdict of unlawful killing or an open verdict. He is not allowed to apportion blame.


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

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

Posted On Wednesday, March 18, 2009 0 comments

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 Wednesday.


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

Posted On Wednesday, March 18, 2009 0 comments


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 them have not been ruled out.


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

Posted On Wednesday, March 18, 2009 0 comments

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 shooter as the company is apparently being run currently by a manager.A man and a woman from the same Los Pertolos clan were sent to prison for four years in July last year for demanding money in 2004 from a British businessman who lives in nearby Arboleas. They also had obliged the Briton to employ three workers.


Saturday, March 14, 2009

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

Posted On Saturday, March 14, 2009 0 comments

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 Sofia Airport, was taken into custody at the same time. Romeu was held for several hours for questioning before being charged and released on bail.Romeu’s arrest was the culmination of an under- cover investigation codenamed Operation Fly which began in June 2008. The enquiry was launched after the Guardia Civil learnt that the security firm’s accountant at the airport was allegedly altering records to show more employees than actually existed and, in turn, Jose Luis Romeu was said to be signing off the monthly invoices presented to AENA. In order to conceal the scam, the fictitious security guards were assigned to areas in the airport where there was generally little in the way of control or surveillance.
On the day of Romeu’s arrest, officers from the Guardia Civil’s organised crime unit searched the offices of AENA’s security department at the airport as well as those of Seguridad Integral Canaria. The same company’s offices in Candelaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife were examined at the same time as well as the homes of both the men involved. Guardia Civil investigators removed computer records and what onlookers described as copious amounts of paperwork. Some sources also claimed that during an earlier investigation last October, computers and paperwork were taken from Seguridad Integral Canaria’s offices in Las Palmas.
Seguridad Integral Canaria said the following day that none of their employees at the airport had been arrested with Jose Luis Romeu but confirmed that one of their office workers was implicated in the case. In a statement to the press, the company announced that an employee had explained to the Guardia Civil the accounting system that the firm used at Reina Sofia Airport and was able to demonstrate that the amounts claimed on invoices presented to AENA matched the number of hours worked by employees.The Alternativa Sindical union in Tenerife maintains that security guards at the airport had noticed irregularities which they reported to the Ministry of Public Works in November 2007, although their warnings prompted no response from the ministry. It was evident, they said, that neither the number of security guards on duty nor the number of hours supposedly put in by personnel tallied with the amounts that AENA was being charged for. The union also claimed that this shortfall in staff led to situations where private aircraft sometimes entered and left the airport without their documentation being checked.
The case against Jose Luis Romeu Galvan will be heard at the court in Granadilla de Abona. There is a ban on reporting while the case is at the instruction stage where the examining judge questions all parties before deciding whether there is a case against the accused. Meanwhile, AENA announced that it was working closely with the court and the police to shed light on the background to the case, and said it would be taking disciplinary action against its former employee. An AENA spokesman also emphasised that despite the incident, security at the airport had not been compromised at any time.


Paul Logan Donnelly fled after abandoning a six-inch knife

Posted On Saturday, March 14, 2009 0 comments

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 from Newcastle. Officers allege he fled the scene after abandoning a six-inch knife, but was later arrested. The name of the second man in custody has not been released.
Two civil guards, armed with pistols, had stopped the pair after spotting one of them urinating outside a video shop on Monday evening, Spanish police claim.
A spokesman for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the unnamed man pulled the trigger twice during the incident but that it jammed. He said: "The men were arrested for urinating in the street and possession of a gun. "A consular team is now working with the relevant authorities in Spain. The investigation is at a very early stage."


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

Posted On Saturday, March 14, 2009 0 comments

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 seized: 25 properties, four investment funds, 18 lorries, 21 vehicles, three motorbikes and three trailers. The total value of the items seized is estimated at four million euros. During the early part of the investigation, police found installations in Toledo and Madrid used to ‘clean’ and adulterate the cheaper industrial- use diesel. The gang then sold it on as the more expensive type ‘A’ diesel to petrol stations and other organisations (some of which knew about the scam). Following further enquiries, tax evasion fraud was uncovered, valued at 6.7 million euros, calculated between 2004 and 2008. It was also found that around 4.5 million litres of diesel type ‘B’ was mixed with 13 million litres of oil and other unknown substances with the aim of increasing the total volume of product that could be sold.


