The man who was shot in the neck in Nerja on Monday remains in intensive care in the Carlos Haya Hospital in Málaga.

He remains in a serious condition. The other two victims of the shootings which took place in the Barriada de Los Poetas in the town at 6pm Monday also continue in hospital but at the District Hospital in Vélez-Málaga. One man was operated on a chest injury and is now on the ward making favourable progress, while the youngster who was shot in the ankle is in the trauma unit. Two of the victims are from Nerja aged 31 and 25 and one from Torrox aged 31. The three were sitting on a bench on Calle José Antonio Muz Rojas, by the zebra crossing, and witnesses say that a silver car arrived carrying three people, thought to be a Spaniard and two Moroccans. After an argument between the two groups, one of the people who had arrived in the car took out a pistol and opened fire. One witness account says that despite being shot one of the injured made his way to his home which was nearby and returned shortly with a hunting shotgun to repel the attack. The men who arrived in the silver car then fled in the same vehicle which the Guardia Civil is trying to find.

Lleida Civil Guard arrest three and impound eight kilos of a hallucinogenic drug

The Lleida Guardia Civil in Cataluña has found more than 8 kilos of Ayahuasca and detained two people and indicted another in the municipalities in Mollerussa and Torà. They face charges of a possible crime against public health. The drink is considered as a narcotic drug and therefore prohibited, and it was hidden in two packages which had been sent by post from Peru and Brazil. Two plastic bottles contained 5.380 kilos of Ayahuasca. The Guardia Civil have arrested the 39 year old man M.D.P. to whom the packages were addressed, and the second detainee has been named as 60 year old A.B.C. The indicted man is 33 year old S.G.C. It’s the first time that the Guardia Civil has seen this substance in the province of Lleida and they think the three men were going to use if for their consumption. The brew was first found academically in the 50’s by a Harvard professor, Richard Evens Schultes, who found it was used for divinatory use and for healing in the peoples of the Colombia Amazon. It is made from boiling vine leaves with others from any number of plants, known for their hallucinogenic properties.

Officers from the National Police have recovered two historic bronze statues from the Roman Empire, valued at six million euro.

 

 The pieces are two sculptures of hollow bronze figures, representing two completely naked men, of 1.30 and 1.50 meters high. When they were found, both statues had suffered amputations of the arms and legs, one had no head and part of the abdomen was missing, and the other had no genitals. Much of the mutilated pieces have been recovered.  According to a first report of archaeologists from the Cultural Office of the Junta de Andalucia in Córdoba, the pieces are from the High Roman Empire. If confirmed they are independent pieces could be sculptures of Castor and Pollux, twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri, sons of Zeus, with an appraised value of about 6 million euro.

National Police officers intercepted more than 750 kilos of hashish in a pleasure boat in the port of Sancti Petri, in Cádiz

 

National Police officers intercepted more than 750 kilos of hashish in a pleasure boat in the port of Sancti Petri, in Cádiz, arresting 10 people in the operation.  The investigation began last October after officers detected the presence of an organized gang based in the Cadiz town of La Linea de la Concepcion, who had already attempted to smuggle drugs into the country. Having monitored their movements, officers were able to swoop on the vessel, finding 26 bales of hashish, totalling 750 kilograms in weight, and 500 euro in cash.

Agents of the National Police have released a 19-year-old who had been held hostage and subjected to all sorts of harassment by the head of a network dedicated to the sexual exploitation of women.

  Two gangs were broken up, run by a Romanian national and his nephew, who forced women into prostitution and then took most of the money earned.  The girls were branded with barcodes, showing their ownership to the gang and any subsequent debt.  A total of 22 people were arrested, including the gang leaders, and officers seized three illegal guns, with ammunition, simulated weapons, numerous knives, swords and machetes and, some 140,000 euro in cash, more than half of which was hidden in a double roof of the house of one of the leader; gold jewellery, five vehicles, including three luxury cars, as well as numerous other artefacts.

Guardia Civil the region of Murcia have been investigating the circumstances that led to the death of a diver who was shot by a harpoon in San Javier

 

The Guardia Civil the region of Murcia have been investigating the circumstances that led to the death of a diver who was shot by a harpoon in San Javier, resulting in two people being charged with reckless homicide. Initial inspections suggested that the cause of the incident was accidental but contradictions in the statement of witnesses, the evidence found inside the boat and diving equipment, as well as the nature of the injuries sustained by the diver made investigators suspicious. After taking to the sea to recreate the incident, as well as calling on ballistic experts, evidence collated then suggested that the diver was shot by a harpoon whilst in the water and from a distance, presumably random, by one of his companions. Therefore, the two companions, both Spanish nationals, were arrested and charged with an offense of reckless homicide.

