Domestic violence in Spain claimed the year’s 60th victim on Tuesday night

The victim is his ex partner and Spain's 60th victim of domestic violence this year

The building in Marchena where Inmaculada D. was killed - EFE

Domestic violence in Spain claimed the year’s 60th victim on Tuesday night when a 29 year old woman, Inmaculada D., died at the hands of her ex partner in Marchena, Sevilla. Her killer is named as Fernando F.G., who is also her distant uncle and the father of her three year old daughter.

The victim was stabbed to death and her current boyfriend received treatment for a minor stab wound.

EFE reports that after the stabbing the assailant went to a local bar before returning to the scene of the crime, a flat on Calle Maestro Moreno Torroba, where he was arrested by police without putting up any resistance. It’s understood that he had been under a distancing order since the summer.

A minute’s silence was held outside the Town Hall building in Marchena on Wednesday and three days of official mourning have been called in memory of Andalucía’s fifteenth victim of domestic violence this year.

Civil Guard have recovered 1 million € in jewellery and watches which were stolen in May

Five people have been arrested

EFE archive

The Civil Guard have recovered 1 million € in jewellery and watches which were stolen in May from stores on Madrid’s famous ‘Golden Mile’, the ‘Milla de Oro’ in the city’s Salamanca district.

Five people have been arrested and also face charges of drug trafficking, after officers confiscated more than three kilos of methamphetamine and another kilo of cannabis.

The first suspect to be arrested was a Ukrainian man who was caught in El Escorial in October selling luxury watches which had been stolen on the Golden Mile. His arrest led detectives to the gang’s main fences, two brothers who stored the merchandise in their parents’ home in the Canillas district of Madrid and used it as a meeting point with prospective purchasers.

The parents were also taken into custody when they were caught trying to throw the drugs which were on the premises out of the window.

Officers also seized 30,000 € in cash and four top range cars.

Pere Puig will serve a maximum of 25 years in prison

Pere Puig will serve a maximum of 25 years in prison

Pere Puig under police escort - EFE

The man known as the ‘Gunman of Olot’, the 58 year old labourer Pere Puig, has been sentenced to 60 years in prison on four counts of murder, for the shooting dead of his two bosses and two bank employees in December last year.

He will serve a maximum of 25 years behind bars. The convicted man has been ordered to compensate the victims’ families with 643,000 € and must also pay the court costs for the case.

The jury which found him guilty did not consider there to be any diminished responsibility in the case, as had been claimed by the defence.

The murder weapon was a hunting shotgun which he used first against his bosses, the father and son constructors Joan and Ángel Tubert. They were shot dead at 7.45 am on December 15, 2010, as they were eating breakfast in a local restaurant in Olot. He then went on to a local branch of the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo savings bank and killed Rafael Turró and Ana Molas.

He immediately confessed the four killings to the police officers who arrested him.

Puig refused to answer any questions from the prosecution during his trial, restricting himself to only answering questions from his lawyer and ratifying the statements he had made during the instruction phase of the case. He said during that phase that he killed his bosses because they owed him money, and had shot dead the bank staff because he felt defrauded by the bank.

Two arrests have been made in the case of the German tourist, 67 year old P.A.C. who was found beaten to death

Police say he died as the result of a fight when he resisted their attempts to rob him

A suspect in handcuffs - EFE archive

Two arrests have been made in the case of the German tourist, 67 year old P.A.C. who was found beaten to death in a tourist complex in Playa del Inglés, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, on the south of Gran Canaria, on Sunday.

The suspects are both Spanish and are named as 27 year old Diego P.L., who was arrested on Tuesday, and Cristóbal P.N., an 18 year old who was taken into custody the following day. The latter is reported to have been known to the victim, who let him into the apartment owing to their friendship. The teenager then opened the door to the other man when the tourist’s attention was distracted.

Police indicated to EFE on Thursday that the man died in the fight which ensued when he resisted their attempts to rob him. The suspects fled the scene with a laptop computer, two mobile phones and a small amount of cash. Both are reported to have lengthy criminal records.

wanted by Spain and Belgium for money laundering and fraud

He was wanted by Spain and Belgium for money laundering and fraud

EFE archive

A U.S. national, named by Diario Sur as F.L.P., aged 54, who was wanted for crimes in both Spain and Belgium has been arrested in Fuengirola.

Acting on information that he may have moved to this part of the Costa del Sol, police had been keeping the area under surveillance and took him into custody as he was leaving a shop in the Miramar district of Fuengirola on December 13.

He was wanted on an arrest warrant for alleged money laundering which was issued by Spain in April 2010, and on a European warrant from 2007 issued by the authorities in Belgium for fraud, money laundering and illicit association.

Francisco Javier de Urquía has been found guilty of accepting bribes

Francisco Javier de Urquía has been found guilty of accepting bribes

Francisco Javier de Urquía - Photo EFE

The Supreme Court has decided to rehabilitate the Judge, Francisco Javier de Urquía, despite him being found guilty on two occasions of accepting bribes when he was the judge in the Instruction Court 2 in Marbella.

The High Court of Justice in Andalucía considered the judge had accepted 73,800 € from the man at the centre of the Malaya case, Juan Antonio Roca. The money reportedly helped him to by a property in exchange for judicial favours. A few days after the payment of the money, he blocked a Marbella TV station from showing an uncomfortable documentary on Roca.

In the Hidalgo case Urquía picked up 60,000 € for granting bail to three of the accused. He was instructing that case on money laundering of drug trafficking profits.

The Supreme Court has ruled however that having a criminal record does not mean you cannot hand out justice, and that Urquía can return to the judiciary as the 21 month suspension handed down has been served.

It’s the second time the 43 year old judge has got a favourable resolution from the Supreme Court, and where he has a third one still pending. But if a second charge against him becomes firm, then he will be suspended again as a judge.

Carmelo Gallico is wanted in Italy for murder, extortion and money laundering

Carmelo Gallico is wanted in Italy for murder, extortion and money laundering

Carmelo Gallico in police custody. Photo - Mossos d'Esquadra

A leading member of the Calabrian mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta’, has been arrested in Barcelona in an operation by the Mossos d’Esquadra Catalan police in cooperation with police in Italy.

The Mossos said in a statement on Wednesday that Carmelo Gallico, aged 46, was arrested on December 23, hiding out in a flat in the Eixample district, ‘where he tried to attract as little attention as possible’. His daily routine was to spend, ‘hours in the library, in a nearby gym and in certain bars in Eixample where he felt safe.’

Gallico is wanted in Italy for serious crimes including membership of a mafia organisation, murder, extortion and money laundering.

Four senior British police officers are under investigation over allegations of misconduct for partaking in a gangland killing case, news reports said.

Staffordshire Police launched an inquiry into the murder of amateur footballer Kevin Nunes, 20, who was gunned down in a country lane in 2002, British media reported. 

Nunes, a drug dealer who had been on the books of Tottenham Hotspur, was shot dead in an execution style killing after a gang dispute. 

His killers, Levi Walker, Antonio Christie, Adam Joof, Michael Osbourne and Owen Crooks were all jailed for life after being found guilty of murder by a jury at Leicester Crown Court. 

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) will look into the handling of the investigation into case of the four officers, including the lead on police ethics. Five men were jailed in connection with the killing in 2008. 

