National Police have arrested a Nigerian man in Madrid, accused of defrauding a British man of 107,000 €

National Police have arrested a Nigerian man in Madrid, accused of defrauding a British man of 107,000 € using the ‘Nigerian letters’ scam.

The arrested man was part of a Nigerian organisation which convinced the Briton that he was the beneficiary of a large amount of money. They said that the funds had been transferred to Madrid, and for security reasons they needed a large amount of money to free them and make the cash available.

The victim transferred nearly 79,000 € to a bank in the name of the detained and another 28.000 € to an account on Cyprus.
A search of the arrested man’s home led to the impounding of two computers and documents related to the fraud.

32 year old Briton, named as Kenneth P.S. has been arrested after trying to take the gun being carried by a local policeman

32 year old Briton, named as Kenneth P.S. has been arrested after trying to take the gun being carried by a local policeman when in one of the shops in the Starco Commercial Centre in Arona.

The local police say two people approached them with the appearance of being drunk. One of them was very well built and muscular and nearly 1 metre 90 tall, and started shouting at the police in English using the expressions, ‘Fuck the police, ‘Fuck off’, and ‘Bloody Bastard’ among others.

La Opinion de Tenerife reports the police say they tried to ignore the man but then he fell on one of them and reached for the agent’s gun.

Finally a total of six police were needed to contain the individual who remained hostile throughout the whole procedure.

three tons of cannabis were seized on the beach in Almayate, Vélez Málaga

two successful operations which seized two tons of cannabis on the western Costa del Sol earlier this month, the Civil Guard have announced news of another big haul in the Axarquía district, in the east of Málaga province.

Almost three tons of cannabis were seized on the beach in Almayate, Vélez Málaga, after a suspicious boat travelling without lights was seen speeding away from the beach on Monday. El Mundo reports that the 96 packages found on the sand contained 2.88 tons of cannabis.

In a separate operation at the port in the provincial capital, a 41 year old foreign national named as K.G. was arrested after a sniffer dog was brought in to search his vehicle and signalled that drugs could be hidden inside the dashboard of his car. The search recovered 47 kilos of cannabis.

British man arrested for suspected domestic violence incident in Orihuela Costa

Police called out to a recent domestic violence incident in Orihuela Costa have arrested a 40 year old man from Britain, who faces charges of injuring his partner.

EFE reports that officers were responding to a call to the 112 emergency number reporting an incident on the Playa Flamenca Urbanisation. They found the couple’s five year old son waiting at the door when they arrived, and the suspected assailant inside with his partner and a friend.

It’s understood that the woman had injuries to her neck, and the man had scratches on one of his arms.

They were both taken to a local health centre for treatment and then to the Civil Guard to make a statement. The man was then arrested.

 

 

The Gibraltar Police then say that ‘a heated exchange’ then took place between the two security services, and during that time their boats came into contact.

Royal Gibraltar Police, RGP, has said, following the incident between the Spanish Guardia Civil and their own vessels in the waters off The Rock last Sunday, that they were exercising their jurisdiction ‘inside British Gibraltar Territorial Waters’, half a mile off the Punto Europa.
A statement from the RGP issued on Tuesday said ‘The Guardia Civil had been involved in the persecution of a suspicious boat outside the Gibraltar Territorial Waters, but then entered the waters to ‘intercept the suspicious vessel’. They note that they had no previous notification of the chase from the Guardia Civil.

The Gibraltar Police then say that ‘a heated exchange’ then took place between the two security services, and during that time their boats came into contact.

The statement ends that as is normal in this type of incident, the Police Commissioner will meet with his counterpart in Algeciras to debate the incident and ‘the need for each one to respect the jurisdiction of the other’.

The statement came after the Spanish Interior Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, expressed his upset at the latest incident which he described as ‘especially serious’. He said the Spanish Government is considering a diplomatic initiative to remind the Gibraltar authorities that one thing is a territorial dispute, but allowing the criminals operating in the Strait to benefit was quite another.

The Civil Guard Association had earlier accused the Gibraltar Police and the Royal Navy of acting ‘like pirates’ and allege the Gibraltar Police tried to board the Civil Guard boat.

Body of missing 14 year old found in León

The body of a 14 year old boy who vanished on Sunday afternoon from the town of Armellada, León, has been found.

A local residents saw the body floating in a local river and advised the Guardia Civil. The child’s bike had been seen on Monday close the waters of the Orbigo River between Turcia and Santa Marina del Rey.

The body is to be taken to the Forensic Anatomic Institute for an autopsy to be carried out.

 

Granada couple have been arrested accused of being involved in the death of their neighbour’s six year old son.

