owners of illegal property in Catral, Alicante, have said that they will not pay monies demanded of them to make their homes legal

owners of illegal property in Catral, Alicante, have said that they will not pay monies demanded of them to make their homes legal, and have called a protest. They say the amounts demanded, for infrastructure and basic services, are ‘excessive and unjust’ because they purchased their properties in good faith without knowing that the builders were selling them illegally.The owners of more than 1,300 houses built illegally on the traditional orchard land in Catral say that the local Town Hall and Generalitat regional government are to blame for the situation as neither stopped the construction in 2002 when the situation was highlighted by Seprona, the environmental wing of the Guardia Civil.Between the years 2000 and 2005 thousands of people, most of them British, bought property in the area through real estate offices who said that clearly that the builders had obtained all the correct licences.The demonstration has been called for 11am on Wednesday outside the Catral Ayuntamiento.

Search for a missing 13 year old German boy who fell into the sea at Calpe on Thursday was called off

Search for a missing 13 year old German boy who fell into the sea at Calpe on Thursday was called off last night as rough seas continued to affect the area. The child had fallen into the sea from the breakwater on the Playa de la Fosa.
The weather conditions complicated the search and lead to some of the firemen taking part being injured.Witnesses had reported seeing three people fall into the water, of whom two managed to get out, one unaided and a second thanks to another man who was in the area.These two are both reported to be foreigners, one of them is Senegalese according to reports, who had also tried without success to reach the German boy, but who finally had to be rescued himself.The Alicante Fire Service was called out, generally because of wind damage, some 100 times on Thursday between 1030 and 1930. Most of the calls came from Elche, Alcoy, Concentaina, La Nucía, Benidorm, Orihuela, Torrevieja and San Vicente del Raspeig.

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 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.

Robbed 1.5 million € from a businessman at the doors of a bank in Alicante.

Five men and two women, all from Argentina, and with criminal records back home, have been arrested for taking 1.5 million € from a businessman at the doors of a bank in Alicante.The police say that the group had been following the businessman for two months and had tried to rob him on another two occasions without success.Finally they took 1.5 million € at gunpoint from the footwear entrepreneur just as he was about to pay in the cash to the bank.National Police spokesman, Blas García, explained that the robbery happened on December 15 in the San Gabriel area of the city. He said the organisers of the gang are a father and son who are very well known in Alicante as a furniture restorer and motorbike mechanic.Others arrested face money laundering charges. Five searches have been carried out and 290,000 € of the money has been recovered and three cars, motorbikes and a firearm have been impounded. It’s thought the group were trying to purchase a property on the beach for 300,000 € but the deal apparently was not completed.

75-year-old woman was killed last night when the bedroom roof of her cave house collapsed in on top of her as she was sleeping.

75-year-old woman was killed last night when the bedroom roof of her cave house collapsed in on top of her as she was sleeping. The incident occurred at around 2.30am at number 19, calle Castellana, Rojales (Alicante), a small town with a population of just over 7,000 inhabitants some 4km inland from Guardamar del Segura.
The rest of the property was unaffected. Emergency medics were unable to revive the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Eight years and six months for House Jacking Gang in Alicante

Two members of the violent gang this week began jail sentences of eight years and six months each after admitting armed robbery and kidnap in a plea bargain deal.A third was sentenced to a year and a half in prison by a court in Alicante after being convicted as an accomplice.Two men involved in the April 22 2004 kidnap are still on the run.Mr and Mrs Yarwood were playing cards as they relaxed after dinner at their home in Moraira on Spain's southeastern coast when the gang burst in.The couple were threatened with pistols and a knife and told they would be killed unless they paid 600,000 euros - the equivalent of £400,000 at the time of crime. The pair, from Frodsham, Cheshire, were terrorised overnight and the following morning, Mr Yarwood, 72, a retired electrician was driven to the local bank and told to withdraw all the money in his account.But he wrote a note on the back of a cheque begging for help and the bank manager alerted police who called in a specially-trained kidnap response unit.Speaking of their ordeal at the hands of their Romanian and Spanish kidnappers, Mrs Yarwood who ran a guest house in Cheshire for 27 years, said afterwards: "They terrorised us all night, constantly pointing the guns at us and cocking them."When my husband tried to escape out of the back door they punched him in the face and kicked him repeatedly."I was convinced we were going to die.Her husband added: "I was praying the bank would try and help and I wrote a note on the back of a cheque saying, 'Please give me the money because someone has kidnapped my wife."The gang leader kept saying that if he didn't see the money by the following day I would never see Pat again."

