National Police has arrested the largest importer of hormones and anabolic steroids on the Costa del Sol.

National Police has arrested the largest importer of hormones and anabolic steroids on the Costa del Sol. Packets of the drugs were sent to Estepona from several Mediterranean and Asiatic countries to then be distributed across Spain, mostly to sportsmen and women.

More than 23,000 ampoules were found in the search of a property and car, together with growth and other hormones and anabolic steroids, 104,000 € in cash and a simulated pistol.

A similar operation took place on the Costa Dorada last March, and it was a lead from that that led to Estepona where a man would often go to Correos to collect the packages. Inspection of the thrown away packaging showed police that it contained the drugs and gave them enough to make their arrest.

There is no news as yet as to the identity or nationality of the detained.

British tourist has died after being left lying unconscious in a pool of blood during a suspected robbery at a popular Portugese holiday resort.

It is believed Ian Haggath, 50, from Gateshead, Tyneside, was attacked by the same four youths who beat up an Irish man in in the same neighbourhood of Albufeira last month.

Both men were attacked in the dangerous Montechoro neighbourhood of the Algarve town, the Sunday Sun newspaper reports, adding that it understood Mr Haggath’s body would be repatriated this week.



Mr Haggath was attacked during the early hours of the morning on the weekend of 14-15 May at a junction near Albufeira’s ‘worm roundabout’ and the three-star Janelas do Mar Hotel, where he had been staying with a friend.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has confirmed that he died on Wednesday after having been transferred in a critical condition to Faro Hospital by paramedics who treated him at the scene of the incident.

It is believed Mr Haggath, a keen bowls player for Dunston Bowls Club, had been returning to his hotel from the resort's notorious strip when he was set upon and left with broken cheek bones, a fractured skull and blood on the brain. He has two brothers and one of them is thought to have flown from Tyneside to the Algarve to be at at his bedside.

Mr Haggath was found by three fellow holidaymakers, one of whom said they had tried to help him, 'until the ambulance came'.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, added that his friend had also 'had bottles and stones thrown at him, about five minutes before the man got attacked'.

His friend had described his assailants as “four young lads: one had ginger hair', and warned: 'The Montechoro area and top of the strip are not safe in the early hours of the morning.'

A source at the Janelas do Mar Hotel said the attack on Mr Haggath was the first of its type that had involved one of its clients and that it had been 'informed of what had happened at around 4.30am,' according to website The Portugal News.

David Hoban, 44, from Dublin, was attacked on Saturday, April 16, about half a kilometre from where Mr Haggath was assaulted.

Mr Hoban was pummelled with cobblestones and had his nose broken before being slashed across the face with a knife.



He said he had been targeted after being followed by four men 'all aged under 25' from the top of the strip into a side street that led to the Montechoro Hotel.

Mr Hoban told The Portugal News that one of his attackers also had “ginger hair – as if he had tried to bleach it but it went wrong.”

Albufeira Councillor for Security, Ana Pífaro, said the Town Hall had not been informed of a 'suspicious group' in the area.

However, he added that the Portuguese Republican National Guard (GNR) did not 'transmit this type of information, as the matter is being investigated and any leak of information can damage the successful resolution of cases.'

GNR spokesperson Colonel Sequeira confirmed that an investigation was being carried out into the attack on Mr Haggath and said that it was possible that the same gang were responsible for both attacks.

two pot-holers have found a skeleton in a cave in the Serranía de Ronda.

It is understood the human remains which were discovered in a 3 meter deep pit may have been there for at least 10 years and that a bullet shell was found nearby indicating the a violent death may have occurred.

It is reported that following the discovery in area known as Puerto del Viento the remains were sent for forensic analyses and an investigation has been launched to identify the remains

15 British tourists arrested in Valencia for causing thousands of Euros of damage to their hotel

group of 15 British tourists have been arrested in Valencia for causing at least € 13,000 of damage to their hotel. Their ages range from 21 to 36.

National Police said in a press release on Thursday that officers were called out to the hotel in the city’s maritime district on Wednesday afternoon, to investigate what is described by Europa Press as a ‘riot’ on the fourth floor. The group of British holidaymakers had only checked in that morning and are reported to have been drinking ever since they arrived.

Police were met with a dense cloud when they reached the scene from the spray the holidaymakers had discharged from the fire extinguishers which were now lying spent on the floor.

It’s understood repairs to the carpets alone will cost more than € 13,000. There was also damage to furniture and to the pool area.

 

Police in Spain have accused the Brits of running one of Europe's biggest "boiler room" scams which offered to sell people non-existent shares in fake companies

Police in Spain have accused the Brits of running one of Europe's biggest "boiler room" scams which offered to sell people non-existent shares in fake companies.
Dyno Medical, Inca Pacific Gold and Mining and Viking Gold Resources were the names of some of the companies used by the gang.
Police have asked for any potential victims to come forward.
The men, aged between 22 and 41, were arrested in their suspected headquarters in Palma, Mallorca, in an armed raid by Spanish and British authorities.
Some of the younger members of the gang were believed to have been lured into the operation by crime bosses who targeted them in English-speaking bars.

Police say the group were living a 'life of luxury' in Spain
Detectives said the group were living "lives of luxury in the sun" on the proceeds from the scam.
Detective Superintendent Bob Wishart, from the City of London police, said it was a "major result" in the fight against boiler room scams, which are estimated to cost the UK about £200m a year.
"It is the first time in Spain that authorities believe they have dismantled an operation of this scale in its entirety," he added.
He said the suspects were talking on phones as the raids took place:

FIFTEEN suspected British fraudsters were behind bars last night after armed cops raided a £50million shares racket in Spain.