30 kilos of cocaine goes missing from the Sevilla toxicology institute

Four years after more than 150 kilos of cocaine vanished from the main police station in Sevilla, yesterday it was discovered that about 30 kilos of the drug has gone missing from the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Science in Sevilla. The drug was waiting to be analysed by the technicians before it would have been destroyed. The theft has been confirmed by the Ministry for Justice on which the institute depends. The drug was stored in a supposedly secure building in the chemistry service department.

Iberia Express takes off on Sunday

 

The new low-cost airline, Iberia Express, takes off on Sunday with launch prices from 25 €. The airline, which has been the focus of protests, twelve so far, from SEPLA pilots in the main airline, will start with four routes from Madrid – to Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, Málaga and Sevilla. The inaugural flight will be between Madrid and Alicante. There will also be 45 € flights to the Canary Islands which start in June and 59 € flights to European destinations which will start between June and September. The there will be 17 routes. Iberia Express will operate four Airbus A320, a number which will progressively increase to reach 13 craft by the end of the year. The CEO, Luis Gallego, has promised the same quality of service as Iberia. Tickets go on sale next week on www.iberiaexpress.com

Woman who is promoting a cannabis plantation in Catalan village is arrested

 

The woman who recently put forward the idea of the creation of a cannabis plant in the village of Rasquera in Tarragona, has been arrested for alleged drug trafficking in Barcelona. The regional police, Los Mossos d’Esquadra, recovered 1.3 kilos of marihuana worth 5,700 €. The arrested woman is a manager on the Barcelona Self-Use Cannabis Association and four workers in the group have also been indicted. Meanwhile back in the village a referendum is to be held on April 10 to decide on the plantation. The Mayor, Bernat Pellisa, said political pressures will not influence the final decision of the Town Hall, and noted the coverage of the story was as if they had spent 2.4 million € on advertising.

General Strike minimum services agreed for transport

 

After ten hours of talks, the Ministry for Development has reached agreement with the unions on minimum transport services during the General Strike on March 29. They are almost identical to the minimum services during the last General Strike in 2010. Trains – Cercanias – Local lines 25% off peak, and 30% in peak times between 6and 9am Long Distance train services over 500 kms – 20% of normal levels. AVE and long distance trains will see 20% service. Airports – 1,240 flights would take place on a normal day, but the 29th will see 10% of national flights, 50% of flights to the Canaries and Baleares from the mainland, and 20% of flights with destinations in the E.U. International flights outside Europe will see 40% services. It is hoped that more detailed will be available for each airline and flight shortly. Coach – Services will be 25%. Ferries – between 50% and 100% for routes between the Baleares and the mainland, and 100% between the mainland, Melilla, Canaries and Ceuta. Coastguard services will not be affected. After the meeting the Secretary of State for Transport, Infrastructure and Housing, Rafael Catalá, said he was satisfied with the agreement. He said a balance between the right to strike and the services for the citizens was guaranteed. Secretary General of the Public Services of the CCOO union, Enrique Fossoul, said the 2010 stoppage levels were now acting as a precedent for this time round.

Ryanair adds six Euro surcharge to tickets purchased in Spain

Ryanair is to introduce a six Euro surcharge on all flights purchased in Spain from April 15. This will appear as ‘coste de gestión’ (management charge) and will be added to the final ticket price with the rest of the charges. The charge is a strategy to promote the airline’s new Ryanair Cash Passport, a MasterCard debit card which will give passengers, yes you got it, a six € discount. The card also can be used to take money out of cash machines and to make purchases in stores. Michael O’Leary used the launch of the card to encourage Spanish consumers to get a card ‘As quickly as possible to save the management costs’.

Pimps Arrested in Spain for 'Barcoding' Women

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  In this photo released by the Spanish Police on Saturday March 24, 2012 a tattoo in the form of a bar code is seen on the wrist of a woman in this hand out photo. Spain´s Interior Ministry says police have arrested 22 persons of Romanian nationality on suspicion of using violence to force women into prostitution and tattooing them with bar codes as a sign of ownership. Officers freed one 19-year-old woman who had been beaten, held against her will and tattooed with a bar code and an amount of money which investigators believe was the debt the gang wished to extort before freeing her. The women were tattooed on their wrists, and the freed woman had the sum 2,000 euro ($ 2,650) etched onto her skin. (AP Photo/Spanish Police) (AP2012)

MADRID –  Police in Spain arrested 22 alleged pimps who purportedly tattooed women with bar codes as a sign of ownership and used violence to force them into prostitution. 