Granada couple have been arrested accused of being involved in the death of their neighbour’s six year old son.

The father reported the child missing at 1.15am Wednesday morning, claiming that the boy had left their first floor flat without his parents noticing.

The body of the child was then found at the back of the same block by police who arrived at the scene shortly after.

Police consider that the child could have fallen from a window in a third floor flat in the same block in Calle Molino Nuevo, in the Almanjáyar area of the city. It’s thought the child could have climbed the stairs to the neighbour’s flat and fallen from their terrace. Police are investigating if it was a tragic accident, or whether the child was thrown from the balcony.

One report says they are investigating whether a 12 year old girl could have taken part in the death of the six year old.

The owners of the third floor flat, aged 54 and 36 have been arrested and the autopsy will determine if the child was already dead before falling or not. The 12 year old daughter of the arrested couple has now been placed in care for her protection.

Man jailed in Colombia for killing Spanish tourist

man who confessed to killing a Spanish tourist on holiday in Colombia has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for the death of Irene Cortés Lucas, a mother of five who was killed in the Colombian city of Barranquilla on March 2 this year.

The 30 year old victim, who was originally from Granada province and ran a nightclub with her husband in Torre del Mar, Málaga, was shot dead in the chest when she and her husband were held up by robbers in a bar in her husband’s home town on the Caribbean coast of Colombia.

Irene’s family maintained that her husband had contracted a hit man to kill his wife, but the suspect who has now been convicted for her death, Brayan Darío Escorcia Blanco, told the Barranquilla court this Monday that he had never met the man and was ‘drugged’ when he fired the shot.

EFE indicates that a second suspect who was involved in the robbery is awaiting sentencing.

The victim’s husband, Farid Llinás Ariza, is understood to have applied for a distancing order against his wife’s family and, according to his lawyer, was given ‘special protection’ on his return to Spain following the threats he said he received from the family.

 

Eastgate had a very large house in Estepona (on Spain's Costa del Sol).

The lavish "James Bond" lifestyle of a drug smuggling gang first began to unravel in 2009 when police stopped and searched an uninsured BMW at Cullompton Services on the M5 in Devon.

Inside the vehicle, driven by Christopher Leader, officers found 5kg (11lb) of cocaine, worth about £250,000.

The drugs were wrapped up in a parcel made to look "like a present".

The discovery was the start of Operation Stagshaw - in which detectives from Devon and Cornwall Police began work to track down the gang.

Detectives found pictures of the gang's ringleader Timothy Eastgate, 31 and his deputy Paul Flisher, 38, "living a lavish lifestyle".

"They drove around in Ferraris, Lamborghinis, they had a private box at the O2 Arena in London," said senior investigating officer Jim Hinchliffe.

"Mr Eastgate had a very large house in Estepona (on Spain's Costa del Sol).

"He had a yacht called 'Shaken not Stirred', they lived that sort of lifestyle."


The men drove around in sports cars and owned a yacht
Eastgate and Flisher even had mobile phones whose digits ended in 007 and Mr Hinchliffe, who has now retired from the force, said the James Bond image "appears to have been a driver for them".

Gun in freezer
Operation Stagshaw stretched from Essex to Devon as officers used mobile phone records and the number plate recognition system to identify drugs couriers and dealers.

Eastgate was eventually arrested in September 2010 at a hotel in Plymouth.

At his house in Norfolk police found a number of suitcases containing cocaine and benzocaine, a dental anaesthetic which has a similar effect to cocaine.

They also found an X-ray machine, used to test how well the drugs packages were disguised.

In the freezer officers found a handgun, along with a silencer and ammunition.

Other weapons found in connection with investigation included a sawn-off shotgun.


Detectives found an X-ray machine used to test drugs packages
Detectives also found a USB stick belonging to Eastgate, containing a spreadsheet indicating he had delivered more than £3m worth of cocaine to dealers in England.

"Much of that came to Plymouth", Mr Hinchliffe said.

Sean Battle, 42, was Eastgate's man in Plymouth. He owned a large home in Bere Alston, expensive jewellery, cars and property abroad.

Three other men Stephen Procter, 39, from Plymouth, James Wright, 28, from London and Christopher Leader, 54, from Romford, were the gang's couriers, delivering drugs and picking up cash.

Commenting on the gang's conviction at Exeter Crown Court on drugs and firearms charges, Mr Hinchliffe said: "The work done by the police in conjunction with the CPS is done to protect the communities that we all serve.

"I hope this serves as a salutary lesson to people that are out there doing this sort of thing that we will catch you and, if convicted, you will receive substantial prison sentences."

Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed that work would now begin to seize the assets of the drug gang's illicit lifestyle.