The IPCC confirmed that formal notice of investigation had been served on “a number of former and serving Staffordshire Police officers”. 

Meanwhile, Northamptonshire Police Authority confirmed that its force's chief constable Adrian Lee and deputy chief constable Suzette Davenport were being investigated. 

Lee is also the head of the Association of Chief Police Officers' ethics portfolio.

teenager who murdered a 16-year-old schoolboy outside a pub in Stretford has denied his motive was revenge for another gangland killing.

 

A teenager who murdered a 16-year-old schoolboy outside a pub in Stretford has denied his motive was revenge for another gangland killing. Moses Mathias told Manchester Crown Court he intended to commit a robbery but instead fired at a vehicle carrying Giuseppe Gregory out of "fear for my life". He said he did not learn of the death in May 2009 until the next day. Àt the age of 15 he later went on the run. Mathias, now 18, remained at large until he was arrested in Amsterdam earlier this year on a European Arrest Warrant after a joint investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency and GMP. He was flown back to the UK in June and four months later admitted the murder of the youngster who was gunned down in the early hours of May 11 in a car outside the Robin Hood pub in Stretford. In March 2010, Mathias's associates Njabulo Ndlovu and Hiruy Zerihun, then aged 19 and 18, were jailed for life and ordered to serve minimum terms of 21 years and 23 years respectively after they were convicted of Giuseppe's murder. Their trial heard the pair carried out the attack in revenge for the murder of Zerihun's boyhood friend Louis Brathwaite, also 16, who was shot dead in a betting shop in Withington, south Manchester, in January 2008. They were affiliated to Fallowfield Man Dem, a splinter group of the notorious Gooch Gang, who targeted Giuseppe and his friends because of their association to the rival gang the Longsight Crew. Mathias, of no fixed address, also admitted possessing - with Zerihun and Ndlovu - an imitation firearm, a self-loading pistol, a .32 pistol and six .32 bullet cartridges. But now he has argued the basis of his plea and claimed he did not know Louis Brathwaite, saying in evidence that the plan was to enter the pub and "rob the tills".

Jose Maria del Nido has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for his role in the embezzlement of public funds in the southern Spanish town of Marbella.

Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for his role in the embezzlement of public funds in the southern Spanish town of Marbella.

GettyImagesJose Maria Del Nido has had his issues in the past.

The offences took place between 1999 and 2003 when Del Nido worked as lawyer and he will also have to pay the Marbella town hall €2.7 million in compensation.

Marbella's former mayor, Julian Munoz, was also sentenced to seven and half years in prison, while former urban planning adviser Juan Antonio Roca got four.

Del Nido took charge of Sevilla in 2002 and the club has since gone on to win the UEFA Cup, Copa Del Rey, Spanish Supercopa and the UEFA Supercup under his guidance.

He will appeal his sentence to Madrid's Supreme Court.DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

A Spanish court on Wednesday heard new testimony from a young woman who alleges that one of the world's richest men, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, raped her on a yacht

A Spanish court on Wednesday heard new testimony from a young woman who alleges that one of the world's richest men, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, raped her on a yacht anchored at the Spanish island of Ibiza in 2008, said a court spokeswoman and a lawyer for the woman.

The prince and his lawyers were not present at the hearing. But, he has maintained that he is innocent, that he hasn't been in Ibiza in more than a decade, and that others have tried to impersonate him.

The woman, a 23-year-old dual Spanish and German citizen, provided the new testimony at the request of the Spanish prosecutor, who said some of her previous testimony needed to be clarified, the court spokeswoman and her lawyer said.

The woman, who has worked as a fashion model, entered the courthouse in Ibiza wearing a black hat and dark sunglasses to conceal her face from reporters outside, one of her lawyers, Max Turiel, told CNN by phone from Ibiza. Her mother accompanied her.

The two-hour, closed-door hearing included the woman, another one of her lawyers, the prosecutor and the investigating magistrate who is in charge of the investigation.

The magistrate is expected to ask the prosecutor to formulate questions that Spain would send to Saudi Arabia, for officials there to ask of the prince, said the court spokeswoman, who by custom is not identified. She talked to CNN by phone from Ibiza.

The woman filed her complaint in Ibiza in August of 2008, but a local judge shelved it last year, citing a lack of evidence that a crime had been committed, according to court documents. .

The woman appealed to the next highest court, the Balearic Island Provisional Court, which ruled that the lower court in Ibiza should reopen the investigation.

The lower court reopened the investigation last July, a court document shows, and it has labeled Prince Alwaleed as a person "imputado," or someone "under official investigation." Being named an imputado is a step short of an indictment. To this point, the prince has not been formally charged with any crime.

The Saudi prince is a billionaire and the biggest foreign investor in companies such as News Corp.

A statement, issued Wednesday by his lawyer in Madrid, reiterated the prince's innocence and said the prince was with his family in France in August of 2008 on a visit that was well-documented by his passport, cell phone records, hotel receipts, as well as photographs, video and eyewitness accounts.

"We strongly support the action of the Ibiza prosecutors and the judge to fully examine the false, unsubstantiated and constantly evolving story of the alleged victim, her mother and her lawyers," said the statement from the lawyer, Horacio Oliva. "The multiple inconsistent accounts lack even one corroborating witness nor do they present a single piece of evidence regarding" the prince.

But in her testimony on Wednesday, the woman maintained her accusation against the prince, said Turiel, her lawyer, despite what he termed tough questioning by the prosecutor seeking details of the alleged rape.

Turiel said the prosecutor's pointed questions on Wednesday, seeking to clarify the woman's earlier testimony, treated her "as if she were the one under investigation and not the victim."

According to an earlier court document in the investigation, the woman believed that her drink had been drugged. She sent a text message to a friend stating as much. She awoke on a yacht to find she was being sexually assaulted by a man she identified as Prince Alwaleed, according to the court document.

Turiel told CNN last September that "there were remains of semen" that should be examined against the prince's DNA, as well as "remains of a tranquilizer that produced the symptoms she had."

anti drink-drive campaign from Monday to Sunday this week

The DGT traffic authority is carrying out an anti drink-drive campaign from Monday to Sunday this week. We can expect more breathalyser controls as the DGT says it wants to crack down on office Christmas parties and other celebrations which are held ahead of Christmas.

The DGT reminds drivers that being under the effects of alcohol the risk of having an accident increases nine-fold. They say it slows down reaction time, causes vision problems, drowsiness, loss of control, excitability and problems with coordination.

Peter and Benjamin Schmidt were found guilty by an Alicante court of fraud,

Peter and Benjamin Schmidt were found guilty by an Alicante court of fraud, sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to repay the £50,000 deposit taken from Keith and Marilyn Brown in 2004.

A total of 60 people, mostly British, paid deposits in excess of £50,000 for property sold off-plan via the German father and son company Construciones Monte Puchol S.L.

Within the space of a year the expectant homeowners began to realise that building licenses had not and would not be granted to the Schmidts, who had illegally earmarked 'rustic' land on which to build the 60 properties.

It remains to be seen whether the decision will set a legal precedent and enable remaining victims, not just of the Schmidts, but of all fraudulent developers in Spain, to claw back their losses.