More than 2,000 elderly Brits, up to 90 years old, fell victim to the cruel scam. A team of smooth-talking phone salesmen based in Majorca persuaded them to buy worthless shares and bonds.

One investor lost more than £1million and losses above £200,000 were not uncommon.

Detectives from the City of London Police and Spanish cops targeted the crooks in Operation Dark Cross - one of the biggest ever UK probes of its kind.

More than 100 Spanish cops stormed into the conmen's nerve-centre - a five-room first floor complex in Palma.

A burly guard offered no resistance and suspects were ordered at gunpoint to lie on the floor.

All are thought to have links to organised crime and now face trial in Spain. A client list running to 600 pages and a 50-page fraudsters' instruction book were seized.

It is understood the salesmen were offered £5,000 Rolex watches as rewards for success.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Clarke said: "The men behind this are nothing but unscrupulous cowards."

POLICE arrested 10 people in Roquetas de Mar for their involvement in a network which sexually exploited Nigerian women in Almeria Province

. The investigation discovered that the organisation had brought women from Nigeria to Spain illegally, forcing them into prostitution and threatening them and their relatives with voodoo rituals and kidnapping if they failed to comply.

All the members of the organisation were also Nigerians and had created an association called ‘Nigerian Progressive Women’s Movement’ to attract their victims, as well as having requested grants from the Junta de Andalucia which were refused.

The women were taken to Morocco via other countries, sometimes taking several months, then the leaders of the network would pay for them to be brought to Spain by boat.

Once here, they were taken to a house in the Yegua Verde areas, where they were abused and their passports taken from them.

Two arrested in Barcelona for kidnapping and extorting money from three Britons

There was news on Tuesday that two people were arrested in Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, on a warrant issued by the authorities in France, shortly before they were due to board a plane for the UK. They were wanted for kidnapping, extortion and bodily harm in connection with three British nationals who were held captive for two days in Albi, in southern France.

Europa Press reports that the suspects met their three victims at the beginning of April and held them prisoner and physically assaulted them until the group gave up the PIN numbers for their credit cards. The kidnappers then used the money to flee to Spain and had been hiding out in a hostel in L’Estartit, Girona province, until they were arrested by the National Police.

It’s understood that they are to be brought before the National Court for extradition.

 

British man arrested for stabbing another Briton in Torremolinos

National Police has arrested a 48 year old British man, named with the initials P.D., for allegedly attacking another British man with a knife. He accused the other man of having sex with his wife.

The incident happened on May 17 when a passerby called 091 to say that there was a man bleeding by a bus stop in the town.
On their arrival they found a 32 year old British man semi-conscious who had a deep stab wound. He was rushed to the local health centre and then to a Málaga hospital.

Given the serious nature of his injury the case was given to the Homicides Group of the Torremolinos Police Station, and within ten hours of the attack they made their arrest, a waiter who worked in a bar frequented by the victim.

It seems the attack happened at the victim’s home after the accused turned up accusing him of having an affair with his wife.
The accused will appear in court shortly, while the victim remains in hospital.

 

‘Rip Deal’ con, in which they pretended to be foreign businessmen interested in a currency exchange where they would hand over fake cash.

National Police in Spain have made 29 arrests in the breaking up of a Serbian gang of thieves responsible for over 100 frauds and burglaries. The gang would often use the ‘Rip Deal’ con, in which they pretended to be foreign businessmen interested in a currency exchange where they would hand over fake cash.

The 29 arrested acted in four different groups right across Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. A jeweller arrested among the group is thought to have passed on the stolen property.
The investigation is being carried out by the judge in Instruction Court 2 in Denia and started looking at cases in Alicante province. But it soon emerged that the gang was operating over a much wider area.

The first Spanish group was based in Orihuela and worked across the provinces of Sevilla, Granada and Córdoba, while a second group based in Hondarribia in Guipúzcoa extended their activities to the south of France as well as in Navarra and the Basque Country.
A third group in Castellón travelled to Tarragona, Valencia, Murcia. Alicante and Albacete, and a fourth group operated in Portugal.

The arrests were made in March and April and three searches were carried out which resulted in more than 4 kilos of jewellery, two gold ingots weighing 600g each one, and 70,000 € in cash in addition to the false money to carry out the frauds.

BRITISH tourist was raped in her Spanish hotel bed after she and her husband were gassed unconscious,

BRITISH tourist was raped in her Spanish hotel bed after she and her husband were gassed unconscious, he claimed yesterday.
The 56-year-old mum of two is said to have been attacked as her partner, 55, lay sleeping next to her.

He said he woke as she screamed his name after they were "knocked out" by a mystery gas pumped into their room by the sex beast.

The husband said: "We had one of five rooms on the roof of the hotel. The balcony meant people in neighbouring rooms could gain access from theirs to our area.

"I think he somehow gassed us and then came in. My wife woke me screaming my name at around 4am and I realised someone was in the room with us. My wife said he'd raped her. She said she felt it happening to her.

"She had been wearing underwear when she went to bed and this animal removed it.

"He managed to get out of the front door and I think he was naked when he ran out. It was dark and I just saw a shadow. He also stole a lot of money from us."

The couple, from Greater Manchester, were nearing the end of their holiday at the three-star Siroco Hotel in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol when the attack happened early on Monday.

They were moved to a new room as investigations were carried out, but were so terrified they barricaded themselves in with a wardrobe and a chair.

The woman was treated by medics in Spain but now faces the trauma of an HIV test back home in Britain.