National Police have asked for help from the public in finding some of Spain’s most wanted

The National Police have asked for help from the public in finding some of Spain’s most wanted, both Spaniards and foreigners, by showing their faces in a video placed on the police’s Youtube channel.

It includes those wanted for murder, torture, drug trafficking, theft, fraud and other crimes.

Using the music from Dexter as backing the video mentions the Briton, Daren Michael Elarmo, wanted for kidnapping and sexual abuse of children and thought to be living in Spain.

Also Christopher Guest More from Manchester and wanted for murder.

 

Sentencing has been announced for the murder of Carmen Romero, a 19 year old girl from Rute in Córdoba

Sentencing has been announced for the murder of Carmen Romero, a 19 year old girl from Rute in Córdoba who died in 2009 three years after two blasts from a hunting shotgun left her confined to a wheelchair. El Mundo newspaper reports that it was considered proved at the trial that she died as a consequence of the injuries she had suffered in September 2006: serious injuries to one of her kidneys and she was left paralysed from the waist.

Her ex boyfriend immediately gave himself up to the Civil Guard after the shooting and, until Carmen’s death, was being held on remand for attempted murder. The charge then became murder and Manuel García was found guilty at his trial by jury on April 16 this year.

This Monday, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison, reduced from a possible 20-year sentence on the consideration that he had immediately confessed to the shooting on September 12 2006, the day after Carmen had ended their relationship. It’s understood that the four years he has served on remand will be deducted from the total sentence.

The man who lent him the shotgun, Manuel Roldán Caballero, was given a sentence of 15 years in prison as a ‘necessary collaborator’ in the crime.

Both men have been issued a distancing order banning them from approaching the victim’s family for more than 20 years, and must each pay 300,000 € in compensation to Carmen’s parents.

The Civil Guard association has accused the Royal Navy and the Gibraltar Police of acting like pirates

The Civil Guard association has accused the Royal Navy and the Gibraltar Police of acting like pirates and say they will denounce those involvedA view of Gibraltar 


A Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that the Spanish government will use ‘the normal diplomatic channels’ to raise the subject of the latest incident between the Gibraltar police and the Civil Guard with the authorities in the UK.

Europa Press reports that the spokesman declined to give any further details of the government’s position on the incident, which happened on Sunday when a Civil Guard patrol boat was chasing drug traffickers from Morocco.

The officers on board say they saw the smugglers on board throwing packages into the sea before they intercepted the boat 3.7 kms from the Gibraltar coast after the chase which commenced 10.8 kms from Europa Point.

Seven boats then arrived from the Gibraltar Customs, the Royal Navy and the Gibraltar Police, who the AUGC Civil Guard Association have accused of acting like ‘pirates’, with alleged attempts by the Gibraltar police and the Royal Navy of attempting to board the Civil Guard boat.

The AUGC claim the Guardia were subject to insults and threats and have announced that they will denounce those they say were involved.

The Gibraltar Chronicle reported that a police vessel suffered minor damage in the incident, claiming that both the Guardia Civil and the Gibraltar Police were chasing the drug traffickers into the bay, and it was during the chase that a police boat collided with one of the Spanish vessels.

In Spain, the Partido Popular has called on the government to make a formal protest to the UK, for what the PP MP José Ignacio Landaluce sees as a ‘very serious’ incident.

PSOE’s Secretary for Organisation, Marcelino Iglesias, was questioned on the matter at a press conference at PSOE headquarters in Madrid after a meeting of the party’s federal executive on Monday. He said it was not discussed at the meeting and he would not make any comment as the information available was not ‘sufficiently complete’.

Iglesias said the party would naturally support any declaration to come from the Foreign Ministry on the matter.

second Irishman arrested for the shooting of a 54 year old British man in his home.

The National Police has arrested a second Irishman, 45 year old R.M.M. in connection to the shooting of a 54 year old Briton in his Benalmádena home. Peter Christley was shot when he went to answer the door of his home in Calle Londres, Urbanisation Torremar Park, On January 27 2010.

The second man was arrested in Montevideo, Uruguay, on an international arrest warrant opened by Interpol. His arrest follows the arrest of a 53 year old Irishman, J.G.D. in Fuengirola last week.

The National Police think the investigation in the case is now practically closed, although they still have to establish which of the two arrested men actually pulled the trigger.

La Opinion de Málaga reports that the two arrested men face charges of attempted homicide and extortion. It seems that the two men gave the victim 200,000 € to launder, which the police think has its origin in drug trafficking.

The victim however is reported to have failed to have returned the money, claiming it had been stolen. He was given time to find it, but it seems the shooters patience finally ran out.