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

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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 that the trolleys were equipped with all the basic equipment necessary for dealing with cardiac arrests and other emergencies. A crash trolley typically holds a defibrillator and intravenous medications, plus a variety of medical supplies. Access to crash trolleys is limited and their contents highly controlled. This should have allowed police to compile a short-list of suspects, narrowed down to medical staff who worked the shifts when the phials went missing. However, the hospital’s police report also indicated that the morphine phials had been taken by someone breaking the seals on the trolley and on the last few occasions forcing the lid of the trolley open. By cross-referencing the shift patterns of medical staff with the dates when the phials went missing, they managed to identify the culprit as a doctor who had worked there on a temporary basis and whose contract at the hospital had finished at the end of February. The suspect is not thought to have a criminal record.


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

Posted On Saturday, March 14, 2009 0 comments

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 amount of 79.861kgs was found which had a value of ¤559,027.The defendant, said Garda Cummins had put out a flyer in Spain for deliveries back to Ireland. He was contacted by a man, this person existed, but was in no way involved with drugs. This person agreed a figure of ¤400 to bring furniture back to Ireland.When arrested in Rosslare Port he was conveyed to Wexford Garda Station. He gave the name of a person in Dungarvan for the delivery but on investigation this person did not exist.Garda Cummins said the defendant is a married man with four children, now living in Spain. He was a native of Drogheda.
Mr. Michael Durack, S.C., told the court that the defendant had received a serious hand injury while working in the family Dry Cleaning business in Drogheda. He received some money, went to Spain to live with his family. His children are going to school in Spain. The van he was driving on the occasion was a battered old van he had received in lieu of payment for some job he carried out. He deeply regretted his involvement in this.Judge Doyle said drugs were the scurge of young people in Ireland. This is a very serious crime and she had no choice but to impose a custodial sentence.Judge Doyle sentenced the defendant to six years in prison, suspending the final three years for a period of three years. She ordered that the sentence be backdate to June 27, 2008.


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

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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 twice.The gunman, named by police only as Paul B, surrendered following a stand-off in Alhaurin el Grande, a hillside village 30 miles from Marbella on the Costa del Sol, a Guardia Civil spokesman confirmed last night.The second man, Paul Logan Donnelly, from Newcastle, fled after abandoning a six-inch knife. He was later arrested.Two civil guards, armed with pistols, had stopped the pair after spotting one of them urinating outside a video shop at 9pm on Monday. Paul B threw a passport belonging to another ex-pat to the ground then took out the gun.He aimed it at both officers, pulling the trigger twice, but each time it jammed, the spokesman confirmed.The officers then took out their guns and talked him round.A Guardia Civil officer described the incident yesterday. He said: “It was around the leisure zone and there were three individuals who were walking through the street and one of them was urinating in the middle of the street.“They (the police) went to identify him and the first of those arrested threw his passport.“When the police approached him then he took out a gun which he had hidden in his trousers, he loaded and shot at one of the policemen.“They (the police) identified him and arrested him without firing any shots. They are now in custody awaiting trial.”Meanwhile, a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: “The men were arrested for urinating in the street and possession of a gun.“A consular team is now working with the relevant authorities in Spain.“The investigation is at a very early stage.”


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

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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 ecological worth.
El País reports that the Regional Councillor for Housing and Territorial Planning, Juan Espadas, on Wednesday took advantage of an appearance in parliament to announce that his department is putting the finishing touches to a new town planning regulation which includes a procedure for summary demolition, without the matter having to go through any further courts. He said the legislation accepted many suggestions from both the Prosecutors and Ombudsman’s offices.
The measure, part of the LOUA, the Andalucian Building Ordination Law, is designed to stop building in nature parks or river beds from taking place in the first place, and end the current scenario that while such a case goes through the courts, other buildings are built nearby.During the debate in Sevilla, the P.P. Spokesperson, Esperanza Oña, hit out at the Socialists for ‘encouraging corruption’, while Espadas called for responsibility to avoid ‘social alarm’. He said that the Andalucian administration had done all it can to protect legal construction, and proof of that was that since 2005 it had ordered 17,649 actions in some 535 cases in the region, some 70% of the total, and mostly for building on rustic land.