The husband said: "This has ruined our lives. We both could have been killed. My wife is absolutely petrified."

A police spokesman in Malaga province said: "We can confirm we are investigating an allegation of rape in a hotel room in Benalmadena over the weekend.

"A British woman said she was raped in her hotel bed. No arrests have been made at this point. The investigation is ongoing and we cannot give more details at this stage."

A Foreign Office report in 2008 found Spain and Greece had the most reported rape incidents involving British victims - 29 and 28 respectively.

Seven British citizens were among 26 people arrested in Spain as part of a police investigation into a large organised doping ring,

Seven British citizens were among 26 people arrested in Spain as part of a police investigation into a large organised doping ring, it was announced on Monday.
The director of a cycling team containing 'former world and european champions' was also arrested as part of the investigation. 
During raids in Madrid, Andalusia and elsewhere in Spain, police recovered 700,000 doses of banned performance-enhancing substances including human growth hormone (HGH) and erythropoietin (EPO).
An extensive laboratory was discovered where human growth hormone and drugs to treat erectile dysfunction were being processed for sale via the internet.
In an official statement, Spanish police described the ring as the "largest international organisation acting in Spain for the illegal trafficking of drugs, growth hormone and doping substances".

Beheading accused 'hated humans'

The man who allegedly beheaded a British woman in a supermarket on a Spanish resort island was obsessed with the film Predator and had alien symbols tattooed on his arm.

Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, a 28-year-old Bulgarian would tell his friends how he enjoyed the way the alien characters in the science fiction film tracked down their human prey and removed their heads, the Daily Mail reports.

Sixty-year-old Jennifer Mills-Westley, originally from Hellesdon, was killed in Los Cristianos, a town on the resort island of Tenerife, on Friday in a random attack.

Mr Deyanov allegedly followed the retired grandmother through the streets of Tenerife before stabbing her 14 times and decapitating her in a supermarket.

He is then accused of running down the street holding her head in his hands before he was wrestled to the ground.

Read more: Beheading accused sought big knife to kill

A friend told the Daily Mirror newspaper Mr Deyanov "enjoyed the way the Predators hunted and beheaded their victims" and was "always showing his tattoo off".

The accused has even made a video — filmed four years ago while he smoked marijuana — in which he talks about his dislike of humans.

According to locals, Mr Deyanov would walk around the tourist town shouting he had been "sent by God to carry out his justice on earth".

The newspaper reported that Mr Deyanov was the son of a millionaire whose life was ravaged by cocaine, heroin and cannabis.

His drug abuse also caused the breakdown of his relationship with the mother of his three-year-old daughter.

Mr Deyanov had a history of mental illness and was known in the holiday resort for his psychiatric problems, and had allegedly carried out random attacks on strangers.

Mr Deyanov was arrested three times in the months leading to the beheading, the Scottish Sun reports.

In January this year, he was arrested for allegedly attacking a security guard, who had to receive 14 stitches and left with three missing teeth after he was hit in the mouth with a rock. He was then arrested for allegedly punching a man walking a dog, and for allegedly breaking a bank window.

The security guard, 45-year-old Fermin Suarez Perez described the accused as "a timebomb waiting to go off" and said it was "unbelievable they let him out."

A warrant for the arrest of Mr Deyanov was issued just three days before the fatal attack on Mrs Mills-Westley.

Mr Deyanov is currently in prison awaiting psychiatric evaluation.

Jamie Dempsey, 33, of Essex, who allegedly conspired to supply 299 kilos of cocaine, was held during a raid on a property in Marbella.

A man suspected of being behind an £80m cocaine empire has been arrested in Spain after an international hunt.

Jamie Dempsey, 33, of Essex, had been wanted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) since spring 2009.

Mr Dempsey, who allegedly conspired to supply 299 kilos of cocaine, was held during a raid on a property in Marbella.

His arrest comes after police released the details of 10 suspected criminals hiding out on the "Costa del Crime".

Dave Cording, of Crimestoppers, said: "This is another great result which means that now 50% of the most recent batch of wanted individuals have been arrested."

Appeal rejected for British couple found guilty of killing their baby in Torrevieja

A British couple found guilty last year of killing their two month old daughter in Torrevieja have had their sentences confirmed by the Valencia High Court.

Lucía Waller, the daughter of Caria Marie Devlin and Darryl Waller, died on March 17 2008 as a result of two fractures in her skull from an accidental fall. The original guilty ruling from the Alicante provincial court considered that the child had been beaten by her parents over at least the previous two weeks and was extremely undernourished.

The Levante newspaper reports that neither parent took their daughter to a doctor after the fall, despite ‘knowing that she would probably die’.

They were each sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison, which has now been confirmed by the Valencia High Court.

 

Spanish police arrest 26 in steroids and growth hormone bust

The National Police released news on Monday of a successful operation against a major international network which trafficked in illegal medicaments. The network illegally distributed anabolic steroids, growth hormones and other substances and is described as the largest international organisation known to the police to date.

It’s understood that 26 people have been arrested in Madrid, Andalucía and the Levante area of Spain and more than 700,000 doses of illegal substances have been seized.

Officers have also confiscated 10,000 ampoules of growth hormone.

 

Deyan Deyanov was released from a BRITISH psychiatric hospital before he went on to kill, it was claimed yesterday.

Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, a 28-year-old Bulgarian, asked the store owner in Tenerife for a large knife and was caught on security camera spreading his arms to demonstrate the size he required.

When asked what he needed it for he said "I'm going to kill someone", and drew a finger across his throat.

The shopkeeper, who said he recognised the man as a vagrant who slept in a derelict building nearby, refused his request and threw him out of the shop.