However the assassination attempt failed, with the British man admitted to the Clínico Hospital in Málaga with several gunshot wounds, to the hip and intestines, from which he has now made a recovery. Police refer to the victim of being ‘of police interest’ given the case.

Both the shooters are Irish and from Cork and were identified quickly thanks to a statement from the victim himself.

thousands of crimes have been solved since a national DNA database was introduced in Spain three years ago.

Spain’s National Police have announced that a staggering 7,500 cases have been solved since the controversial genetic database was first created in November 2007.
This includes the clear up of 581 rapes, 454 murders and 51 acts of terrorism.
The DNA bank now stores the genetic information of 183,000 people – taken from blood, semen, saliva, or hairs collected at crime scenes – including that of 50,000 unidentified people.
DNA was first used to identify and convict someone of a crime in the UK back in 1988, but it has since become an essential tool for forensic investigations.
Now in a bid to increase the number of convictions based on DNA evidence, the Spanish bank is set to be linked to those of other European Union countries so police can share information across borders.

Irishman arrested in connection with shooting of Briton in Benalmádena

The investigation into a shooting suffered by a 54 year old British man, Peter Christley, who was shot when he went to answer the door of his home in Benalmádena last January, has, according to Diario Sur, given its first results.

National Police have identified two men allegedly implicated in the shooting in Calle Londres, in Ubanisation Torremar Park, and arrested an Irish man on Tuesday this week. The man, who has not been named in reports, was placed before the court on Wednesday, and accused of taking part in the shooting.

The second suspect remains at large, and is thought to have fled the area, and so an international arrest warrant has been issued, although he has not been named in press reports.
Investigations, based in the Torremolinos-Benalmádena police station, continue.

Christly was shot four times, twice in the abdomen, once in the behind and once in the leg, but after emergency surgery he has now recovered.

 

PETER HARRISON last night revealed his son Scott had called him from his Spanish jail to tell him he was training hard in preparation for a comeback

.
The shamed former world featherweight champion hasn't been seen between the ropes since beating Nedal Hussein at the Braehead Arena in 2005.
He has since fallen foul of the law, having had problems with alcohol, and was sent to jail on the Costa del Sol where he has served 27 months of a 30-month sentence for assault.
The Cambuslang star might be behind bars and without a boxing licence but his father and trainer Peter still claims he is primed for a return.
Harrison senior said: "Scott's not finished with boxing, far from it. He is hungry to come back and I sense a real desire in him.
"His career is not over and I am glad to say that. If he gets the chance he will take it I am certain of it. He loves boxing and the ring is where he is most comfortable. He should be back in June or July and then we could see him fight again."
Harrison is 33 and there's plenty of people who think his best years are behind him.

Gangland drug haul suspect Dawes appears before Spanish judge

MAN named as a Notts drugs "general" has appeared before a Spanish judge – nearly three years after he was first arrested in Dubai.

Robert Dawes, 39, has previously been named in court as one of three men who ran the drugs trade in north Notts.

The other two are currently serving long jail terms.

Dawes left Notts for the Mijas Costa, near Marbella in Spain, nine years ago and later relocated to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.


He was arrested in 2008 in Dubai over the seizure of almost 200kg of cocaine – then worth around £14m – near Madrid in 2007. But Spain has no extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates and it has taken until now for him to be taken back to Spain.

Dawes was held on an international arrest warrant last Wednesday in Dubai and was flown to Madrid on Thursday to appear before a duty judge.

A spokesman for the Guardia Civil, the Spanish police, said that Dawes was expected to be formally charged in Court 32 in Madrid over the cocaine seizure when the Spanish courts reopened after Easter.

The cocaine seizure operation was led by the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency with the backing of the Guardia Civil.

Meanwhile, the Post understands that Notts Police have contacted the widow of Sutton-in-Ashfield father-of-two David Draycott, who was murdered in 2002, to inform her that Dawes is in custody in Spain.

A police spokesman said: "Detectives are continuing to investigate the murder of David Draycott and are following up a number of lines of inquiry."

At a recent assets recovery hearing at Birmingham Crown Court involving alleged associates of Dawes, he was named in court papers by investigators from the Serious Organised Crime Agency as a "highly significant international criminal" wanted in three countries, including the UK and Holland.

In Holland, he is under investigation in connection with the murder of schoolteacher Gerard Meesters in Groningen in 2002.

Both Mr Meesters and Mr Draycott were gunned down outside their homes. Two British men were convicted for their roles in the murder of Mr Meesters, who was killed after he refused to reveal the location of a woman who, the court was told, had been working as a drugs courier for Dawes. The two convicted men refused to state who else was involved in the killing, citing fear of reprisals against their relatives.