Despite the allegations of fraud and the evidence against the Schmidts, the Browns were required to fund the six-year legal action themselves – something that has left a bad taste in the mouth of Mr Brown, particularly as there is no guarantee that the Schmidts will actually pay back what they owe.

He's wanted for contempt of court in Arizona. He is under investigation by Italian police over his connection with an international bond scandal exposed by Reuters in August and totalling at least $500 million

He's wanted for contempt of court in Arizona. He is under investigation by Italian police over his connection with an international bond scandal exposed by Reuters in August and totalling at least $500 million (320 million pounds). And he is named as a key player in one of the first criminal indictments following the collapse of Iceland's economy.

But last week you could find David Spargo in a holiday resort on the Spanish island of Majorca. He's a regular at La Batucada cocktail bar, where he might be drinking anything from a cocktail to a beer or whisky. Locals say he also enjoys playing on the 95-euro-a-round (81 pound) Alcanada golf course, which overlooks the sparkling Mediterranean.

Since he arrived in Majorca early this year he has even tried to issue more bonds, one source told Reuters.

Spargo's case shows how tough it is for regulators and law enforcement agencies to track and punish alleged financial crimes across borders. Networks of 'shell companies' -- paper-only firms with few real operations -- make it hard enough to identify suspects. Even if regulators can identify them, they are often hard to bring to justice. Spargo may be of interest to officials in at least four jurisdictions around the world but police and civil guard officials on Majorca said they were unaware of the fraud investigation.

The 44-year old American is sought by U.S. Marshals for failing to repay $5.5 million to investors in Texas and Virginia who had bought bonds issued by his company. But because the charges against him are civil ones, the United States is not able to extradite him and the U.S. embassy in Madrid says they are not aware of Spargo's presence in Spain. Iceland and Britain (whose top financial services regulator recently called $500 million of bonds Spargo issued in 2008 a "fraudulent instrument") have also not tried to extradite him. A prosecutor in Italy declined to say whether authorities had tried to extradite anyone in connection with the case.

"There are likely to be hundreds of suspected white-collar criminals who have moved to other countries and are now living off the proceeds from their alleged crimes," says Andrew Gordon, forensic services partner at accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Police in the City of London say more and more criminals are trying to hide their operations in different countries, using myriad bank accounts to siphon off the profits.

Spargo himself denies any fraud. "A lot of your information is extremely incorrect," he told a Reuters reporter from the balcony of his second-floor apartment on November 28. "You'll find out in the next three days."

He did not elaborate

46 Sub Saharan migrants reached the beach in Ceuta on Wednesday morning by swimming across

A group of 46 Sub Saharan migrants reached the beach in Ceuta on Wednesday morning by swimming across from Morocco, using rubber rings and inner tubes from tyres to help themselves keep afloat.

They were part of a larger group which was spotted jumping into the sea near the Moroccan border at Tarajal, some of whom were stopped from going any further by the Moroccan gendarmerie.

Four of the group which managed to reach the Spanish North African enclave were treated by Cruz Roja personnel for minor injuries and hypothermia.

Two people have been arrested in Yecla, Murcia, in connection with a body

Two people have been arrested in Yecla, Murcia, in connection with a body which was found tied up in the boot of a crashed car on the A-31 motorway in Sax, Alicante, at the end of October.

The body was badly burnt after the car burst into flames on crashing into the central reservation, but was identified as a Spanish man from Yecla with a previous criminal record and the owner of the vehicle where he was found.

All that’s known about the two suspects is that they are also Spanish, aged 39 and 44, and were arrested in Yecla on November 25.

two and a half tons of marijuana have been seized from a drugs and money laundering network

two and a half tons of marijuana have been seized from a drugs and money laundering network based in Lorca after a months-long investigation which has arrested eight suspects.

Four are Spanish, one is from Morocco, and the remaining three are Italian. One of the Italian suspects is a man who was based in El Garrobillo, near Lorca, with a lengthy record for drug dealing and violent crime both in Italy and in Spain, who is thought to have laundered the proceeds from drug dealing by buying up large areas of land in the area. He had been under investigation since June and was found to be linked to the other suspects who are now in custody as part of the same criminal network.

The Interior Ministry said in a press release on Wednesday that the value of the personal and real estate property seized as part of the joint operation by the Civil Guard, National Police and the Agencia Tributaria Tax Authority amounts to more than 1 million €.

couple are accused of killing two people while on the run

The escape of prisoner from jail with his prison art teacher has ended with two people being shot dead in Murcia. Mar S. And Jorge S were staying in a hotel in Mazarrón on November 16.

During the night Jorge went down to the street and allegedly shot a 32 year old man and a 16 year old youth. He was arrested by the Guardia Civil at the scene, and Mar was arrested four days later by the Mossos d’Escuadra in Barcelona, accused with Jorge of attempting to kill her ex boyfriend.

The couple had been on the run for several months, travelling round Spain with false identities in a stolen car.

The 37 year old woman had been seen by several witnesses with Jorge, but it was not initially clear who she was. She was with Jorge when he shot two random victims, an Ecuadorian man in the chest, and a youth walking his dog, shot in the head.

La Verdad de Murcia says that Jorge was carrying a lot of money when he was arrested, and the police are investigating whether the couple had robbed a bank. One theory is that the money was taken from Mar’s ex boyfriend.

Anselmo Sevillano Amaya Europe’s biggest drug trafficker in Hashish has been hiding in a villa in Estepona.

The drug runners, dressed as Civil Guards,
 hid the launch full of drugs at the Isla Cristina dockyard in Huelva 


Europe’s biggest drug trafficker in Hashish has been hiding in a villa in Estepona.
Anselmo Sevillano Amaya, who was on the run, has now been arrested. With 60 mobile phones, GPS and satellites, he controlled ‘an incalculable business’ according to the police. A member of the Guardia Civil who was in his pay has also been arrested.
His helpers often used to be dressed up in Guardia Civil uniforms.

He has been living in the Atalaya Park urbanisation in Estepona with his wife and small son, neighbour to the bullfighter Curro Romero. He had five expensive cars in the parking area, one of them a Porsche, but away from home he was said to have behaved in a less ostentatious way.

His luck ran out on Tuesday when the Judicial drugs police from Huelva arrested the 33 year old while he was resting at home with his wife. Described by police as one of the largest hashish traffickers in Europe, if not the largest for the level of merchandise he dealt with, and the contacts and time he had been in the business. They say it is impossible even to guess the amount of the drug he has brought into Spain, but there was thought to be a consignment arriving every week.

It was the last consignment which was intercepted; 3,620 kilos of the drug with the arrest of 11 people in Isla Cristina in Huelva.

Rapid launches were generally used to bring in the drugs, with the crew dressed as Guardia Civil, in perfect uniforms. He paid 600,000 € for the consignment in Morocco, and it would have brought him 4 million on the market.

He purchased a yacht to bring in drugs during the Virgen del Mar regatta in Huelva, with the craft escorted by several of his men on jet skis.

In Estepona the police found his office, with 26,000 € in cash, six nautical GPS systems and two satellite phones. He used this equipment to communicate with his boats at sea, as well as with contacts in Morocco and Holland, one of the main destinations for his drugs.