Within half an hour, Deyanov had entered another supermarket where he encountered Jennifer Mills-Westley, grabbed a knife from the shelf and cut off her head in a random attack.

He had confronted her earlier in the day forcing her to seek refuge in a social security office but he followed her into the shop. Locals said Deyanov had become increasingly aggressive in recent weeks after splitting up with his girlfriend.

Relatives of the Bulgarian said he had been detained in the UK while visiting an aunt here.

And they blamed British authorities for letting him out, after which he returned to living in Tenerife.

A cousin told The Sun the drug-using killer had come to see relatives here just before Christmas.

The cousin, who lives in England, said: "His dad in Bulgaria has washed his hands of him so he came here.

"The family had problems with him, he was asking for money and looked scruffy. He was talking nonsense and said he was the son of God and things from the Bible."

Deyanov's behaviour got worse and his worried aunt phoned police.

The cousin went on: "They sectioned him and took him to a psychiatric unit in Cheshire. They only kept him there for a month.

"I think the hospital should have kept him longer and treated him. If they hadn't released him this would not have happened."

Police and NHS officials in Cheshire refused to comment.

Comments posted on Facebook claimed Deyanov had only just been released from a "nut house" in Tenerife and "lost the plot".

Security officials in Tenerife said they had been powerless to kick him out because he was an EU citizen.

informant had alerted cops that the silver 1957/58 Pininfarina Series 1 Cabriolet - which bore the unique vehicle identification number 0799GT - had been reported stolen in Spain in 1993.

The case of a Wall Street scion's suspect sports car is revving up again.

In 2008, Connecticut State Police went to the Sharon estate of Paul (Barney) Hallingby to seize a rare vintage Ferrari registered to him.

An informant had alerted cops that the silver 1957/58 Pininfarina Series 1 Cabriolet - which bore the unique vehicle identification number 0799GT - had been reported stolen in Spain in 1993.

At the time, Nutmeg State law enforcement officials reportedly said the Ferrari, which entered the U.S. via New Jersey, had been involved in "multiple paper sales and transactions" before Hallingby - the car-collecting son of late investment banker Paul Hallingby Jr. - bought it for $550,000 in 2000.

Hallingby, 64, who also lives on the upper East Side, was never charged with a crime, and in fall 2009, the Ferrari was returned to him after the Connecticut state's attorney for Litchfield County decided not to prosecute.

In a deposition, the detective who investigated the case, Richard Van Tine, testified that the state's attorney told him "He believed there was probable cause to arrest but . . . the budget being what it is, he didn't want to expend state resources prosecuting a property crime."

The story still has gas, however. Now the lawyer for two publications devoted to Ferrari collectors wants to take a close look under the hood of Hallingby's purchase in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Hallingby sued the publishers of Ferrari Market Letter and Cavallino magazine, claiming they defamed him in 2008 when they published ads placed by the attorney for the original Swiss owner of the vehicle that declared the vehicle "Stolen."

Hallingby, who denies any theft, contends the ads led to his legal troubles, besmirched his name among Ferrari collectors and made his car, which could fetch in excess of $2 million today, "unsalable."

The publishers' attorney Howard J. Kaplan responds that his clients "did what they always do, publish important information concerning a rare Ferrari," in the form of an advertisement. Placed by the car's claimed owner.

Kaplan, a partner in the firm Arkin Kaplan Rice, called Hallingby's suit a "baseless" attempt "to bully my clients into publishing a retraction."

He adds: "We believe the evidence at trial will unquestionably show that this Ferrari was indeed stolen" and "the issue will be whether Hallingby knew."

A brief filed by Kaplan cites evidence that the Ferrari "was listed on Interpol's list of stolen vehicles" when Hallingby bought it, and that he "knew that a Swiss national had a claim on the title of the car."

Kaplan also asserts in the brief that the evidence shows "Hallingby did not register the car for seven years" after buying it, and "used license plates registered to another of his cars" when he showed it.

Hallingby's attorney Deborah Drooz did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, 28, was taken before a legal team on the Spanish island at around 1am on Sunday and taken to a psychiatric unit.

Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, 28, was taken before a legal team on the Spanish island at around 1am on Sunday and taken to a psychiatric unit.
Spanish sources said he was unlikely to face another hearing for at least four years.
British expatriate locals who lived near where the homeless Bulgarian slept rough said he had become increasingly aggressive in recent weeks and had split up with his girlfriend recently.
One man, who gave his name as Mike, said Deyanov had been shouting abuse at passers-by until four in the morning and had even flicked lighted cigarettes at female holidaymakers.
"Everyone had started to avoid him," he said.

British timeshare crook has been sentenced in Spain for fleecing holidaymakers in a £9million fraud.

Costa del Sol-based Toni Muldoon, 64, was one of ten defendants given suspended sentences of up to two years by a judge in Malaga on condition they repay £438,000 in two years.

Muldoon’s wife Kim and six other members of the gang missed the hearing and warrants have been issued for their arrest. She is believed to be in Turkey.

Muldoon was among six defendants who pleaded guilty to fraud.


Gang leader: Toni Muldoon admitted swindling hundreds of Britons

The other four admitted charges of illicit association.
The fraud was run from the resort of Fuengirola from 2001 to 2006.

Britons seeking to offload overpriced timeshares were told a buyer was interested and offered an good rate by telesales staff from companies including Screenit and Platinum Properties.

 

An upfront fee of about £1,200 was demanded in sale fees and the money was never seen again.

A follow-up fraud saw victims offered ‘legal assistance’ for £250 to get their money back.