Vall de Gallinera, Alicante growing 130 marihuana plants

27 year old man has been arrested for allegedly growing 130 marihuana plants in Vall de Gallinera, Alicante. He was discovered as he was pruning the plants. The Civil Guard said the weight of the uprooted plants was more than 25 kilos.

Six kilos of heroin has been taken off the streets of Alicante

Six kilos of heroin has been taken off the streets of Alicante and it is one of the largest drugs hauls.It occured when a North African man was being tailed from Murcia by the police as a suspect , he was stopped and resisted arrest by dangerous driving . The drugs were discovered in his car .The last major drug bust was in 2006 when more than 20 kilos was found on a boat in Alicante . This came in from Turkey via the so called Balkan route . Heroin is now less popular than cocaine and other synthetic drugs .

new whistleblowers' hotline to help catch benefit cheats living it up on the 'Costas' was launched today in Spain.

new whistleblowers' hotline to help catch benefit cheats living it up on the 'Costas' was launched today in Spain. In the first trial of its kind, ex-pats in Alicante who suspect benefit fraud will be able to report their concerns on a local number. Cases will be passed by the operator to investigators in the UK, who will also be able to draw on the team's on-the-ground intelligence. Anti-Benefit Fraud Minister, James Plaskitt said: "Most ex-pats are law-abiding and outraged by people who abuse the system. Helped by this hotline, the sun will now set on the cheats."
The cost of benefit fraud committed abroad is an estimated £93 million a year. It involves a range of scams such as people on means-tested benefits going abroad but not declaring their absence, an individual working while "sick" and legitimate payments taken over after the rightful recipient dies. The pilot will test the usage and quality of information provided and posters advertising the line will appear across Alicante from today. The initiative is part of a growing relationship between Spain and the UK on social security issues that already includes agreements to data-match and share death notifications. Later this week James Plaskitt will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to cement the Anglo-Spanish partnership. James Plaskitt added: "Benefit fraud is a crime no matter where it happens. We are forging strong relationships with governments across Europe to help us catch the thieves who pick our pockets from beyond our shores." The Spanish benefit fraud hotline number is 900 554 440. It is free and confidential and will initially operate 8am and 4pm, Monday to Friday. Of British ex-pats living in Spain, recent figures suggest seven in ten are based in the "Costas" region, with around 300,000 living in Alicante. The hotline will be run and funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, working with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

Torrevieja Guardia Civil has broken up an international gang which had been pirating British satellite television signals

The group had some 60,000 clients, most of them British, between Benidorm in Alicante and Vera in Almería. The Judicial Police from the Torrevieja Guardia Civil has broken up an international gang which had been pirating British satellite television signals and then distributing them to British clients resident in the provinces of Alicante, Murcia and Almería in an area between Benidorm and Vera.
The group, based in an industrial estate at Algorfa, Alicante, had more than 60,000 clients, most of them British who paid 590 € for the installation of the system and then a monthly subscription of between 18 and 22 €. A total of 500 million € is thought to have been defrauded by the group which made no tax payments to Hacienda.
A total number of 14 people have been arrested, including eight Spaniards, three Britons and a Byelorussian, Rumanian and Russian.Investigations started following a complaint placed by Sogecable, the owners of the Spanish Digital Plus satellite system

22-year-old man originally from Colombia is fighting for his life after a dramatic chase down the A-31 that ended in Alicante city centre

22-year-old man originally from Colombia is fighting for his life after a dramatic chase down the A-31 that ended in Alicante city centre in a collision with a National Police patrol car. The drama began at around 9am yesterday morning when Guardia Civil officers in Villena spotted the man arguing violently with a woman, now believed to be his sister. When they tried to intervene, the man got in his car, speeding off down the twisty A-31 freeway towards Alicante city centre, before ploughing into a police roadblock on the Avenida de Elche, near the old flour mill. He was taken by ambulance to Alicante General Hospital, where he is reported to be in a critical condition suffering from severe head injuries, multiple fractures and contusions.