Anselmo already has a four year prison sentence from an early bust last year, but he fled before being admitted into jail. He was also arrested in July 2005 with his partner at the time, Sergio Mora Carrasco, and in that case police discovered that two of their force had been purchased.

16 people have been arrested in Spain, along with two in Belgium and two in Holland against a gang of cocaine traffickers who used babies to introduce the drug via airports.

16 people have been arrested in Spain, along with two in Belgium and two in Holland against a gang of cocaine traffickers who used babies to introduce the drug via airports. 11 kilos of cocaine was recovered in the operation from the National Police with the collaboration of the police in Belgium and Holland.

A statement from the Ministry for the Interior says the drugs mules flew from South America with between 1 and 5 kilos of the drugs each, and used the babies to quell suspicions, and placed the drug inside their nappies and in false compartments in their suitcases.

Police first became suspicious of a group of people living in Zaragoza, linked to the gang and this led them to uncover the organisation of a shipment of drugs to Schipol airport in Holland.

The Dutch authorities arrested a Spanish couple travelling with a baby and found 1,574 kilos of cocaine hidden on the child.

German couple have been arrested in Manacor, Mallorca, for withdrawing a payment of 30,000 € which had been paid into their account in error.

A German couple have been arrested in Manacor, Mallorca, for withdrawing a payment of 30,000 € which had been paid into their account in error. The couple failed to inform their bank of the error after noticing the payment, and instead withdrew the entire amount in a number of visits to the bank.

Diario de Mallorca reports that they were released after questioning, and have been charged with misappropriation of funds.

arrested a British citizen, a 39 year old from Liverpool, for allegedly causing serious injuries to a compatriot, breaking his tibia and fibula of a leg.

National Police has arrested a British citizen, a 39 year old from Liverpool, for allegedly causing serious injuries to a compatriot, breaking his tibia and fibula of a leg. The Briton also was found with unlicensed firearms and in addition two top of the range vehicles with false plates have been recovered. It’s thought they were stolen in the U.K.

Investigations in the case started on October 3 after the aggression which took place at 4pm in an urbanisation in Marbella. National Police say in a statement that the wounded man was taken to hospital but did not want to talk about what had happened, despite his injuries.

However police investigations and eyewitness reports allowed them to establish that the aggressor was known to the victim. Finally he was arrested at his home in Benahvis.

Inside the house they recovered a pistol with the registration number filed off, and holding a bullet in the chamber. Plus there was a charger with 10 projectiles, gas spray, and an extendable cane truncheon. All the weapons were considered as prohibited and the two cars he used were found to have been stolen in the U.K.

Scientific police are now studying the pistol to see if it has been used in any other crimes on record.

Spanish savings bank has fired two directors and is investigating two former executives for allegedly syphoning off 20 million euros ($26.5 million) into secret pension funds

Spanish savings bank has fired two directors and is investigating two former executives for allegedly syphoning off 20 million euros ($26.5 million) into secret pension funds, the bank said Saturday.

The board of directors of Caixa Penedes bank had "required the departure" of its president, Ricard Pages, and director general Manuel Troyano. It said both men had agreed to leave, the bank said in a statement.

The decision comes after state prosecutor for the northeastern region of Catalonia, Teresa Compte, said her office was investigating all four on suspicion of involvement in illegal activity.

Regional newspaper La Vanguardia said the case was the first time prosecutors had investigated senior executives for "criminal responsibility" in their handling

speculation that FreddieThompson will link up with Cullen if he gets bail in Spain.

GANG boss 'Fat' Freddie Thompson was visited by a close associate of a Dublin criminal on the run in Spain while awaiting extradition.

 Thompson was extradited to Madrid to face major gangland charges there. 

He left Cloverhill Prison at approximately 2pm and was conveyed to Dublin Airport in a prison van as part of a convoy of four vehicles. Thompson had been in Cloverhill Prison since being arrested by gardai on foot of a European Arrest Warrant two weeks ago.

Armed detectives and airport police were awaiting his arrival at the airport, and he was marched on to the plane some two hours before its scheduled departure while passengers looked on in the departures terminal.

After his arrival in Madrid, Thompson was brought to the Alhaurin de la Torre jail in Andalusia. It is understood the Crumlin gang boss is confident he will get bail in Spain, which is why he opted for uncontested extradition proceedings in the High Court here last week.

While awaiting his extradition, Thompson received three visitors.

One of these visitors is believed to be a close associate of fugitive Eugene Cullen, who is being sought for questioning by detectives in relation to a robbery in Dundrum and a fatal shooting in 2009.


Celeb

This person's visit is now leading to speculation that Thompson will link up with Cullen if he gets bail in Spain.

A court hearing is believed to have been scheduled in Spain for today -- but will not be held in public.

Last week, jail sources in Cloverhill revealed that Thompson has been "celeb prisoner number one" during his stay at Cloverhill. Officers with years of experience and raw recruits wanted to see the man behind the headlines.

While he was held in a segregation unit for the duration, he didn't seek out friendship, even at recreation -- but he was not short of legal advice.

John Dundon, from the infamous Limerick crime family, shouted legal advice from his cell below Freddie on D1.

Sources at the prison said that Thompson had indicated that being on bail in Spain would be a more attractive proposition.

"He was always polite and caused no trouble whatsoever," said a senior officer.

Sources said that Thompson's decision to agree to extradition to Spain to face gangland charges is a "tactical manoeuvre" to allow him to continue his life of crime.

Three men have been sentenced to nine years for a boiler-room investment fraud

Three men have been sentenced to nine years for a boiler-room investment fraud, the Serious Fraud Office has said, including one man who stole the identity of a registered financial adviser to commit the crime.

The operation, based in Spain, targeted investors in the UK between 2009 and 2010 and took in over £1.3m.

During the course of the fraud one of the men, James Muir Baird, stole the identity of an FSA registered financial adviser and an FSA registered company and set up a bank account.


By posing as a financial adviser he was able to purchase the contact details of people who had made investment enquiries on an investment website. This gave the boiler room the cold call list it needed to deploy high-pressure sales techniques.

Baird (D.O.B. 09/06/81) and Paul O'Leary (D.O.B. 22/08/73) of Braintree, and Omar Shorif Choudhury (D.O.B. 02/08/79) from Great Yeldham were sentenced today at Chelmsford Crown Court after pleading guilty to running a boiler-room fraud.

The defendants used high-pressure telesales techniques to promote worthless share bonds in non-trading companies pretending they were promoting shares in Chinese commodities firms.

Money paid to the boiler-room operation was used to to support the lavish lifestyle of Baird and the boiler-room employees.

"Boiler rooms are a blight on the investment sector," said SFO director Richard Alderman. "They often create victims out of aspiring individuals and dash hopes of a secure retirement.

"I am pleased that the SFO has played its part in bringing the offenders to justice. I hope that confiscation will help to restore some of the damage so callously done."

Miguel Montes Neiro could get an early release once his various sentences are recalculated to take remand time

Miguel Montes Neiro could get an early release once his various sentences are recalculated to take remand time served Family and friends demonstrated for Miguel Montes Neiro’s release

There is some new hope for release for Spain’s longest serving common prisoner, in a Tuesday ruling from the Supreme Court which has ordered a recalculation of his sentences. Miguel Montes Neiro has been in prison off and on since 1976 and took his appeal to Spain’s highest court after the Granada provincial court refused to allow him to combine his various sentences.