Spanish police have detained a 40-year-old Russian crime boss Dmitry Belkin, aka Belok,

Spanish police have detained a 40-year-old Russian crime boss Dmitry Belkin, aka Belok, Russian Metro reports.
Belkin has been declared for search in 1998, while over the last ten years he has been wanted by Interpol. The Russian is suspected of being involved in 50 murders and assaults.
Belklin was arrested on April 30 at a hotel in Madrid. Over the last years he has been changing his whereabouts and passports constantly. Belkin has arrived in Spain with a Bulgarian passport and used to live in a luxurious villa.

The Foreign Office is helping the family of a woman who was beheaded in a shop on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Spanish media said a 28-year-old homeless Bulgarian man had been arrested in the town of Los Cristianos.

Witnesses said a man entered a Chinese supermarket in a shopping centre and stabbed then beheaded the 62-year-old woman. He is said to have dropped the head outside before being tackled.

A local official said the man appeared to choose his victim at random.

Witnesses said the man entered the Chinese supermarket in Valdes Shopping Centre and attacked the woman without saying a word.

"Apparently this gentleman without any motive or any reason... entered the shop and then cut this woman's neck and took the head in his hand outside," said local councillor Manuel Reveron.

A security guard then managed to wrestle the man to the ground, he said.

"I parked my car and saw a man running out with something bloody in his hands and a security guard chasing him," one witness was quoted as telling local radio.

"He threw it to the ground, it almost hit me and what he had been carrying was a woman's head."

'Not normal'
In a video posted on YouTube, Colin Kirby of Tenerifemagazine.com said security guards held down the suspect until the police arrived.

"The security and the police had to hold people off - they were queuing up - they were trying basically to kick the hell out of the guy," he said.

Christina Perez, a legal representative at a nearby court, said she and her colleagues ran indoors for safety.

"Everybody is shocked. It's a very safe area. You can usually go anywhere you want in the day or at night. This is really not normal."

Police sources told Spanish media the suspect had a police record.

Dominica Fernandez, of the Regional Interior Ministry, said the attack appeared to be random and that the suspect was well known in the area.

Regional newspaper La Opinion said the suspect had received treatment at the psychiatric unit of a local hospital in February after being involved in previous violent incidents.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are in touch with the next of kin and are providing consular assistance.

"Consular officials in Tenerife are in contact with local authorities about this tragic incident and our condolences go out to the family at this difficult time."

British woman beheaded in busy Tenerife supermarket

A British woman has been beheaded in a supermarket on the Spanish resort island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spanish authorities have announced.man known to be a local vagrant has walked into a shop in a commercial centre in Los Cristianos, Tenerife and decapitated a British customer in her 60’s. It appears the man entered the Chinese supermarket and chose his victim by chance.

The Mayor of Arona, José Alberto González Reverón, said the closed circuit recording of the shop showed that the man did not speak at all to his victim, and after picking up a large knife, decapitated her.

The Councillor for Safety from Arona Town Hall, Manuel Reverón, has said that witnesses report that the man cut off the head of the British woman, and walked out of the shop at 1025am on Friday in Avenida Juan Carlos I, with her head in his hand.

The agressor was caught and held down by members of the public when he slipped and fell on the pavement outside. The head fell to the pavement and was quickly covered with a sheet. The public managed to hold him down until the police arrived and made an arrest.
National and local police rushed to the scene with two ambulances from the Canaries Emergency Services.

The man, a 28 year old named as Deyan Valentinov D. has been arrested and has found out to be Bulgarian. Reports indicate that he has been under psychiatric treatment, at the La Candelaria Hospital following previous violent episodes, and that he was allowed home after that treatment was considered to have been completed last February. He is known to have been living in a semi-abandoned property, and was known by locals for often shouting aloud that he was ‘God on earth’.The security guards chased him and threw him to the floor and overpowered him
Officials in Tenerife identified the victim as a 62-year-old British woman.
The suspect, believed to be a 28-year-old homeless Bulgarian man with a police record, reportedly grabbed a knife from the supermarket shelves and attacked the unarmed woman without saying a word.
He was detained by security guards after he ran out of the supermarket in a shopping centre in the resort town of Arona with the head in his hands.
Security staff chased the man and rugby tackled him. The events took place shortly after 10am (0900 GMT).
Manuel Reveron, a local a councillor said: "Apparently this gentleman without any motive or any reason, although for this there is no reasoning, entered the shop and then cut this woman's neck and took the head in his hand outside up to the sidewalk."
An expatriate Briton, Colin Kirby, said: “I thought someone had fainted or something and walked on, then I heard screaming and looked behind and saw a scruffy, unkempt man of about mid 20s holding a head by the hair,” he said.
“It had blood on it and I thought at first it was a sick joke stunt, the man was muttering and shouting and more people started screaming as I quickened my pace.”
Another witness told broadcaster Cadena Ser that he saw the man drop a bloodstained woman's head on the pavement after coming out of the shop.
"I was parking my car outside the supermarket and I saw this man running out with something bloody in his hands," the witness said.
"It was a head. He had it in his hands. The security guards chased him and threw him to the floor and overpowered him."
The victim, who has not yet been identified, was working at the mini-market.
Dominica Fernandez, a government official, said the suspect had "chosen his victim by chance".
The suspect was reportedly discharged from a hospital in February having received treatment for violent behaviour.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of reports of the death of a British national in Tenerife and are urgently investigating."