crackdown on Costa Blanca crime, the police have arrested 28 alleged members of criminal groups from former Soviet countries

crackdown on Costa Blanca crime, the police have arrested 28 alleged members of criminal groups from former Soviet countries on suspicion of money laundering in what Spanish authorities have called the largest-ever crackdown on international organized crime in Europe.The arrests took place in Benissa, Alicante, Aigues, Orihuela, Altea and Benidorm as well as Malaga and Barcelona. More than 400 Spanish police agents took part in operation Avispa, or "Wasp," a weekend-long sting that culminated in the detention of 28 people whom they allege are members of the "Russian mafia," Police conducted raids in 11 cities along Spain's Mediterranean coast, seizing cars, cash, jewelry, weapons and works of art, the Spanish Interior Ministry announced Monday. In all, police seized 41 homes and businesses and froze 800 bank accounts.Most of those arrested were ethnic Georgians, the ministry said.
Munoz said that 13 of the 22 held Georgian passports, five Russian passports, three Spanish passports and one a German passport. No names were immediately released.They were placed under arrest on suspicion of belonging to illegal organizations, money laundering and fraudulent bankruptcy.The operation was a joint international effort involving police forces from Russia, Germany, France, Belgium, Israel and the United States, the Interior Ministry said in a statement posted on its web site.The raids yielded 42 luxury vehicles, including Bentley, Mercedes, Porsche, Jaguar and BMW models. Weapons seized included shotguns and ammunition, brass knuckles, knives and a saber.The money-laundering operations were conducted primarily in the Cataluna, Costa del Sol and Alicante regions of Spain and involved the purchase of property and establishment of fraudulent commercial and financial networks, the Interior Ministry said.As money-laundering fronts, the groups set up restaurants, bars and clubs, which were among the properties seized, the ministry said. Also seized were country villas, city offices and a site to be turned into a housing development, "Los Eucaliptus," consisting of 38 identical homes. Footage of the raids shown on NTV television Monday evening showed one of the suspects handcuffed and in his underwear on the floor of an lavishly decorated living room.
The Spanish Interior Ministry's statement called the operation the "biggest blow to international organized crime in all of Europe to date."Spanish authorities said that 22 of the suspects were notorious crime bosses known as "thieves-in-law."
While the Spanish Interior Ministry talked in terms of the "Russian mafia," this blanket term is commonly used in the West for often-unrelated criminal groups from the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Denis Dechkov, a diplomat at the Russian Embassy in Madrid, said Spanish authorities had not provided the embassy with any information about the arrests. "I have no information about how many of them are Russian citizens," he said.
Gregorio Laso-Mostoles, spokesman for the Spanish Embassy in Moscow, also said he did not know how many Russian citizens had been arrested. "At this time, I can say only that the majority of those arrested are of Georgian nationality," he said.
It was unclear whether any of them were facing criminal charges in Russia. Prosecutor General's Office spokeswoman Tatyana Matyunina said she had no information about the arrests and could not comment on possible extradition requests.
Reached by telephone, a spokeswoman for the Spanish Justice Ministry, Julia Gomez, said she expected the suspects to be tried in Spanish courts for the crimes committed on Spanish soil.Andrei Konstantinov, who heads the Agency of Journalistic Investigations in St. Petersburg and has a reputation as the most knowledgeable chronicler of Russia's criminal underworld, said that Russian gangsters began moving to Spain in the mid-1990s to escape the turf wars."Most of them left behind the life of crime and began buying real estate to legitimize the dirty money," Konstantinov said Monday. "But it wasn't just the gangsters. A lot of bureaucrats who earned their money dishonestly also went to Spain."The Spanish police operation was conducted under the auspices of a special anti-corruption commission overseen by the Spanish high court, Audencia Nacional, and appeared to be part of a broad campaign against money laundering and organized crime. Calls to Audencia Nacional went unanswered Monday.
In March, seven people were jailed in southeast Spain on provisional charges related to money laundering, possibly linked to the Yukos oil major.
Reuters quoted a source close to the investigation as saying the suspects may have been siphoning funds from Yukos without the company's knowledge as part of a bigger money-laundering ring.
"These are individuals who, from inside the Russian company, appear to have diverted sums of money ... which then left the country without the knowledge of the company or the tax authorities," Reuters quoted the source as saying.
A week earlier, 33 others had been arrested on Spain's Mediterranean coast on money-laundering charges.Spanish Attorney General Candido Conde-Pumpido at the time called those money-laundering arrests "the tip of the iceberg" of international organized crime in Spain.