Dawes was also named in court during the trial of Gary Hardy as one of three "generals" who ran the drugs trade in north Notts, along with his brother John Dawes and Hardy himself.

Hardy is serving a 20-year jail term for conspiracy to supply heroin and amphetamines, money laundering and possessing criminal property. John Dawes is doing 24 years for money laundering and conspiracy to deal in drugs.

John Dawes was friends with Bestwood crime boss Colin Gunn, and the Post previously told how Hardy had held a "drug dealer's lottery" for a Mercedes car, with £1,000 tickets bought by both Colin Gunn and his brother David.

Colin Gunn is serving a minimum of 35 years for conspiracy to murder, while David Gunn was jailed for eight-and-a-half years for conspiring to supply amphetamines, before being released on parole and then sent back to prison to serve the rest of his sentence for breaching the terms of his parole.

John Dawes and his father, Arthur "Eddie" Dawes, were jailed in 2005, with Arthur Dawes receiving eight years in prison for money laundering.

 

A BRITISH fugitive wanted by police for massive benefit fraud and forgery is living large in Mijas Costa.

A number of concerned readers have been in touch after the authorities failed to pick him up. The Olive Press is now working with Scotland Yard in a new bid to have Robert Brennan, 67, arrested.


The Scouser was also being sought for sex offences, although one case involving a juvenile has recently been dropped.
A spokesman for the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said last night, it would “still be great to track down Brennan who is awaiting sentencing for fraud.”
Brennan fled to Spain in late 2008 after being convicted of a 130,000 euro benefit fraud.
He pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to seven charges of council tax, housing benefit and jobseeker’s allowance fraud.
He had cleverly forged the signature of his brother, who had, in fact, lived in Germany for over 30 years.
But his subsequent disappearance prompted police to seek an international arrest warrant in April 2009.
The following month, it was reported that Brennan was also facing a string of sex offences dating back to the 1990s.
The Liverpool Echo said he was charged with 20 allegations of child sex abuse. However, Merseyside Police confirmed this week that the sex abuse charges have since been dropped.
A spokesman confirmed: “Following a three-year investigation into allegations of sex offences, the Force has been advised the case should be discontinued.”
The spokesman was unable to confirm the reasons why the case had collapsed.
However, she added: “We still want him for benefit fraud and forgery.”

Spanish police say they have arrested a fugitive suspected of being a Sicilian Mafia member wanted for murder and other crimes in Italy.

Spanish police say they have arrested a fugitive suspected of being a Sicilian Mafia member wanted for murder and other crimes in Italy.
Police said they worked with their Italian counterparts to arrest Claudio Adriano Giusto in the rural northeastern town of Alcarras. He had been on the run for 13 years.
Giusto, 43, is wanted in Italy for the March 1998 murder of Giuseppe Magaddino, also believed to have belonged to a Mafia family, as well as for possession of weapons and theft.
Police said Wednesday that investigators who had been trying to track down Giusto moved the search to Spain in recent days.
Monday's arrest was co-ordinated with the help of Interpol, police said.

Civil Guard have confiscated more than a ton of cannabis and arrested two suspects

The Civil Guard news on Monday of another drugs haul on a beach in Marbella, with the arrest of two suspects on Playa de la Mimosa who were seen transferring a boat’s cargo into a stolen van waiting on Playa de la Mimosa.

Europa Press reports that the cargo was 1.1 tons of cannabis, distributed amongst 37 packages.

The boat which had carried the drugs onto shore was also confiscated by officers.

This latest operation follows another success earlier this month, when 1.8 tons of cannabis were seized and 7 suspects were arrested on Playa Varadero in San Pedro de Alcántara.

Elsewhere in Spain, a small boat which was transporting almost 1.4 tons of cannabis was intercepted to the north of Gran Canaria early on Sunday and the two crew were taken into custody.

Spain recovers lost paintings by El Greco and Goya

Law enforcement authorities in Spain raided a home in the province of Alicante and recovered two oil paintings that had disappeared in the 1990s. ‘The Annunciation’ by Domenico Theotokopoulos, also known as El Greco, and ‘The Apparition of the Virgin of the Pillar,” by Francisco de Goya are to be restored to their owners, who had formerly shared them in several international exhibits.

A unit of Spain’s Civil Guard that investigates crimes involving the country’s sizeable patrimony of culture and art had distributed photographs of the two works in question in order prevent their sale to collectors. In October 2010, the Civil Guard received a tip that the two paintings were going to sale. Following intense research and searches, the two works were finally found.