British woman implicated in phishing case in Spain

young British woman, named as Catherine M. who is living in Granada, was in court in Vigo on Monday via videoconference. The prosecutor is calling for a two year prison sentence for the woman, claiming she was used as an intermediary in an Internet phishing operation, which saw 2,835 € defrauded from a retired couple from Vigo being sent on to Russia.

Catherine M admitted sending the money to an account in Russia via Western Union, but claimed that she too was a victim, as she was unaware she was taking part in a fraud. She thought she was acting legally as she had obtained a contract by email which paid her a percentage for the money she forwarded.

Her defence lawyer asked the court to consider her immediate repentance when she realised what had happened, as well as her total cooperation with the Police.

Faro de Vigo newspaper reports that the retired couple explained they had never accessed their bank account via internet, as they did not have internet at home, and neither did they have any access codes. They had noticed the missing 2,835 € from their account in October 2007.

The prosecutor keeps the charge that the British woman was part of an international phishing operation and denies that she could have acted in good faith.

 

Spanish police smash drugs gang which smuggled cocaine to the UK

Ten people have been arrested in a National Police operation which has uncovered a gang of drug smugglers which sent consignments of cocaine from Spain to the UK hidden in the false bottoms of heavy goods vehicles carrying bona fide merchandise.

A lorry which was found in a warehouse used by the network to prepare the consignments to be sent to the UK was found to be carrying 32 kilos of cocaine amongst its cargo.

It’s understood that some of the drugs were distributed to regular clients in Barcelona and Ibiza.

The gang leader was arrested on Ibiza, where he had invested proceeds from the sale of the drugs in property on the island. The Interior Ministry said in a statement released on Tuesday that he also had plans to set up businesses there in luxury tourism.

The other gang members were arrested in Barcelona. None of the 10 suspects have been named in reports, nor have their nationalities been released.

Police also seized as part of the operation 65,000 pounds 71,500 € in cash and four firearms.

 

Suspect gets 25 years for death of British man in Benalmádena

Francisco C.J. has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the death of a British man in Benalmádena two years ago. The victim, Frederick S., was robbed and beaten by the accused and left lying unconscious in his home, which was set alight by his assailant as he fled.

La Opinión de Málaga reports that the robber had followed him home from a local bar and knocked the British man unconscious by hitting him on the head with a portable stereo. Francisco C.J. ransacked the flat in his search for valuables, but left with nothing more than two mobile phones and some British currency after setting fires in two separate points in the flat.

The victim was rescued alive, but died in hospital three weeks later.

 

Two teenage burglars convicted of stabbing a 71-year-old father-of-five to death with a screwdriver in his holiday villa could be released in just three years.

Businessman Peter Cockshutt was held down and stabbed with a knife and screwdriver twice in the chest and once in the leg at the villa in Costa Del Silencio, Tenerife, in February last year.

A Spanish court ruled his death was the result of a botched burglary at the villa by two youths aged 16 and 14.


Killed: Peter Cockshutt, pictured with wife Patricia, was stabbed in the chest and leg with a knife and screwdriver during a bungled burglary at their villa in Tenerife

The court heard they planned the raid using Microsoft Instant Messenger before picking Mr Cockshutt's villa for the attack.

After the raid, the pair used a camera they had stolen to take pictures of themselves and their friends.

Mr Cockshutt's wife Patricia had left for their home in Hull, East Yorkshire, the day before to arrange for their return after six months on the island.

The boys now face a maximum sentence of eight years, but could be released after serving just over three in a young offenders' institution.

The judge will take up to two weeks to decide what sentence to hand out, although they are likely to get the maximum term.

But with 18 months already served on remand and three of those eight years on licence, the teenagers could be freed within three and a half years.


Botched: Mrs Cockshutt had just returned to their home in Hull after spending six months on the Spanish island when her husband was killed

Both teenagers, from South America, were charged with murder days after the robbery.

Although they admitted killing Mr Cockshutt, they were convicted of murder after a two-day trial at Palacia de Justicia in Santa Cruz.

Mr Cockshutt's daughter Anne Cole, 44, said she thought they would offend again when they were released.

She said: 'These children look like thugs and they are thugs. They lied and showed no remorse.

'They were given the chance to speak but they hardly said a word. Even now, we don't exactly know why they did it.

'I have no qualms in saying they will do something like this again. Even our lawyer believes they will.

'It is sad to think another family could suffer in the way we have.'

The Cockshutt family faced the killers for the first time during this week's trial.

Wife Patricia said there is no way she can forgive his killers after they showed little sign of remorse.

She said: 'It was the first time we had set eyes on them. The older one apologised but the younger one said only one word in Spanish. I don't know if it was sorry or not.

'We didn't see them show any remorse during the trial. It's hard to describe how I feel.

'We heard that they decided beforehand to break in somewhere using MSN(instant messaging).

'They even took pictures of their mates on the camera they stole from Peter.'

Patricia had travelled back and forth to Tenerife five times since her husband was killed to meet lawyers.

The trial had been due to take place in March but was delayed so blood samples could be examined.

Mr Cockshutt, a retired electrician, had lived in east Hull with his wife and five children for most of his life.

The couple moved to Brandesburton, near Hornsea, two years ago.

He had a successful career as an electrician, travelling all over the world. After he retired, they began to spend up to six months of the year in Tenerife.

The couple celebrated their golden wedding four years ago with a world cruise.

Drunk driver aquitted because of the skill in which he fled police

The Murcia Provincial Court has described a year's ban imposed by a lower court as 'absurd'.Photo EFE


A drunk driver has been acquitted in Spain because of the skill in which he fled the police.