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

Posted On Saturday, March 14, 2009 0 comments


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 considered impossible to include in the PGOU Urban Plan.
The demolition is being carried out by Naviro to comply with a municipal order passed on September 9 last year and has an estimated cost of 47,500 € which it must pay. Naviro is owned by the Granada businessman, José Ávila Rojas, who is himself indicted in the Malaya corruption case in the town.The PGOU first showed the plot as green land and then with the revision for public services.Another building in Lindavista Alta is in the same circumstances


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

Posted On Saturday, March 14, 2009 0 comments


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 Garzon of acting in complicity with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s socialists in an attempt to tarnish the reputation of her People’s Party (PP). Half a year earlier, the internationally prestigious magistrate at Madrid’s powerful National Court was forced to drop an unprecedented inquiry into human rights abuses under Spain’s 1939-75 dictator Francisco Franco Garzon, however, knows that he is admired as fervently as he is hated, and that apparent defeats often turn into partial victories, as investigations which are shelved later break new ground. Some see the controversial judge as an incorruptible fighter for universal justice, while others claim that his vanity and hunger for fame know no limits. Few, however, would dispute that the notoriety of judges like Garzon reflects a certain politicisation of Spanish courts, which handle politically sensitive matters such as corruption or terrorism.
Elegant in his sharp suits, glasses and gray hair combed backwards, Garzon, 53, hardly ever talks to the press, but seems to be always making headlines.
A list of people Garzon has investigated reads like a “Who’s Who” of the criminal world: drug lords, arms traffickers, Basque and Islamist terrorists, corrupt politicians and foreign dictators. Garzon helped to corner the militant Basque separatist group ETA by cracking down not only on the group itself, but also on related organisations, leaving the radicals increasingly isolated.
By attempting to extradite former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, Garzon helped to launch a judicial human rights crusade in which Spanish judges have played a prominent role. Garzon has investigated alleged human rights abuses ranging from Argentina to Western Sahara, and even ordered the arrest of Osama bin Laden.
With a new probe by Garzon’s colleague Fernando Andreu into a 2002 Gaza bombing now creating tension with Israel, the government sees the judges’ human rights campaign as going too far, and plans to limit their jurisdiction mainly to cases involving Spanish citizens. While investigating human rights violations abroad, however, Spanish courts had not tackled the ones at home, and Garzon broke a taboo when launching a probe in 2008 into the alleged killings of more than 100,000 leftists during and after the 1936-39 civil war that brought Franco to power.
Prosecutors close to the conservative opposition used judicial arguments to pressure Garzon to abandon the inquiry, which could now be taken over by regional courts.
The row over Francoism paved the way for an open showdown between Garzon and the PP, after the judge named about 40 people suspects in an investigation into an alleged corruption network involving PP- governed regions and municipalities.
The party made the most of a revelation by the press that Garzon had gone on a hunting expedition with justice minister Mariano Fernandez Bermejo, accusing the two of plotting against the PP and forcing Bermejo to resign. The PP also lodged a judicial complaint against Garzon, who finally transferred part of the PP probe to other courts on Thursday, but simultaneously presented new charges against senior PP representatives including Valencian regional prime minister Francisco Camps.
Those accusing Garzon of acting out of political motives point to his brief stint with socialist politics in the early 1990s.
Garzon did, however, also pursue prime minister Felipe Gonzalez’ socialist government over the semi-official GAL death squads that killed ETA suspects in the 1980s, contributing to the end of the 14- year Gonzalez era in 2006.
Garzon’s critics slam him as a would-be politician who does a sloppy job dealing with lower-level cases, but such accusations are also tinged with envy.
Admirers point to the courage and hard work of the judge, son of a modest family from the southern region of Andalusia, who is accustomed to receiving threats and has to live surrounded by bodyguards.
“There are cases in which a judge’s life is not worth more than how much you are prepared to pay the hired assassin at hand,” Garzon wrote in his book Un Mundo Sin Miedo (A World Without Fear). Some human rights groups have proposed Garzon for the Nobel Peace Prize, but the personal cost of the judge’s brilliant career was also revealed recently, when he was hospitalised for an anxiety attack


Thursday, March 12, 2009

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.