 

Three years in prison for couple who built illegal property in Alfarnate

married couple resident in Alfarnate, a small village in the north of Málaga province near the border with Granada, have been sentenced to three years in prison for building a two-storey dwelling on land classified as unsuitable for development.

They had no planning permission to go ahead with the work, and are reported to have built the house as the start of a more extensive project for a tourist complex, which would have included other houses and a common area for the guests.

EFE reports that the couple ignored several orders from the local Town Hall to stop the building work and have now been found guilty of planning crimes and disobedience. They have also been ordered to demolish the construction and return the land to its previous condition.

There has been no indication in reports of the couple’s nationalities.

 

Woman found dead after fire in Mutxamel had been stabbed

woman whose completely burnt body was found in her house in Mutxamel, Alicante, had been stabbed nine times in what is now looking like another fatal case of domestic violence.

Her 45 year old husband is sedated in the Sant Joan d’Alacant hospital after being treated for smoke inhalation in the fire. He will remain sedated for some time, but is now out of danger despite being found unconscious by firemen after the fire.

The couple were in the process of separation, but were still living in the same flat. The Government Sub-Delegate, Encarna Llinares, has however made it clear that there were not any previous complaints or reported problems. The couple have two children, aged 1 and 5, who were not at home at the time of the fire.

Five minutes silence was held at the doors of the Sub Delegate’s office in Alicante on Wednesday in protest at what has happened.

 

British man arrested on Tenerife for assaulting a Civil Guard

British man faces two sets of separate charges after the Civil Guard were called out to a domestic violence incident in Amarilla Golf, in San Miguel de Abona, Tenerife, and the suspect threw hydrochloric acid at one of the officers.

La Opinión reported on Wednesday that the officer is now recovering from injuries to an eye, although his colleague reacted quickly in washing off the ‘agua fuerte’ from his face. It was at this point that the British man took the opportunity to flee the scene.

He was arrested by the local police shortly afterwards and released from custody after appearing before a judge on the charge of assaulting an officer.

The un-named British suspect was arrested for a second time just a few hours later on the charge of domestic violence.

 

"Rio Almanzora",2,610 kilograms of hashish in 87 packs.

The police arrested Juan Carlos AP, 35, resident of Ceuta, and Z. Najim, 27, and Mohamed EA, 24, both residing in the town of Adra (Almería), as perpetrators of a crime against public health after apprehend distributed 2,610 kilograms of hashish in 87 packs.

The incident took place on day 10, when agents detected the presence of a boat off the coast of Adra due to the coast. A patrol the area attended the "Rio Almanzora", whose crew located a boat carrying suspected many packages and was equipped with three powerful outboard engines. However, it left the area quickly to notice the presence of agents. After several hours of waiting, the boat returned to the coast of Almeria, where he was seized by the Guardia Civil loaded with more than two tons of hashish.

Spain's two most-wanted terrorist suspects are in custody after allegedly shooting and wounding a police officer at a French checkpoint, authorities said.

The Spanish Interior Ministry confirmed the identity of the pair arrested Saturday as Oier Gomez Mielgo and Itziar Moreno, El Pais reported Monday.

Moreno is suspected of being involved in a car bomb attack against regional television and radio offices in Bilbao.

Gomez Mielgo is accused of overseeing a bomb-making facility in Portugal for the armed Basque nationalist organization ETA.

Since ETA declared a cease-fire in January, the Basque radical separatist group Bildu attempted to run in the local elections in May.

The Spanish courts publicly rejected ETA violence after a previous party, Sortu, was declared illegal.

"If they want the disappearance of all violence, particularly ETA's, as their charter stated, Sortu need to join the democrats and demand that the terrorist group disappear indefinitely," said the Basque chief of interior affairs, Rodolfo Ares.

TWO men convicted of a murder in the Costa Blanca region of Spain have failed with appeals against their jail terms.

Adrian Marshall, 52, originally from Darlington, and 62-year-old Lindsay George Frampton-Slade had appealed the 16 year jail sentences they each received in February last year for the murder of Colyn Nobes.

The Spanish Supreme Court, based in Madrid, rejected both men's appeals.

It also awarded compensation to Mr Nobe's family.

The court ratified a 21-month jail sentence on Marshall's partner Bridget Stokes, who was convicted of being an accomplice in the murder.

Ms Stokes has since returned to the UK and now lives in Darlington.

She has criticised the Spanish authorities for their handling of the case and said the men did not receive a fair trial.

The body of Mr Nobes, who fled to Spain after escaping from Winchester Prison, was found beneath a motorway bridge in July 2006.

He had been beaten and his skull was fractured into 19 pieces following a fight at a house in Javea, near Benidorm.