It happened in Murcia on April 8 where the driver jumped an alcohol control, driving off, jumping red lights, and skidding on the curves but he did so ‘driving skilfully at speed’. When he was finally caught he gave a level of 0.45 grams of alcohol per litre of blood.

The legal level in Spain is 0.25 grams, and above 0.60 grams is considered a crime.

The magistrates in the third section of the Murcia Provincial Court have overturned an earlier sentence from the Penal Court 1 in Murcia, which had been for a year’s driving ban, a 1,080 € fine, and 33 days community work.

The judges in the higher court considered that sentence was ‘absurd’ because it makes no sense that if he was drunk, how was he capable of controlling a vehicle at great speed and even making handbrake turns?

 

SPANISH police say Robert Dawes, 39, from Sutton-in-Ashfield extradited from Dubai was the head of a major English drug trafficking organisation.

Robert Dawes, 39, from Sutton-in-Ashfield, is alleged to have run a criminal gang which flooded Britain with millions of pounds worth of cocaine, heroin and cannabis. He is now being held in Spain pending prosecution in the next few months in Madrid.

In a statement released this week, the Spanish Civil Guard says Dawes is alleged to have used Spain as a "springboard for trafficking drugs to several European countries", mostly Britain. They describe him as "the boss of an important English drug trafficking organisation".

Dawes was targeted in a joint operation between the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the Spanish Civil Guard's elite Central Operative Unit, in Madrid, and Belgian police.


The Civil Guard said he was one of 22 people arrested in four countries as part of the operation. Nine were held in the UK, eight in Spain, four in Belgium and one in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The statement says that, as a result of the operation, officers seized millions of pounds worth of drugs, including 5.7 tons of cannabis resin, 100 kilos of heroin and 210 kilos of cocaine. They also recovered four firearms, property worth £5.4 million and £90,000 in cash.

Dawes was extradited from Dubai to Spain two weeks ago after completing a jail sentence for money-laundering.

The Civil Guard say they believe he continued to run his drug-smuggling operation from his prison cell in the United Arab Emirates despite being jailed in 2008.

They began investigating the gang in 2006 and discovered that Dawes was the alleged boss in 2007, during a police operation codenamed Halbert.

Dawes, who lived on the Mijas Costa in southern Spain, fled to the UAE after police arrested several of his alleged associates.

Spanish police passed information on to their counterparts in the UAE and he was arrested there in June 2008 for money-laundering.

He was re-arrested on an international warrant in Dubai last month after serving his sentence. He was flown to Madrid, where he was remanded in custody by an investigating magistrate.

He remains there awaiting his next court hearing.

Dawes has previously been named in British court papers 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 2002 murder of teacher Gerard Meesters, shot outside his home in Groningen.

British police are also said to want to interview him about the unsolved murder of father-of-two David Draycott, who was shot at his home in Sutton-in-Ashfield in 2002.

Last month, three Britons were jailed for almost 25 years at a court in Madrid after police seized £22 million worth of cocaine which Dawes had allegedly arranged to be transported from Spain to the UK.

12-YEAR-OLD girl is the main suspect in the death of a six-year-old boy in Granada

12-YEAR-OLD girl is the main suspect in the death of a six-year-old boy in Granada. She has admitted to the police that she was involved in his death, although it is not known if she is covering for her parents, nor whether it was a tragic accident or a deliberate action.

The victim, named Alejandro, was apparently sleeping when the girl came to look for him at his home, which is in the same apartment block, and told him that she would give him a toy car if he went with her. Half an hour later, she was down in the street playing with other children.

At nightfall, Alejandro’s father began to get worried because the youngest of his five children hadn’t returned home, and one of his daughters told him the little boy had gone with their neighbours’ daughter. The suspect was asked where the little boy was and said she didn’t know, and took part in the search.

According to witnesses, when they visited her home, her mother was extremely nervous and said that her daughter “was going to be the end” of her. When the girl attempted to speak, she was allegedly smacked in the face by her mother. The family and the police searched the house for the boy, but found nothing.

At 1.30am the following morning, the National Police found his body on some wasteland behind the apartment block under the window of the flat where the 12-year-old lives with her parents, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the crime, but have since been released with charges. Her father attempted to escape from the police. He has a criminal record for attempted murder and had been in prison. Her mother also has a record for robbery, is a drug addict and works as a prostitute.

An autopsy determined that the boy died from brain trauma and an internal haemorrhage caused by the fall, as well as the fact that he was alive before he hit the ground. His mother didn’t find out about his disappearance until his body was found as she was away taking care of her infirm mother.

The girl has been taken to a protection centre outside of Granada as in Spain, children under 14 cannot be arrested, charged or tried.

She had been in the care of the Junta de Andalucia since 2008, but when her parents moved house a few months back to the Molino Nuevo area of Granada where they currently live, she escaped to be with them. Police who came to the area to take her back were unable to find her.

Spain and Portugal are still Europe’s main door for cocaine

Spain and Portugal are still Europe’s main door for cocaine, while Latin America continues to be one of its major sources, reveals the EU’s annual report on organized crime for 2011 disclosed today.

“A remarkable increase in cocaine traffic has been registered in the last year through Mexico towards Spain and Portugal," says the study, which stresses the dominant role by Mexican cartels within the drug market in all of the Americas.

It also notes the increasing participation in cocaine trafficking by criminals from the Dominican Republic. “The role of Dominican intermediaries would be leading to an increase in the violence between drug mafias which try to illicitly deal cocaine in Europe.”

The report notes that those groups are well entrenched in the Iberian Peninsula as well as in the Canary Islands.