Police are calling the gang the "bar code pimps." Officers freed one 19-year-old woman who had been beaten, held against her will and tattooed with a bar code and an amount of money — €2,000 ($2,650) — which investigators believe was the debt the gang wished to extort before releasing her.

The woman had also been whipped, chained to a radiator and had her hair and eyebrows shaved off, according to an Interior Ministry statement.

 

Sex is a multibillion-dollar industry in Spain, with colorfully lit brothels staffed mainly by poor immigrant women from Latin America, Africa and eastern Europe lining highways throughout the country

Pimps Arrested in Spain for 'Barcoding' Women

Police in Spain arrested 22 alleged pimps who purportedly tattooed women with bar codes as a sign of ownership and used violence to force them into prostitution.  Police are calling the gang the "bar code pimps." Officers freed one 19-year-old woman who had been beaten, held against her will and tattooed with a bar code and an amount of money — €2,000 ($2,650) — which investigators believe was the debt the gang wished to extort before releasing her. The woman had also been whipped, chained to a radiator and had her hair and eyebrows shaved off, according to an Interior Ministry statement.All those arrested were of Romanian nationality and had forced the women to hand over part of their earnings, the statement said. The women were tattooed on their wrists if they tried to escape, the statement said. Police also seized guns and ammunition. It was not immediately clear when the raids took place. Police seized €140,000 ($185,388) in cash, which had been hidden in a false ceiling, a large amount of gold jewelry and five vehicles, three of which were described as luxury cars. The gang was made up of two separate groups, referred to as "clans" in the statement, each dedicated to controlling prostitution along fixed stretches of a street in downtown Madrid. One of the alleged ringleaders who was identified only by the initials "I.T." is wanted by authorities in Romania for crimes linked to prostitution, the statement said. The women were controlled at all times to ensure "money was taken off them immediately," the statement said.   Sex is a multibillion-dollar industry in Spain, with colorfully lit brothels staffed mainly by poor immigrant women from Latin America, Africa and eastern Europe lining highways throughout the country. Prostitution falls in legal limbo: it is not regulated, although pimping is a crime. The northeastern city of Barcelona plans to introduce regional legislation in coming weeks banning prostitution on urban streets.

Painkiller warning as pack contains higher dose than label says

39,000 packs of co-codamol, which contains both paracetamol and codeine, contain higher dose tablets than is stated on the label, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said. Some of the 8mg/500mg packs actually contain 30mg/500mg tablets in the blister strips inside. The two can be told apart by markings on the side of the tablets. The 8mg/500mg tablet has the marking

on one side only. The 30mg/500mg tablet has CCD30 on one side and CP on the other. An overdose of co-codamol is serious and patients should not take more than one or two tablets every four to six hours and no more than four doses in 24-hours.

Mafia Bosses 'Turn Cannibal': Serbian Gangsters 'Ate Milan Jurisic In A Flat In Madrid' Say Police

A mafia traitor was beaten to death and then eaten by Serbian gangsters, police believe. Milan Jurisic, 37, was killed with a hammer by a gang of criminals from the Zemun Clan, a mafia group from Belgrade, in Madrid. His remains were then ground up with a meat grinder, cooked, and eaten, according to a confession by another Zemun Clan member, Sretko Kalinic, nicknamed "The Butcher". Later the gang reportedly threw the bones into the River Manzanares in the Spanish capital. This week, police found bones in the river and the apartment where the killing apparently took place in 2009. Jurisic is thought to have betrayed his fellow gang members by stealing money from them. He was on the run after being convicted in his absence of assassinating Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003. Kalinic confessed to the murder after he was arrested in the Croatian capital of Zagreb in 2010. Police believe the murder and subsequent cannibalism was led by Luka Bojovic, a Serbian gangster arrested in Valencia last month. Bojovic was also on the run after being accused of assassinating Djindjic. Inside Bojovic's apartment in Valencia police found documents backing up Kalinic's account of the killing. The murder is being investigated by magistrate Fernando Andreu at the National Court in Madrid.