Posted On Thursday, March 12, 2009 0 comments

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 last Monday, when her family was called in to reconstruct what had happened on the night that Marta vanished.The National Police have now confirmed that fibres from the blanket used to carry the body, and DNA from Marta was found in the back seat of the car belonging to Cuco’s mother.El Cuco however changed his story to the judge on Tuesday, saying that he was not involved in the crime, and he had not been in the flat where the crime occurred that night.


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.

Posted On Thursday, March 12, 2009 0 comments

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 driver and the doctor with whom he had had an appointment at 7pm that afternoon. One report says he had gone for oxygen at 4pm but was told to return at 7, but did not do so until just after midnight.
Maria Eugenia Moreno Martínez, the 34 year old doctor who received several shots died from her injuries to the head and chest in the Virgen de la Arrixaca Hospital at 3,30pm on Wednesday afternoon. The 40 year old Ambulance driver, Juan Miguel Moya, is in a stable condition in the Caravaca de la Cruz District Hospital. He was shot when he tried to take the gun off the pensioner.
Local doctors stopped work in demand for better security measures in health centres.
On leaving the court the pensioner told the press that he was very sorry for what he had done.He has also said that the treatment he received in the ambulatorio was not good.‘The attended to me very badly, very badly’ he said.
Reports indicate that the pensioner had found the gun he used in the back of his taxi in Barcelona twenty years ago.


Wednesday, March 04, 2009

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

Posted On Wednesday, March 04, 2009 0 comments

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 headquarters and the opening of a military medical centre which carries her name and is located on the isthmus that links the Rock to the land frontier with Spain.As with previous trips by British royals to Gibraltar, the visit has met with opposition in Spain.Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Angel Lossada telephoned the British Ambassador in Madrid, Denise Holt, to express Madrid's displeasure when he was first informed of the princess' visit.Centre-right daily newspaper El Mundo called the visit "inopportune" in an editorial last month while Jose Ignacio Landaluce, a lawmaker with the conservative opposition Popular Party, blasted it as "an affront to Spain".The visit comes as Madrid steps up claims that Gibraltar does not have territorial waters because this was not specified in the 1713 treaty of Utrecht under which Spain ceded the Rock to Britain, following its capture in 1704.Britain does not agree with Spain's contention. The naval base which Princess Anne will tour on Thursday houses two armed Royal Navy patrol boats which are the first line of defence of British territorial waters around the Rock.The princess visited Gibraltar in 2004 to mark the 300th anniversary of British rule over the territory.Spain also protested in 1954 when Queen Elizabeth II made her first and only visit to Gibraltar.Zapatero administration consider the visit inopportune, and ‘wounding the sensitivity’ of the Spanish people.In particular they are upset that the Princess will be opening a military clinic, which will bear her name, while on the Rock, the Princess Royal Medical Centre, and that it is built, according to the Spanish, on the isthmus which links the Rock to the mainland, an area which Spain did not hand to the British Crown in the Treaty of Utrecht.


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

Posted On Wednesday, March 04, 2009 0 comments


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 land in Andratx on Mallorca where hundreds of properties have been affectedThe judge investigating the allegations of irregularities has called the Land Ordination Director of the previous regional government on the island, Jaume Massot, the architect Jaime Burnet, and the lawyer, Jacobo Rodríguez Miranda, for what is known as piece 50 in the Andratx case which refers to Selina Scott’s property.Reports indicate she will be called to make a new statement, but has already told the National Police that she purchased the undeveloped land and handed over the construction to the Construcciones Alemany company. She said that she was given a licence for the property by the Andratx Town Hall, and then later granted permission to carry out reforms. The architect, Jaume Massot, told the court on Wednesday that if he was asked today, he would not grant a licence for the Scott dwelling.The case is just one of 68 alleged irregularities in Andratx which remain under investigation, and Selina Scott is one of the more than 200 people who have been called to declare by the investigating judge. The Mayor of Andratx, Eugenio Hidalgo was arrested in November 2006.


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

Posted On Wednesday, March 04, 2009 0 comments

James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police trying to stop a violent
drugs 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 the sunshine streets.
A leaked report to a Spanish judge over a spate of shootings says the gang is a “worldwide organisation that is dedicated mainly to drug trafficking, targeted assassinations and has a hierarchical structure among the members, almost all of whom originate in Liverpool and Manchester”.Taylor was arrested over the shooting of a Brit after a nightclub brawl last August.