Marshall, who hopes to be transferred to a jail in the UK at some stage, had denied Mr Nobes murder and said he acted in self-defence after being attacked with a knife.

Gang leader sentenced to more than 18 years for kidnap of a Cádiz businessman

The man who thought up and led a plan to kidnap a Cádiz businessman from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in 2008 is to spend more than 18 years in prison in a sentence from the Cádiz provincial court which was made public on Thursday.

Luis Miguel Rodríguez Puego admitted his guilt during the trial and asked for forgiveness from the victim and his family. Rafael Ávila was kidnapped from Sanlúcar on June 2 2008, spending 16 days in captivity before he was rescued by police. His rescue came on the day of the kidnappers’ deadline for the 2 million € ransom they had demanded from his family.

Another four people were also found guilty by the court and each sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. One of them is Raúl Brey, the owner of the property in Almonte, Huelva province, where Rafael Ávila was held captive. He is a cousin of Mariano Rajoy Brey, President of the Partido Popular, and will spend 15 and a half years behind bars.

Another of those sentenced is a son of the main accused, while a second son was acquitted of charges and ordered to be immediately released from remand. Two other suspects were also found not guilty.

Two bodies discovered in the wreckage of an autogyro found on a private finca in Medina Sidonia on Tuesday afternoon have been identified as two men from Eastern Europe.

Two bodies discovered in the wreckage of an autogyro found on a private finca in Medina Sidonia on Tuesday afternoon have been identified as two men from Eastern Europe.

They are thought to have died a number of days before the wreckage was found, possibly as long as a week previously, and officers suspect that they may have been involved in drug smuggling. EFE reports that neither of the two men had been reported missing, and no flight plan had been filed for the aircraft.

The Civil Guard were searching the area with the help of sniffer dogs on Thursday for any evidence of drugs.

Two men have been arrested in Granada for injuring an American tourist with a machete and making off with the 1,500 € he was carrying.

It happened when the walking in the Albaicín district of the city with two friends and was held up by two men who had earlier stopped him to ask for a light. The tourist is understood to have been injured in the stomach with the machete, although it’s unclear in reports if his injuries were serious or not.

Both the robbers were found to have previous criminal records when they were taken into custody.

 

Alexander Zakhar Kalashov, increased his prison term by an additional 18 months, up to 9 years behind bars.

Supreme Court has revised the National Court’s sentencing of the Georgian mafia leader, Alexander Zakhar Kalashov, and has increased his prison term by an additional 18 months, up to 9 years behind bars.

They have also upped the fine which was imposed by the National Court at the end of May last year by another 2.5 million €, meaning he must now pay 22.5 million €. Sentences have also been increased for five others found guilty in the original trial.

Kalashov was arrested in Marbella in early June 2010, just a few days after he was sentenced in his absence by the court in Madrid for laundering 7.5 million € in Spain. The Supreme Court ruled to increase his sentence, considering that and others found guilty in the case formed part of a criminal organisation, with Kalashov as its leader, whose specific purpose was the laundering of money.

Europa Press reports that Kalashov is currently in his native Georgia, where he was extradited to serve an 18 year term for illicit association and for the kidnapping of a US citizen who has yet to be found.

2 tons of cannabis seized on a beach in Nerja

group of six people were arrested on a beach in Maro, Nerja, on Tuesday after they were caught trying to smuggle a cargo of more than 2 tons of cannabis onto shore.

The Civil Guard had been keeping the Nerja coast under surveillance in their investigations into a group of smugglers which were believed to be operating locally, and seized 78 packages of cannabis in the area known as Cala Playa Doncella. Europa Press gives the total weight of the drugs as 2.3 tons.

Officers also confiscated the drug smugglers’ boat, a number of mobile phones, a GPS and a revolver.

This latest success follows a haul of 1.8 tons of cannabis on a beach in Marbella on Monday, where 7 people were arrested.

José Carlos Serna had been passing himself off as a university professor and was found at home, hiding in a hollowed-out sofaJosé Carlos Serna

The National Police have announced that an inmate who escaped from Estremera prison on the back of a forged court order for his release has been arrested at his home in San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

57 year old José Carlos Serna was the head of a gang of kidnappers who snatched a Spanish businessman in 2008 and held him captive for 2 weeks before his rescue by Portuguese police.

Serna was in prison on remand when he escaped for the first time last October, using the method of a forged court ruling ordering his release. On that occasion, he was recaptured 3 days later, but he used the same method again for his release on December 30 last year, and was finally re-arrested last Thursday.

EFE reports that he had kept on the move in the weeks since his release, using a false name and even passing himself off as a university professor. He is understood to have returned home after the property was searched by police and his wife was arrested there as a possible accomplice in his escape.