Ex-newsagent charged with rape fled to Spain after death threats

 

A former Bath newsagent accused of raping three girls at his shop fled to Spain when the allegations first broke because death threats had been made against him, a court heard. Spanish national Lewis Knight told police that an irate man had gone to his newsagents in Mount Road, Southdown, and threatened to burn him alive. A jury at Bristol Crown Court heard that the man was arrested but that Knight said he continued to receive death threats. The 60-year-old, of Torres De Segre in Spain, denies four charges of rape, six charges of indecent assault and one charge of indecency with a child in the 1990s. Jurors in Knight's trial have heard that he was arrested in 1999 over the allegations, which he denied, and had been granted bail. He claims it was when he received death threats at his shop that he decided to flee to Spain. The defendant had handed in his passport but applied for a replacement which he was sent. Three days before he was due to appear for trial in February 2000, he went on the run in Spain. Andrew Macfarlane, prosecuting, confirmed that a man had been arrested in May 1999 for making threats to kill. He said the man had gone to Knight's shop and said: "I'm going to burn you alive. You are dead, mate." Police records show that Knight made a statement about the attacks and the man, who cannot be identified, was convicted. However, Knight said he received further death threats from the man and felt "compelled to disappear". Det Sgt Simon Rickwood, of Avon and Somerset police, told the court he had gone with a colleague to Madrid on September 29 last year to arrest Knight and bring him back to the UK to face the charges. The jury had previously heard that Knight allegedly raped his first victim when she was aged 13 or 14 and indecently assaulted her. He was said to have raped his second victim twice when she was aged 14 or 15, including once in the shop's cigar cupboard. Jurors heard that Knight allegedly raped his third victim while she was still 12, indecently assaulted her twice and carried out an act of indecency. He is said to have told his victims to keep what he had done their "secret". The trial continues.

Julián Muñoz says Jesús Gil was the best Mayor Marbella ever had

Ex Mayor of Marbella, Julián Muñoz, speaking in the ongoing Malaya case in Málaga today has claimed that the late Jesús Gil y Gil was Marbella’s best ever Mayor, even though he said ‘he wanted to be child in the baptism and the priest at the same time’. The prosecutor’ office is calling a ten year prison sentence, 23 months out of public office and a 400,000 € fine for Muñoz on charges of administrative perversion, bribery and misuse of public funds. Muñoz denied negotiating even one of the real estate deals, ‘I’ve not sat down with a single promoter’, he said, and with reference to the initials JM on the archives intervened in the case he said that Roca ‘at no time has said in this court that JM was Julián Muñoz’.

27 arrests of Canarias cocaine smuggling gang

 

27 people have been arrested from a gang which introduced cocaine to the Canary Islands by air. 15.2 kilos of the drug, 30,000 € and several firearms were recovered. The cocaine was hidden in a false bottom of suitcases, impregnated with foam rubber, and the gang had a laboratory in Madrid a chemical process would separate the drug and where they prepared it for distribution. Then it would be put back in the false bottomed suitcases for transportation from Madrid to the Canaries. The Guardia Civil say that 21 of the 27 arrested are Colombian, and the remaining six are Spanish. They distributed the drug from Colombia, bringing it to the Canaries by air, and as well as drug trafficking they also face charges of money laundering and illicit association. Investigations started in July 2010 after the Guardia Civil discovered that cocaine was being introduced on Gran Canaria.

Train bombing witnesses claim newspaper put pressure on them to change their story

The two Romanian women claim that the El Mundo newspaper tried to get them not to find Jamal Zougam guilty.Jamal Zougam - Archive Photo EFE Two protected witnesses, both Romanian women, in the Madrid Train Bombings case have accused the El Mundo newspaper of being pressurised to find Jamal Zougam, one of the main accused in the case, not guilty. Zougam was eventually found guilty and sent to prison for 42,917 years. The women say that they were offered improvements in their jobs, and help to stop a savings bank from evicting one of them from her home. Real Madrid shirts were given as gifts. Both witnesses say they told the truth to the court, and have denounced the pressure of the journalists. The complaint was presented on Tuesday this week by the lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, before the court which heard the original M-11 case. Meanwhile the original sentence has been ratified by the Supreme Court.

The Duke of Palma defends the Infanta and the King from 'spurious attacks'

Iñaki Urdangarin has defended his wife, the Infanta Cristina and the King from the ‘spurious attacks’ made against them. His lawyer, Mario Pascual Vives, has said he considers that the claims by the Manos Limpias group need a ‘call to order’ for breaking the principle of respect. He has presented a letter to the judge where he defends the innocence of the Infanta Cristina and that of the King in the Nóos case. Meanwhile the Instruction Judge in the Palma Arena case, José Castro, has once again rejected the idea of indicting the Infanta, saying that ‘until now the existence of criminality regarding her has not been seen’. It follows his earlier comment that he had not charged her so as not to stigmatise the Duchess. Castro has criticised Manos Limpias for having made an appeal without reading the resolution. They had compared the Infanta to the wife of Diego Torres, Ana Tejeiro the Duke’s ex partner, and who is indicted in the case.