As things currently stand, he is not due for release until 2021 and has held two hunger strikes this year in protest at his situation.

The ruling on Tuesday has now ordered the Granada court to take into account in the calculation the time Montes Neiro has spent in prison on remand for other cases while serving time for separate crimes. This would mean his release from jail ahead of September 2, 2021.

The 61 year old has also applied for a pardon from the government, but it has received negative reports from both the Granada court, the prosecutor and from the jail where he is being held.

Fernando Torres Baena is charged with systematically abusing dozens of youngsters who attended his martial arts academy Fernando Torres Baena

Fernando Torres Baena is charged with systematically abusing dozens of youngsters who attended his martial arts academy Fernando Torres Baena 

The main accused in one of the biggest child sex scandals to have ever hit Spain, Fernando Torres Baena, is described as a ‘sexual predator’ by state prosecutors, who have asked that he be sentenced to 303 years in prison.

The so-called ‘karate case’ accuses Torres Baena, ex Spanish karate champion, of systematically abusing dozens of the youngsters who attended his martial arts academy in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria over a period of years. ‘Sexual orgies’ are also alleged at his home in Agüimes on the south of the island.

He is charged on 36 counts of sexual abuse, 13 of corruption of minors and illegal possession of weapons.

Until the scandal broke, Torres Baena was President of the Gran Canaria Karate Federation and research and development director for the Spanish Karate Federation.

Charged with him in the case are his girlfriend and two other martial arts instructors

A heroin trafficker who fled to Spain has been ordered to hand over £49,000 he made from drug dealing.

Jason Cleary was arrested after going on the run for more than two years before being brought back to Scotland to face criminal proceedings.

The 34-year-old was jailed for a total of 14 years in 2010 after Judge William Dunlop told him: "You are a career drug dealer."

Part of the sentence was for him failing to appear at the High Court in Glasgow in May 2007 after being granted bail on drug dealing charges by a sheriff in Greenock the previous year.

Cleary, from Greenock, was involved in the drugs trade in his home town and at other locations in Scotland between January 2005 and February the following year.

The Crown raised proceedings to strip him of any crime profits following his conviction.

His counsel, Mark Moir, told the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday that a settlement had been reached in the proceeds of crime action.

Advocate depute Barry Divers said a confiscation order should be made for £49,000 representing the "benefit of his general criminal conduct".

The judge, Lord Uist, agreed to make an order for that sum with Cleary being given six months to pay it.

His assets include his interest in properties in Greenock and West Kilbride. Cleary was the target of a police operation, codenamed Operation Rivet, which was set up to disrupt the activities of an organised crime group involved in drug supply.

Spanish ship-owner with a voluminous record of skirting international laws – and who swears he has never fished illegally – has been sentenced in Spain to one year and eight months in prison

Spanish ship-owner with a voluminous record of skirting international laws – and who swears he has never fished illegally – has been sentenced in Spain to one year and eight months in prison for trying to unload fish caught by one of his vessels.

An Australian patrol boat spotted the Hammer, owned by Manuel Antonio Vidal Pego, fishing without authorization in protected Antarctic waters in December 2005. In an attempt to mask the source of those fish, Vidal Pego twice renamed the vessel, finally settling on Chilbo San 33 and registering the ship in North Korea. The shipment of 240 tons of Chilean sea bass was confiscated by South Korean authorities after it was sold for more than $2.7 million to Uruguay-based Coast Line S.A., an affiliate of the Spanish seafood company Freiremar.

According to the sentencing documents, Vidal Pego masked from his trade partners that he had used a boat blacklisted for having previously circumvented international regulations. Once a boat lands in a black list it is banned from fishing in protected Antarctic waters.

Vidal Pego's lawyer said in court that the charge stems from an error on the company’s import declaration and has appealed the case. “We’re sure we will win, because we’re right,” said Foro Hernández, spokesperson for Vidal Pego, in an interview with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

In October ICIJ detailed how Vidal Pego, his companies and affiliates have been repeatedly pursued by government agencies and international regulators for their role in a decade-old network of vessels that entered remote and protected waters of the Antarctic and targeted toothfish – also known as Chilean sea bass – in violation of an international convention.

Since 1999, international fisheries regulators have linked vessels owned by Vidal Armadores – a company owned by Vidal Pego and his father – or its affiliates to more than 40 cases of alleged illegal fishing, ranging from using banned fishing gear to targeting protected kitefish shark.

ACCUSED drug smugglers Ivan Valea and Julia Fernandez face life imprisonment if convicted.

ACCUSED drug smugglers Ivan Valea and Julia Fernandez were the life of a pirate party at Bundaberg marina only a few nights before they were arrested in one of Australia's biggest cocaine busts.

Fellow yachties say the fun-loving Spanish couple gave no hint that they were allegedly part of an international crime syndicate, with Gold Coast links, during their three-week stay at the marina on board their boat Friday Freedom.

Carousing with other boaties who had sailed alongside them from Port Vila to Bundaberg in the annual Port2Port Yacht Rally, Valea, 35, and Fernandez, 37, were hardly keeping a low profile for two people with an alleged cargo of 300kg of cocaine worth up to $120 million hidden in their hull.Hamming it up for the camera, Valea even won the award for best costume at the rally's pirate party last week.

"They were very, very nice people," Bundaberg Yacht Club president Lesley Grimminck told The Courier-Mail yesterday. "They came to just about all our functions and we never suspected a thing. Everyone was just blown away when we found out."



Ms Grimminck said Friday Freedom was one of 85 boats in the rally fleet which arrived in Bundaberg on October 20.

She said Ms Fernandez spoke no English and Mr Valea interpreted for her at functions held at Bundaberg marina.

"We didn't have a clue they were up to no good," Ms Grimminck said. "The first I knew about it was on Saturday morning when all hell broke loose at the marina. There were police and Customs officers everywhere and they turned the boat upside down."

The couple, along with alleged cocaine syndicate kingpin Jose Herrero-Calvo, 38, of Sydney, and Miguel Angel Sanchez Barrocal, 39, of the Gold Coast, were arrested in Bundaberg at the weekend over what Australian Federal Police said was the fifth biggest drugs bust in the nation's history.

The AFP said cocaine with a wholesale value of $78 million was seized in raids that also netted $3.5 million in cash, including almost $300,000 at a Surfers Paradise residence.

Ms Fernandez was in tears when the four Spanish nationals briefly faced Bundaberg Magistrates Court yesterday. All were remanded in custody until their next court appearance in January.

The Friday Freedom, a 17m steel ketch, had been under surveillance since September as part of a 10-month investigation. Codenamed Operation Avalon, the probe began as a money-laundering investigation in February after the AFP received intelligence on large amounts of cash being sent overseas.

Queensland police and Customs officials joined federal agents in the investigation and tracked the Friday Freedom after it left Port Vila for Bundaberg.

Authorities swooped on Bundaberg marina after Mr Herrero-Calvo and Mr Barrocal allegedly drove from the Gold Coast to Bundaberg last Friday and removed 100kg of cocaine from the vessel in two suitcases. They were arrested on Friday night after allegedly driving off in two hire cars with their huge stash.