The National Police said in a press release that the only way for officers to gain access to Serna’s fortress-like house was through a skylight in the roof. They found him hiding out beneath a hollowed-out sofa.

The Civil Guard arrested 7 suspects in the operation on Playa Varadero, San Pedro de AlcántaraA previous haul of cannabis

Seven people have been arrested in Marbella after the Civil Guard they were caught in the act attempting to unload a cargo of cannabis onto a beach in San Pedro de Alcántara.

The Civil Guard said in a press release this Monday that officer made the arrests after noting a suspicious boat approaching the Playa Varadero in San Pedro, and recovered 60 packages of cannabis, with a total weight of 1.8 tons.

The drug smugglers’ 7 metre boat and two vehicles which were waiting on shore to receive the cargo were confiscated by the Civil Guard.

There has been no confirmation as yet of the nationalities of any of the suspects.

12,697 new homes were declared illegal in the Almanzora Valley in south-east Spain,

12,697 new homes were declared illegal in the Almanzora Valley in south-east Spain, an area popular with holiday-home buyers. Some 920 have been earmarked for demolition, while the remainder may be rezoned, thus allowing them to be declared legal and have utilities connected.

"How many will be made homeless, or lose their life savings, if 920 houses are demolished? Who's going to compensate those who bought in good faith?" asks Maura Hillen, president of Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No, a local pressure group composed mainly of British residents. Similar groups of disgruntled UK buyers exist across many of Spain's tourist areas.

Now the housing crash has become so much a part of the modern Spanish psyche it has been accorded the ultimate tribute – its own television soap opera.

Crematorio has a storyline that includes unhappy foreign buyers, corrupt councillors, lurid affairs, drugs and violence against a backdrop of the Spanish Costas.

Far-fetched? Not this time. Many believe the fiction is some way behind the fact.

James Tomkins, 61, lived in exile under an assumed identity on the Costa del Sol, in Spain, after the "brutal execution" of 24-year-old Rocky Dawson.

A fugitive murderer has been convicted of killing a young father in front of his children.

James Tomkins, 61, lived in exile under an assumed identity on the Costa del Sol, in Spain, after the "brutal execution" of 24-year-old Rocky Dawson.

Woolwich Crown Court heard Mr Dawson was shot several times in the back as he put the children in his Fiat Punto, in Hornchurch, east London, in 2006.

The children, aged two and six, were unharmed during the incident.

Tomkins' accomplice Christopher Pearman, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, received a life sentence for the murder at the same court in 2007.

After several years on the run, Tomkins, who was named as one of Britain's 10 most wanted criminals in 2008, was traced near Marbella and extradited.

Tomkins shot Mr Dawson from a dark-blue Land Rover Freelander vehicle, which drove past the victim's car, which was on the drive of his parent's home as the attack took place.

Candy Dawson, Mr Dawson's mother, said: "Rocky will always live on in our memory and our hearts."

Det Insp Mark Lawson said: "This was a brutal execution of a totally innocent young man in what we believe to have been a case of mistaken identity.

"He was gunned down in front of his two children who were lucky to have escaped uninjured.

"Asesinos a sueldo" (Murderers for hire), was reported in the summer of 2009 by a citizen in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona, according to police.

Spain's Civil Guard arrested 14 people and indicted two others for using an Internet forum to offer their services as enforcers with an eye toward extorting, attacking and even committing murders.

The Internet forum with a Mexican domain and called "Asesinos a sueldo" (Murderers for hire), was reported in the summer of 2009 by a citizen in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona, according to police.

The police discovered comments posted in the forum that provided data about possible hit targets in Spain, including their cities of residence, physical build, sex and age, as well as the amount of money being offered to murder them, figures that ranged between 4,000 and 10,000 euros ($5,671-$14,177).

Among those arrested is a women from the southern city of Malaga who made contact with four assassins with the aim of having her husband killed.

Besides setting the price of the hit, she provided them with photographs, his license plate number, his work schedule and even the ideal place, date and time to carry out the murder.

However, just like the other cases being investigated, the murder never took place, since the alleged potential killer - who was arrested in the northern city of Orense - did not find in the proper location the weapon he had arranged for another of the arrested men in Barcelona to let him use.

Another of the people arrested expressed on the forum his intention to kill his parents, while several more were hired to carry out assorted crimes in Palencia and Palma de Mallorca, and one even paid 4,000 euros to have an acquaintance in Valencia intimidated.

After the authorities fully identified the users of the forum, they proceeded to arrest and charge them. Among those taken into custody and indicted are 14 men and two women ranging in age from 17 to 53