PP Deputy President in Madrid, Ignacio González denies owning luxury flat in Marbella

 

National Police are investigating the property, according to El Mundo newspaper this morning, and González has responded by saying, ‘Once again what El Mundo publishes is false and once again they do not put forward any documents'. ‘The flat is not mine, it is rented and I pay in line with the owners wishes, as I have also said to people who printed the (false) information’. He placed documents on the property on the table and said anyone could consult them. He also said that he had written to the General Director of the National Police, and they had said there is no investigation open against him. Igancio Gonzalez and his wife Lourdes Cavero underline the property was never theirs and said they had leased it from a company, Coast Investors, based in the fiscal haven of Delaware. But the company in the US say they have ‘no idea’ about the matter. El Mundo claims today that the real estate agent who was selling the properties in the Alhambra del Golf urbanisation is firm that in attic 11, ‘lives a top director of the PP in Madrid’. Asked whether it could be rented she responded – ‘No, he has purchased it, and said it was her daughter who sold it to him four years ago for 1.1 million €’. That amount has raised some eyebrows as the police have documents suggesting 1,350,000 was paid, and they think a cash sum of 400,000 € could have made up part of the transaction. The investigation continues.

Six assassins, two murderers, two sexual abusers, a kidnapper and a violent attacker who were all living in Spain.

 

12 international fugitives have been arrested by the National Police in different cities across Spain over the past month and a half, between January 23 and March 8 this year. Six assassins, two murderers, two sexual abusers, a kidnapper and a violent attacker who were all living in Spain. The murders were carried out in the United States, Portugal, Germany, Mexico and Holland, and the other crimes committed in Peru, Romania, Belgium and Chile. The 10 men and two women lived in Madrid, Barcelona, Torrevieja, Málaga, Orense, Gijón and Fuerteventura. A man, named as ARL, who fled after killing the owner of a jewellery store will be extradited back to the United States, and Holland will get another who killed the co-owner of a cannabis farm.

Georgian man arrested for murder of Russian woman in Fuengirola

50 year old Georgian man has been arrested in connection with the death of a 55 year old Russian woman whose body was found in Fuengirola on Saturday night, showing signs of violence. A statement from the police said the arrested man acted as a carer for the woman, but had been putting pressure on her to give him more money. The murder took place in the woman’s home in Calle Hermanos Galán Casero, in Los Boliches, Fuengirola.

11 arrested in pimping crackdown

 

Spanish police say they have made 11 arrests as they broke up two gangs that allegedly forced young Romanian women to work as prostitutes and arranged marriages for them to non-EU citizens. A police statement released today said the two related groups operated in southern and eastern cities including Valencia and had 'ramifications' in Germany and Portugal. One of the groups specialised in forging documents so as to arrange marriages between Romanian women and usually men from Nigeria so the latter could obtain EU residence permits. It said the other group recruited women in Romania and took their passports away once they got into Spain and forced them to work as prostitutes until they paid off "debt" accrued by being brought to Spain.

Donegal investors pay price of Spanish scam

 

The Republic's Central Bank has launched an investigation into a finance company after Irish investors lost millions of euro in a scam. The Financial Regulator is examining how a product dozens of people invested in turned out to be a sophisticated con. The investors, mostly from Co Donegal, put up to €250,000 (£207,000) each into what appeared to be a legitimate investment portfolio being run from offices in Barcelona. Those who handed over money did so on the recommendation of O'Sullivan Financial in Letterkenny. The financial adviser there, Mark O'Sullivan, was also taken in by the scam and is said to be "devastated" by the loss of his clients' money. "He is a totally innocent party and lost money in the scheme as well," said a friend. The conmen behind the scam told investors they were speculating with their money on the foreign currency markets. They even set up a website with an iPhone app - fx-root.com - where investors could log on to see how their investment was working. But the graphs showing their 'trades' were all fake and the scamsters fled Barcelona taking up to €10m (£8.3m) with them. Around €3m (£2.5m) came from Irish investors and involved both cash and pension investments. "We have made formal complaints to the Financial Regulator at the Central Bank to ask for an investigation," said one victim in Co Donegal. Another victim said: "I was told by Mr O'Sullivan that I would never lose more than 15% of my investment, but because this was a criminal fraud I've lost every cent." Meanwhile, police in Spain, Ireland and Slovakia are now including a scam in Slovenia in their investigations. The exact same fraud was committed in Ljubljana in 2008, using a website and offering returns of up to 10% per month. Like the Barcelona scam, the Slovenian scheme was also operated by two men - one Dutch and one UK national - with thousands of Slovenians losing money. Mr O'Sullivan refused to comment but a friend said: "Mark will co-operate with any inquiry. He lost his own money in the scam."