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

Posted On Wednesday, March 04, 2009 0 comments

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 of 42 luxury flats on land classified as being for local facilities. Under the plan the land could hold a hotel, or even a supermarket, but not residential accommodation.Most of the property owners are foreigners, many of them British and Dutch, but only three or four families live there year round. The owners are demanding compensation of 310,000 € per property from the Town Hall, claiming the Mayor is to blame for their predicament. He’s commented that the Town Hall could not face such a high claim, and hopes that lawyer can come up with a solution.


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

Posted On Wednesday, March 04, 2009 0 comments

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 countless hurdles to repatriate him.Today Stephen Dunne spoke from Spain and described his emotions on finally being reunited with his son.Mr Dunne said: “They pulled the coffin from a concrete wall, smashing through to get it. The lid had caved in and I gave it a quick kiss.“They transferred Gary into a new coffin.“They brought Gary out exactly on the third anniversary of his death - the coincidence was eerie.“It all happened so fast and Lesley [Gary’s mum] and Ricky [brother] couldn’t get out here in time.
“It was a huge relief to finally get Gary. But it was horrendous at the same time. I don’t mind saying I was crying and in bits.”Mr Dunne attended a court hearing on Monday when a judge formally allowed papers to be signed agreeing the release.
The family is due to land back in Manchester tomorrow.He will be taken to a Wirral funeral director ahead of his March 20 funeral at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral.


Tuesday, March 03, 2009

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

Posted On Tuesday, March 03, 2009 0 comments

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 in a 1997 murder in Rome, police said in a statement. He was arrested in the southern port of Marbella."The fugitive, an ex-state policeman in Italy and a former bodyguard to an Italian minister, is considered to be one of the main leaders of a Calabrese mafia organisation by the authorities in his country," the statement said.Police suspect he ran an international drugs trafficking operation from Morocco where he lived and where he is thought to have held meetings with other members of the mafia clan, the statement added.Since 2006 more than a dozen leaders of the Camorra and other Italian mafia groups have been arrested in Spain, the main entryway into Europe for cocaine from Latin America and hashish from North Africa.In January Spanish police arrested two Camorra bosses, Antonio Caiazzo, 50, and Francesco Simeoli, 40, as they left a restaurant at an upscale Madrid neighbourhood.The arrests have highlighted the growing menace posed by the Italian mafia in Spain.Italian journalist Roberto Saviano, the author of "Gomorra," a best-selling expose of the criminal underworld in Naples, has said several mafia clans have transferred what he termed "their most risky activities," such as drug-running, to Spain, particularly to Barcelona.
Speaking in Barcelona earlier this month, he said Camorra bosses refer to the Spain's Mediterranean coast as "Costa Nostra" or "our coast", alluding to the Sicilian mafia's "Cosa Nostra".Giususeppe U., is wanted in Italy for drug trafficking and is suspected of involvement in a 1997 murder in Rome, police said in a statement. * * * "The fugutive, an ex state policeman in Italy and a former bodyguard to an Italian minister, is considered to be one of the main leaders of a Calabrese mafia organization by the authorities in his country," the statement said. Police suspect he ran an international drugs trafficking operation from Morocco where he lived and where he is thought to have held meetings with other members of the mafia clan, the statement added.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 03, 2009 0 comments

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 me from behind and I was then hit over the head with something very heavy, probably a crowbar.“A couple of millimetres to the left of my temple and I would have been dead.”Daniels, from London, managed to drive around the corner to some friends, who took her to the hospital.She was told, after a brain scan, that fortunately there was no internal damage.“However, they told me I was lucky to have survived the attack,” said Maxine, who is still traumatised and having nightmares.there have been a number of other assaults in the port.According to a member of Age Concern, who has been helping Maxine get a new passport, a couple have also been attacked.The couple, who are believed to be Spanish, were attacked by an Eastern European gang of three apparently carrying a crowbar.A British man was also assaulted in the same way, after allegedly catching a glimpse of the attackers.He was so shaken by the assault he has now returned to the UK.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 03, 2009 0 comments