Assistant Commissioner Kevin Zuccato, the AFP's national manager of serious and organised crime, said syndicate members had been "very patient", waiting three weeks to begin moving the cocaine after the Friday Freedom docked in Bundaberg.

Mr Valea and Ms Fernandez were arrested on Friday Freedom and the remaining drugs, believed to have originated from South America, were located in the boat's bilge, wrapped in black plastic and tape to keep them dry.

The four Spaniards face life imprisonment if convicted.

The National Police are investigating a robbery of drugs from the official deposit in Malaga Port.

The National Police are investigating a robbery of drugs from the official deposit in Malaga Port.The deposit is gaurded by a private firm from Monday to Friday and on the weekend by the Gaurdia Civil.Nobody knows how it was robbed or the amount of the drugs stolen

Australian court charged four Spaniards Police also seized 3 million dollars in cash after searching two addresses in Sydney and the Australian Gold Coast.

300 kilos of cocaine have been seized from a yacht docked on ‘Friday Freedom’ at port in Bundaberg - 


An Australian court charged four Spaniards with importing drugs on Monday, after one of the country’s biggest ever hauls of cocaine was seized on Australia’s north eastern coast last Friday. They have been remanded to custody ahead of the next hearing on January 12 and each face possible life imprisonment if found guilty.

It’s understood that two of the suspects are resident in Australia.

The three hundred kilos of cocaine which were seized from a yacht in Bundaberg, Queensland, are valued at some 80 million dollars and represent Australia’s fifth largest haul.

Australian police swooped as the two crew, Julia María Boada Fernández and Iván María Ramos Valea, who were crewing the yacht, ‘Friday Freedom’, were allegedly negotiating the sale of part of the cargo with the other two suspects, José Herrero Calvo and Miguel Ángel Sánchez Barrocal.

The boat arrived in Bundaberg from Vanuatu, in the South Pacific, last month, where the two crew were located in September.
Police also seized 3 million dollars in cash after searching two addresses in Sydney and the Australian Gold Coast.

Benefits fraudster who lived in Spain for five years has been jailed

 

BENEFITS cheat who lived a luxurious life in Spain thanks to the British taxpayer has been jailed for 18 months. Debbie Williamson bought a villa with a swimming pool in Valencia, which she named after her daughter Jessica, funded by the £42,000 she milked from the system. Williamson, 45, also helped run a bar and deposited £30,000 in a Spanish bank in a five-year period while living abroad but claiming benefits as if she was living in the UK.  At Sheffield crown court, Judge Alan Goldsack told Williamson: “There you were enjoying ­yourself in Spain while people here were having tax taken off them, which was going to fund your lifestyle.” The court heard Williamson falsely claimed £42,558 while in Spain. She was overpaid £28,558 income support, £11,142 in housing benefits and £2,100 council tax benefit between 2003 and 2008. A probe began in October 2008 after an anonymous tip-off that she was living with husband Ian in Spain and running a bar. Williamson, of Brierley, South Yorks, sobbed throughout the hearing. She admitted 10 charges of benefit fraud.

Turkish commandos shoot dead lone ferry hijacker

 

Turkish commandos killed a lone hijacker, identified as a Kurdish militant armed with a bomb, in a pre-dawn operation on Saturday to rescue more than 20 passengers and crew held hostage for 12 hours on a high-speed ferry near Istanbul. Hostages aboard the "Kartepe" ferry later described how the hijacker was shot dead minutes after the commandos slipped aboard. "There was no chance left we'd capture him alive. The long phone calls to persuade him (to surrender) failed," Interior Minister Idris Sahin told NTV news channel, adding that 450 grammes of plastic explosive were found on the body. None of the 18 passengers or six crew were hurt, but some were taken to a hospital for checks after their ordeal. The Interior Minister identified the dead hijacker as Mensur Guzel, saying he was a member of "the terrorist organisation" -- a reference to the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Guzel, according to the minister, was born 1984 in Diyarbakir, the southeastern city at the heart of the Kurdish separatist insurgency, but had been living in western province of Kocaeli, where the ferry set sail from. Three people connected with the dead man had been detained, Sahin said. Officials had described the man as carrying a device with cables with a switch. Before the minister confirmed explosives were found, the provincial governor of Kocaeli had said it was a fake bomb. SHOTS BEFORE DAWN Since Friday evening, coastguard vessels with commandos aboard had tracked the "sea bus" in the Sea of Marmara before it ran low on fuel and dropped anchor. Shortly before 5.00 a.m. (0300 GMT) a flurry of activity was evident on the ferry's main deck. Hazy television pictures showed figures moving in the aisle between rows of empty seats. A few people were apparently wearing life jackets. Orders were given for marine commandos to storm the ferry at 5.35 a.m. (0335 GMT) as it lay anchored a few kilometers off shore, some 50 km (30 miles) west of Istanbul, according to Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu. There was no official word on how the commandos boarded the ferry, but news channels spoke with hostages as they left a police station in the town of Silivri where they had given their accounts of the hijacking. "The terrorist had told the crew to gather us upstairs, we never saw him. He sent us tea and biscuits," Kadir Altunoglu, a man in his thirties, told Samanyolu news channel "We heard five or six gunshots before dawn. We had opened the rear exit door of the ferry to let the commandos in." Another passenger, Ceyhun Tezer, 28, told the NTV channel: "It lasted no more than 10 minutes after we saw them (the commandos). We heard six gunshots, they told us three in the head and another three in the chest, there were no more gunshots." He said passengers were alarmed the ferry was taking too long for the short run between the towns of Izmit and Karamursel and was off course, but only realised it had been hijacked when they saw news reports on the television in the passenger lounge. NTV also aired security camera footage of a dark-haired man, said to be the hijacker, carrying a sports backpack, walking to the ferry. Transport Minister Binali Yildirim had told reporters in the capital Ankara the hijacker had not made any concrete demands and had only sought fuel, food and drink. Earlier reports said up to five suspected Kurdish militants armed with explosives carried out the hijacking on the high-speed ferry. There was no immediate comment from the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States, European Union. The PKK is fighting for Kurdish autonomy in the southeast of Turkey. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the PKK insurgency since the group took up arms in 1984. Last month, in one of the biggest attacks in the history of the insurgency, PKK militants killed 24 soldiers in Hakkari, bordering Iraq, prompting the military to mount cross-border operations. Several thousand PKK fighters are based in the mountains of northern Iraq. Security forces had been prepared for the possibility that the hijacker might have wanted to force the ferry to go to Imrali island in the Sea of Marmara, where PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan has been jailed since 1999, CNN Turk reported. Before a national election in June this year, Ocalan warned of a "big war" unless the state entered serious negotiations with him, and following a series of militant attacks Turkey launched multiple air strikes on PKK bases in northern Iraq, while police detained scores of suspected militants. A hijacking would represent a change in tactics for the PKK which frequently carries out attacks on security forces in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

A Romanian man wanted for murder and robbery in Portugal has been arrested in Torre del Mar.

27 year old from Romania escaped to Spain after he was sentenced for the death of a woman who was killed in Portugal in 2005

EFE archive

 


Named by El Mundo newspaper as 27 year old Ioan R., he fled to Spain after a Portuguese court sentenced him to 15 and a half years in prison for the death of a woman in 2005. The victim was smothered to death in her bed during the course of a robbery.