It said in global terms, the Colombia-Galicia route continues as the most traveled by the drug mafias that want to take drugs from Latin America to Europe. “The Colombian criminal groups continue representing a key role in the cocaine supply for the European dealers," the text says, and also cites Italy’s Calabria Mafia (Ndrangheta).

Europol adds that the profits from drugs to the EU serve to finance activities by Colombia’s FARC guerillas.

arrested 40 people in Naples who were accused of trafficking drugs between Italy and Spain

Eighty Mafiosi from two prominent crime syndicates have been arrested in separate operations, Italian prosecutors say.

Forty were arrested for association with the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate in Calabria, southern Italy. They included the mayor of the town of Marina di Gioiosa and three of his advisers, said anti-Mafia investigator Renato Cortese.

Officials also arrested 40 people in Naples who were accused of trafficking drugs between Italy and Spain. Officials said the suspects have ties to the Camorra crime syndicate.

Prestwich pub landlord at heart of £3.5m cocaine smuggling operation

A pub landlord and property developer who ran a £3.5m cocaine smuggling operation has been locked up for 20 years.

David Watson, 54, who owns The Plough on Rainsough Brow, Prestwich, used his light aircraft to have the drugs flown in from France.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Watson was ‘in control of the operation’ – although the actual smuggling took place while he was in the US.

Sentencing him for conspiring to smuggle class A drugs, following a seven-week trial, Judge William George said: "You were always in the background controlling matters at a distance."

The 14kg of cocaine were smuggled into Anglesey from Le Touquet in northern France in July 2009 in a single-seater four-engine plane owned by Watson.

The court heard that Watson had a ‘net worth’ of £980,000 thanks to a significant portfolio of property he had built up over the past 30 years.

Kevin Slack, prosecuting, said: "To use the analogy of a business... David Watson was the managing director." He said Watson’s motive was ‘greed’.

Officers from North Wales Police met the aircraft when it touched down at Mona airfield, and found the drugs during a search of the plane.

Three other men pleaded guilty to being part of Watson’s gang – their connections came to light after UK Border Agency investigators seized a mobile phone and found coded text messages appearing to relate to a drugs deal.

The drugs were picked up in France by former soldier Matthew Lockwood, 29, of Leach Mews, Prestwich, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle class A drugs.

Sentencing hearing for Lockwood, a telecoms engineer, was adjourned until June 13.

Michael Cahillane, 45, of Stanley Road, Stockport, pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle class A drugs and was sentenced to 16 years.

The court heard he was an ‘organiser’ and helped to set up meetings between Watson’s organised crime group and an unidentified drug dealer in Spain. He was also sentenced to three months for possession of a stun gun.

Richard McArthur, 45, from Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, delivered the drugs to Lockwood when the plane touched down in France.

The court accepted his claim that he did not know the package contained cocaine, and thought he was involved in smuggling cannabis.

McArthur was sentenced to a total of six years in jail after he also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of trying to smuggle cannabis in a car through the Channel Tunnel in May 2010.

Judge George said the courts were ‘reminded every day’ of the consequences of the ‘evil trade’ of drug dealing.

He said: "Your offences hit at the fabric of our society."

Jim Jarvie, of the UK Border Agency’s Crime Directorate, said it had been a ‘significant smuggling operation’.

He said: "They clearly thought that arriving at a small airfield would ensure they were able to bypass law enforcement controls. This was not the case.

"The cocaine was destined for the north west of England. Together with the police, the UK Border Agency has made sure that these drugs have not reached the streets."

The Crown Prosecution Service said it is now looking to confiscate the assets of those involved.

 

Romanian couple arrested in Alcantarilla for trying to sell their daughter

Romanian couple have been arrested in Alcantarilla for trying to sell their five month old baby to passersby. Police released the news this Wednesday and said they had asked the woman who reported the incident to pay the sum of 5,000 € for the child.

It happened on the main street in Alcantarilla on April 28, where La Opinión de Murcia reports the Romanian couple approached at least four women trying to sell them their baby, offering to leave them with a contact phone number in case they changed their minds.

Police at first suspected that the child may not have not been theirs, but later confirmed that she was their daughter. The couple are understood to have another four children who all live with them at their home in Alcantarilla.

Their daughter is now in the care of a children’s shelter in Murcia City.

 

massive haul of two tons of cocaine in a Civil Guard operation which has smashed an international drugs gang and arrested 34 people from five countries

The Interior Ministry has announced a massive haul of two tons of cocaine in a Civil Guard operation which has smashed an international drugs gang and arrested 34 people from five countries.

Their nationalities are given as 27 Spaniards, 4 Colombians, an Italian, a Dutch national, and a final suspect from Britain. Two of the arrests were made in Morocco, while the rest were in Spain. 101 properties with a total value of more than 3 million € have been embargoed, and 39 vehicles, 500 mobile phone cards, 15 computers, 14 hard discs, and 35,000 € in cash have been seized.

It’s understood that 15 properties were searched in Valencia and Alicante. The investigation began in April 2010 and was carried out with the cooperation of police from Colombia, Morocco, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Britain.

Wednesday’s press release described the group as well organised, with the infrastructure to bring large quantities of cocaine into different Spanish ports, hidden inside containers, for distribution in different parts of Spain and other European countries.

The Ministry said the gang members also used violence, both within Spain and in Colombia and other European countries, against other members of the organisation, threatening them with death or kidnapping them as a guarantee in their drug trafficking operations or to cover losses suffered in security forces operations. The Ministry said a Spaniard who was kidnapped by paramilitaries in the Colombian had to pay a large ransom for his release.

The two tons of cocaine were seized from the network in a number of operations in Spain and abroad over the course of the past year.