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 a 37 year old woman remains in intensive care with damage to her abdomen. The ski run was cordoned off and an investigation is under way.Three out of the 23 were seriously injured after the ski lift plunged several metres below to the ground.A ski lift malfunctioned Monday in the Sierra Nevada in southern Spain, injuring 23 people, three of them seriously, a spokesman for the ski resort where the accident happened said.The injured suffered bone fractures and bruises when the lift servicing a beginners piste snapped, sending them plunging to the ground several metres below, the spokesman for Cetursa told AFP by telephone.About a dozen of the injured were taken to hospital, including the three seriously injured who were transported by helicopter. The remaining were slightly injured and were treated at the scene.The Sierra Nevada near Granada, with peaks more than 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) high, is one of Spain's main destinations for ski fans.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 03, 2009 0 comments


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 Nueva Andalucía in Marbella. The victim, Ronald B. (53) from Ipswich, had been having dinner with his wife in a Puerto Banús restaurant. The couple returned to their apartment at 9.30 p.m. and Ronald decided to have a drink in the bar downstairs while his wife went upstairs.The only people in the bar were three women and Ronald started to talk to one of them. The victim told National Police officers that while he was talking to the woman he noticed that two Englishmen "with Liverpool accents" had come into the establishment.
Ronald told the officers that these two men approached one of the women "very aggressively", but he couldn't clarify if they actually attacked or pushed her.
Ronald decided to step in. In his statement he insisted that he tried to help the girl by putting himself in the middle to try and separate them and that was when he was hit hard and lost consciousness. The next thing he knew an Irishman was helping him back to his apartment. According to Ronald's wife, who went to look for the girl to find out exactly what had happened, the girl confirmed that the two men were attacking her and Ronald had tried to defend her. The girl said that Ronald fell to the floor after being hit the first time but the attackers repeatedly kicked him in the head when he was down.Ronald 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. Hospital sources explained that there is a high risk of the victim losing the sight in that eye.
It was hospital staff that informed the police of what had happened and officers from the Marbella police station went to the hospital to take a statement from the victim. Officers are now trying to identify and find Ronald's attackers.
Meanwhile Ronald's wife has left the apartment where the couple were staying and has gone to other accommodation, the location of which has not been disclosed for fear that the attackers, who she says she has been told are dangerous people related to crime, will try to find her. Her daughter, who came from Ipswich, has said that she is scared that Ronald, who has four children, might not be able to see his grandchildren again.
Ronald who was taken into to the Costa del Sol Hospital was transferred to the Hospital Civil in Malaga city to have facial tests, but his room was kept in Marbella for him to go back to for recovery. Hospital staff said that he would definitely have to have surgery and his family still don't know when they will be able to return to the UK.


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

Posted On Tuesday, March 03, 2009 0 comments

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 to be put back to the next session so defence teams could continue discussions with State prosecutors. The three men were detained last November after the Irish Navy, gardai and Customs swooped on the 60ft ocean-going boat Dances With Waves, 170 miles off the west Cork coast. Seventy-five bales of cocaine were discovered on the vessel which had set sail from the Caribbean a month earlier.


Barcelona airport,Cocaine disguised as 52 bars of chocolate

Posted On Tuesday, March 03, 2009 0 comments


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 brand, one of the best known in Colombia. The drug was hidden below a thin layer of chocolate in each bar.51 year old Edgar N.N. was questioned by police and customs after they considered him to be acting nervously.


Monday, March 02, 2009

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

Posted On Monday, March 02, 2009 0 comments

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 became one of the most exclusive hotels in the whole of the Spanish peninsula, with its 88 suites equipped with all kinds of luxuries, its Spa, restaurants and huge variety of added services. Occupancy rates hovered around 90%.The employees have announced strikes on the 6th, 7th, 11th, and 12th March.The 110 workers at the hotel described by the El Mundo newspaper as the most expensive hotel in Spain, Las Dunas in Estepona, have gone four months without pay.The owners had promised to pay the workers last Friday, but reports indicate that this did not happen, and now the workers have announced strike action for March 6,7,11 and 12.Workers representative, Juan Luis Díaz, said they have not been paid since November, and the promise for last Friday was not met. Union CCOO claims that a combination of the crisis and bad management has led to the current situation.
The case will be heard on Wednesday in the arbitration service for the resolution of labour disputes in Andalucía, SERCLA.


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