Woman Waits Two Days For Treatment After Genitals Set On Fire

The woman's partner covered her with alcohol saying he was giving her a massage, but then set her alight. A 39 year-old Alicante woman has suffered ‘deep second degree and third degree’ burns after her partner massaged alcohol into her genitals and then set her on fire. The couple is believed to be homeless and live in an abandoned house in the city and the woman suffered the pain for two days before seeking medical help. She is now waiting for an operation in hospital while her partner has been arrested by the National Police and has been sent to prison on remand.Police sources explained that the couple had been arguing when the man said he forgave the woman and offered to give her a massage. It was then he carried out the brutal abuse.

Civil Guard is looking for the thieves who broke into the home belonging to their Civil Guard Chief Captain in San Vicente del Raspeig, in Alicante.

Civil Guard is looking for the thieves who broke into the home belonging to their Civil Guard Chief Captain in San Vicente del Raspeig, in Alicante.The chief was asleep with his family in his home in the old Guardia Civil barracks in Babel, where some 20 civil guard families now reside, while the thieves obtained access through a balcony window. The embarrassing theft took place a month ago, but news of it has only just been released. A bag and other items were taken.

'Fat Freddie' Thompson in Alicante and his lieutenant who shot Foley is in Malaga

'Fat Freddie' Thompson and two of his key associates have fled to Spain in fear of their lives.The trio, including the gangland figure reported to have shot Martin 'Viper' Foley, left the country at the weekend.
Thompson is thought to be in Alicante and his lieutenant who shot Foley is in Malaga.
Early Saturday, the home of another associate was ripped apart in a grenade attack.
The 2.20am explosion came horrifically close to claiming the lives of the children of the household. They had been watching television until 2am.
The grenade was rolled into the sittingroom of the house, ripping out the ceiling and attic.Gardai are convinced that the departure of Thompson and his pals will do little to calm his two feuds with the INLA and another jailed drug dealer.a consortium of criminals have pooled €40,000 to have Thompson taken out. Already €20,000 has been paid over to the INLA to carry out the contract.The INLA have brought in a hitman from the North to carry out the contract.
Meanwhile, Thompson's gang have three criminals trying to shoot the INLA's Dublin chief.The ongoing violence has left local people terrified. Locals are also furious that the gangs are tarnishing the good names of the communities in the Crumlin/Drimnagh areas and the south inner city."When our children are looking for jobs, it doesn't help them when these thugs are spoiling the reputation of the area," said one local.One of those arrested was the criminal who shot Foley earlier this year and who has now fled to Malaga.Officers seized a bulletproof 7 series BMW in the chase, along with a stolen BMW about to be fitted with false plates

20 year old Romanian man has been arrested by police

20 year old Romanian man has been arrested by police in Madrid in connection with the death of a German pensioner couple who were stabbed to death last Monday night in their attic flat home in Teulada.The arrested man had been working as the gardener in the complex where the Germans, aged 78 and 85, had previously lived in Benissa, and police think that he knew that the couple had a large amount of money in cash as they were about to purchase a villa. The accused is said to have taken that money from the couple’s safe.
Informacíon newspaper in Alicante reports this morning that the accused was turned into the police by his girlfriend. He will go before the court in Dénia later today.

British man has been arrested in Spain in connection with rape offences

A British man has been arrested in Spain in connection with rape offences committed in south-east London, police have said.The 49-year-old is accused of raping the same victim repeatedly over a number of years. Sources named the man as Ricky Devine. He was held in Alicante on the Costa del Sol earlier this month.He is being held under a European Arrest warrant and faces extradition to the UK. The offences are alleged to have taken place in Bexley from 2000. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "Spanish police arrested a 49-year-old British man on suspicion of rape on May 9."

A member of the crew of a boat which brought four stowaways to Alicante has been arrested by the police.

A member of the crew of a boat which brought four stowaways to Alicante has been arrested by the police. It comes after the Capitan of the Slovak vessel handed over the four Turkish nationals to the National Police in Alicante Port after discovering the immigrants.Reports in Informacion newspaper indicate that the member of the crew who has been arrested charged the stowaways 2,500 € for allowing them on board. Three of the stowaways are reported to have accepted their immediate deportation, while a fourth has asked for political asylum.
Police say the boat initially departed from Istanbul with eight stowaways on board, but four of them got off the vessel at a stop over in Sicily.Three of the four have accepted deportation while the last has applied for political asylum.

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

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

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

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