The wanted man was traced to the Axarquía district of Málaga province and was arrested near a bar in Torre del Mar on November 4. He has now been transferred into the custody of the National Court for extradition to Portugal.

Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_32623.shtml#ixzz1dJgywORG

Nigerian scam case deflates in Málaga

 

Nilo Case has reached court in Málaga, judging the largest ever swindle carried out mostly by Nigerians who sent out letters to try and capture their victims. Under the scam thousands of letters were sent from Málaga around the world, informing their recipients that they had won a prize in the Spanish lottery, and calling for them to pay a management fee so they could receive their winnings. There are 247 known victims of the fraud from Belgium to Australia and in the United States and even the UAE. The network collected 2.98 million € in ‘management fees’, via phone booth businesses on the Costa del Sol. 168 people from 14 countries were accused in the case, but the procedure was deflated somewhat on the first day on Wednesday when 55 of the accused could not be located by the court to serve them with the summons to appear. Of the 113 remaining, plea bargains were established with 87 to give them 23 months and 15 days in jail and a 1,800 fine each. That means that if they have no previous record, they will not have to go to prison, just having to pay the fine. Another group of just 16 refused to accept the plea deal, which implies them admitting their guilt, and they will be called back for the oral hearing of the case which will start on December 15. During the instruction of the case 84 people found to be in Spain illegally were deported back to Nigeria.

The Civil Guard have asked for help from the public in identifying a body

The unidentified man - EFE

The Civil Guard have asked for help from the public in identifying a body which was found floating in the waters of Tarragona Port at the end of October.

The deceased is a man aged between 55 and 65, 1.60 metres tall, with short greying hair and a beard. He was wearing blue Lois jeans when he was found, with a white vest, a blue T-shirt with the words ‘Out One Jeans’, a brown ‘North Face’ fleece, and brown Paredes sports shoes.

His body was found on October 31 and is thought to have been in the water between 10 and 16 hours.

Any member of the public with information on the man’s identity should contact their nearest Civil Guard barracks or call the central Civil Guard emergency number, 062.

Read 

Hundreds of foreign residents could lose their homes after mortgage scam in Spain

 

A group of some twenty foreign residents of the Costa del Sol have denounced a fraud under which they could lose their homes. They have formed a platform to denounce a mortgage fraud which had the objective of getting large amounts of money which was then invested in financial havens such as Luxembourg or the Channel Islands. There were foreign victims, mostly all retired, along the entire Spanish coastline and on the islands, from the Costa del Sol to the Costa Blanca, Baleares and Canaries. The scam was headed by foreign banks and foreign financial advisors, nearly all from Denmark, who had been working for some years in Spain, many without the correct authorisation of the National Commission for Market Values. They told the foreigners purchasing property that they had to get a mortgage as otherwise they would be hit with high Spanish taxes. The sales patter for these inverted mortgages claimed that residents’ homes were in danger from the Spanish taxman, claiming Spain would claim between 70 or 80% in succession tax. In effect the scheme invited the foreigners to defraud the Spanish Hacienda tax authorities. The lawyer representing those affected in Málaga, Antonio Flores, from Lawbird in Marbella, said the victims signed up for ‘predatory mortgages’ which offered the possibility of mortgaging their homes for nearly five years at a value above the level of the official appraisal and investing the money outside Spain, mostly in Luxembourg, in order to obtain a profit which covered their costs and gave them an extra payment. Some 800 contracts for the scheme were taken out between 2004 and 2009, and now the foreigners’ platform on the Costa del Sol is appealing to the National Court that those contracts be declared null and void. The total fraud is estimated at 250 million €. The mortgages were signed in Spain, with Spanish notaries and the investment contracts were signed in offices which the financial agents had in Spain, or in some cases in the client’s home. Nearly all those offices are now closed and the financial agents implicated have abandoned Spain. The clients’ money went on the purchase of currency or bank bonds in operations which soon lost money, leaving many of them now facing the possibility of losing their homes.

Man decapitates his daughter in Girona saying the devil ordered him to kill her

 

Latin American man was arrested at his home in Girona on Thursday morning after telephoning emergency services to say he had killed his two year old daughter. His other daughter, aged six, was found with him at the family home on Calle Oviedo unhurt. She is understood to have been watching television when it happened. Her sister’s decapitated body was found lying on the bed when a medical team arrived at the property with police. The father is reported to have claimed that the devil had ordered him to kill her.

Farmer dies after being attacked by jabalí

 

A farmer has died in Guadassuar, Tous, in Valencia after being attacked by a jabalí wild boar. Reports say the 60 year old man was working in his own orange grove when he was surprised by the beast. Miguel E. suffered injuries in the groin and was found with his blood over his hands and face according to witnesses who said it looked like he tried to defend himself from the attack. It happened last Saturday morning. Tous is a municipality where 90% of the population are hunters and nobody can ever remember anything similar ever happening before. The local police say the victim’s son reported that his father had phoned him on his mobile to say he had been injured, but when a neighbour arrived at the scene he was already dead. Reports indicate that he had earlier suffered a heart attack.

National Police arrest Local Policeman in Marbella

 

National police arrested a member of the Marbella Local Police force who was found shoplifting in a local commercial centre on Saturday. The man had tried to take a camera from the store. Municipal sources say the agent has already handed in his plaque and pistol, and is being suspended from his post without pay. Marbella Town Hall said they lamented the incident which they described as ‘totally isolated’.

Juan Antonio Roca, the ex Municipal Real Estate Assessor, at the centre of the allegations, has moved on to the most interesting phase

Juan Antonio Roca - EFE archive

The Malaya case investigating the widespread corruption in Marbella Town Hall, and with Juan Antonio Roca, the ex Municipal Real Estate Assessor, at the centre of the allegations, has moved on to the most interesting phase, as the Málaga court starts to investigate the bribes.

On Monday, some five years and seven months after his arrest, Roca has had to start to respond to the big questions at the centre of the case, the backhanders he allegedly received from real estate promoters in exchange for licences to build outside the PGOU urban plan. More than 50 people including ex Mayors and Roca himself are expected to declare in this section of the case.

The court considers that Roca was paid by 19 different companies between 2001 and 2006, a total of 33.3 million €. Among the big payers were Carlos Sánchez and Andres Liétor – 6.8 million, José Avila Rojas – five million, and the directors of Aifos – 4.8 million.

The Córdoba promoter Sandokán, who is now a councillor in the city, allegedly handed over 600,000 in exchange for town planning favours.

The prosecutor claims that despite not being elected, a politician or even a civil servant, Roca was the man who was running Marbella Town Hall following the motion of no confidence passed in August 2003 against the then Mayor, Julian Muñoz. Roca’s power, lubricated by bags of cash, saw all the councilors act as his subordinates.

Key to the prosecution’s case are a series of files found at the lawyers offices, Maras Asesores. The business was controlled by Roca and councilors and businessmen often met in their offices. Police found some files, in the power of Salvador Gardoqui, which are considered to be Roca’s secret accounts, showing the entry and exit of money, with the real estate section of the accounts showing a surplus of more than 17 million €.

In the court on Monday another one of the accused, Eusabio Sierra, admitted, following a plea bargain with the Anti-corruption Prosecutor, that he paid a 60,000 € backhander to Roca to speed up the Town Hall’s payment of a debt. His two year prison threat has now been reduced to six months as a result, which means he will escape jail by paying a fine.

The basis of Roca’s statement to the court today was that he was not in control of the Town Hall and that the now late Mayor, Jesús Gil decided absolutely everything, ‘above all in the areas of work, the economy and real estate’. Asked by the Prosecutor what his relationship was with the Marbella Town Hall, he replied that it was always via municipal companies.

However Roca did admit paying local councilors for their votes in the motion of no confidence against Julián Muñoz, and admitted to the judge that he was paid more than 3.5 million € in backhanders, which he described as ‘advice payments’ for projects developed in the town. He admitted that Construcciones Salamanca 740,000 € and said that Aifos, whose bosses are also on the accused bench, paid as much as 1.8 million €. He said that the accounting of Maras Asesores, was correct, and admitted that was the company he used to try and hide all his finances.

Three Gibraltar police injured in collision with Guardia Civil boat off Gibraltar

 

Three Gibraltar police have been injured after their boat was in collision with a Guardia Civil vessel in the waters off the Rock on Monday night. Spanish media say the collision took place in Spanish waters close to La Línea during a joint chase of drug traffickers who were in an inflatable craft. The fact the Gibraltar and the Spanish authorities were both chasing the drug traffickers showed that in this case there is no talk of any interference having taken place between the two. Spain has repeatedly requested clear protocols to be established to avoid accidents in situations such as this. The three men were injured as a result of the impact between the two boats, and were seriously hurt. All three had fallen into the water and were rescued by the Guardia. One man with a suspected head fracture was taken to La Linea Hospital but is now at St Bernards on the rock. The other two were taken to the Punta de Europa hospital in Algeciras where they were x-rayed and cleared of fractures. An investigation is underway and it is unclear at this stage whether the drug traffickers got away. The Royal Gibraltar Police vessel is reported to be extensively damaged, including its engines. It’s the latest of a chain of incidents between the Gibraltar Police and the Spanish Guardia Civil.

16 members of three Romanian families have been arrested

Some of the items recovered. Photo - Civil Guard

 

The Civil Guard have recovered more than four tons of stolen property from a gang of Romanian burglars which operated mainly in the Guadalhorce Valley, but were also active in other areas of Málaga, Algeciras, Granada and Córdoba.

Fifteen men have been arrested, plus another suspect who is underage. They all belong to three families based in Pizarra, Estación de Cártama and Campanillas.

The Civil Guard said in a press release on Wednesday that the gang worked seven days a week and would have carried out up to 10 robberies every night after selecting their targets in the morning. They are believed to be responsible for more than 100 burglaries since March, mainly in private homes, where they stole everything they found to hand.

The items recovered in a search of their homes range from televisions and computers, jewellery and cash, to food and drink, and clothing, both new and used. A number of stolen firearms were also found.

Body found in Motril could have been a passenger on an immigrant boat

 

autopsy carried out on a body which was found in a rocky area near the port of Motril on Sunday has shown it to be that of a male aged between 20 and 40, probably of Arabic origin. There were no signs of violence on the body, which was in the water for around 20 days and is believed to have been swept there by the currents. The deceased's fingerprints are not on record and he does not match any person who has been reported missing. The Civil Guard believe he could have been a passenger on one of the many patera boats which arrive on the Granada coast. Europa Press reports that, as no-one has come forward to claim the body nor is there any reason to link his death with any crime, the investigation has been archived.

the Marta del Castillo case in Sevilla

 

More revelations in court as the case following the disappearance and murder of the Sevilla teenager, Marta del Castillo, continues. Miguel Carcaño has admitted that he killed Marta by accident with an ashtray, but has no idea where the body is as his friends dealt with it. Now his ex girlfriend, Rocio D., said that he had told her that he had killed Marta with the help of his older brother, Javier Delgado. ‘Miguel hit her with an ashtray and once on the floor he and his brother had hit her’. Rocio cannot however be considered as a reliable witness. She is thought to have sent police on a wild goose chase regarding the location of Marta’s body and later admitted she had lied to protect Carcaño. The owner of a bar close to the flat where Marta died, has told the court that he saw two youngsters with a wheelchair around 2am. He thought they were carrying a carpet and remembered thinking it was odd that people would throw away such large items so late at night. He remembered the two were thin and that there was a difference in height between them of some 10cm.

Juan Antonio Montero Luceño, has been stabbed to death by an ex student in Mérida.

The retired teacher was well known in Mérida.

'Manley' at one of his art shows - Photo www.ActualidadExtremadura.com

 

A Spanish language teacher for immigrants, Juan Antonio Montero Luceño, has been stabbed to death by an ex student in Mérida. 

The National Police have arrested a 21 year old Moroccan man in connection with the homicide of the 69 year old Spaniard who was well known in Mérida after being the headmaster at the Trajano college in the city Centre. He was known across the town as ‘Manley’ and had dedicated his retirement to helping the marginalised, fundamentally immigrants. 

He was an artist also had showed an exhibition last February of work featuring the people of Africa.

It appears the two men had met when the retired teacher was helping out at the Mérida refugee centre giving Spanish classes to the immigrants.
The centre closed down last year due to a lack of funding. 

The Government Delegation in Extremadura has said that the cause of the attack is being investigated, and that robbery has already been ruled out.

Seven arrested in Málaga for coastal thefts and robberies

 

National Police has arrested another seven members of an organised crime group which was specialist in burglaries and the theft of and from vehicles. The first phase of the ‘Pinchazo’ operation took place at the end of September, and saw the arrest of 18 at the time, facing some 40 charges. The new arrests have solved another 20 burglaries on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca. All the seven new arrests were made in Málaga, and are made up of six Romanians and an Italian. Three property searches on the Costa del Sol have resulted in 3,000 €, 1,000 pounds sterling, 1,000 dollars, jewels, 22 watches of top names and more than 20 mobile phones. One of the techniques the group used was to manipulate the tyres of cars parked at service stations and then pass by to help the driver, and then steal items from inside the vehicle. Police say the organization worked in separate and well coordinated ‘brigades’. Agents from the UDEV Central Robbery Unit of the judicial police, group 1 of the UDYCO organized crime squad in Alicante and the robbery group of the UDEV in Málaga all took part in the operation along with the Denía judicial police and the Provincial Citizen Security Brigade and UP from Alicante.

large-scale cannabis smuggling gang based in Adra has been broken up in a joint operation

450 kilos of cannabis have been recovered

Photo - Interior Ministry

 

A large-scale cannabis smuggling gang based in Adra has been broken up in a joint operation by the National Police, Civil Guard and the Agencia Tributaria Tax Authority.

They used leisure boats to unload cargos of drugs out at sea from vessels sent over from Morocco, and then brought the cargo into port along the Almería coast. The final destination of the drugs is thought to have been Central Europe.

The group had been under observation for some time, and the Interior Ministry said in a press release on Monday that six gang members were arrested 10 days ago after one of their fleet of boats was intercepted after returning from collecting a new cargo. Four of the gang were caught in the act unloading 450 kilos of cannabis into a stolen van on a beach in Albuñol, Granada province.

Two other suspects were also later arrested.