Son-in-law of Spanish King 'stole millions of euros of public money'

For months Iñaki Urdangarin, the King of Spain's son-in-law, has been at the centre of a full-scale legal investigation – and correspondingly sensational newspaper headlines – about the alleged siphoning off millions of euros of public money to tax havens across the world. But in what is possibly the most spectacular development to date, Spanish newspaper El Pais yesterday claimed that Mr Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma, is set to face four separate charges over the case: defrauding the exchequer, falsifying documents, misappropriation of public funds and prevarication. Leaks from the corruption investigation are said to have indicated that a not-for-profit organisation, Noos, of which Mr Urdangarin was co-president between 2004 and 2006, allegedly channelled public money, gained by grossly overcharging regional Spanish governments for the organisation of mainly sports-related events, into private bank accounts. Mr Urdangarin has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying before two marathon weekend sessions of questioning by a Mallorca court last month, that he had demonstrated his innocence. Citing sources close to the nine-month legal investigation, El Pais insisted that the former Olympic handball player will allegedly avoid only one of five possible charges. For months now, gory financial details from the case – the alleged tax dodges of more than half a million euros via a NGO for children with terminal illnesses, the apparent charging of €700,000 (£580,000) for a 13-page financial report on a football club stadium and the use of offshore companies in Belize and the UK – have found their way out of Spain's leaky judiciary system and into front-page newspaper reports. The scandal has caused untold damage to the public image of a monarchy that was previously famed for its squeaky-clean reputation. And if Spain has always had a bare handful of urban myths about potential minor regal misdemeanours, for years there appeared to be an unspoken pact among the media that members of their royal family could not be criticised. Not now. As Spain struggles with five million unemployed and a seemingly inescapable lurch into recession, the allegations that a key member of the monarchy may have been exploiting his unelected position for private gain could hardly have come at a worse time. Mr Urdangarin's wife, the Infanta Cristina, not suspected of any wrongdoing. The royal family sidelined the Duke of Palma from official duties months ago, after a spokesman described his behaviour as "less than exemplary," but there appears to be no plan to expel Mr Urdangarin from the royal family altogether, even if his figure in Madrid's waxwork museum has already suffered that fate. Mr Urdangarin's image has been shifted from the tableau of royal figures to a comparatively lowly spot in the sports hall and, presumably, had he not clinched bronze medals in two Olympics, could have been removed altogether. Following the as yet unproven claims in El Pais, Mr Urdangarin's spokesman and lawyer, Mario Pascual Vives, has made just one comment to the press: that he will no longer be talking to them in an attempt to extinguish what he called "media pyrotechnics". Royal connections: Urdangarin's rise Affable and handsome, Iñaki Urdangarin was one of the most popular members of the royal family. Born in 1968 to a Basque family, he became Duke of Palma when he married the King's second child, Princess Cristina, in Barcelona in 1997. The couple met at the 1996 Olympic Games where he was a member of the Spanish handball team. He retired from sport in 2000 and set up the not-for-profit Noos Institute. They now live in Washington DC, where he works for Telefonica.

Spanish police arrest 10 in anti-doping raids connected with Beijing 2008 Olympics

 

Police said the network was implicated in competitors' positive doping tests at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, cycling's 2010 Tour of Spain and 2009 Tour of Portugal, as well as the 2010 Spanish athletics championships. Due to difficulties identifying final clients and the proximity of the 2012 Olympic Games, police swooped on the group when the head of the organisation was in Spain, a statement confirmed. The alleged brainchild is a Spanish-Colombian doctor identified only as Alberto BN, "who had many contacts in elite sport", according to the police. The doctor, who was implicated in "multiple doping cases in different countries", was arrested at Madrid-Barajas airport on March 5 allegedly with doping substances in his possession. The operation began last summer when police were investigating a shop in Mataro, near Barcelona, that sold anabolic steroids to sportspeople, officers said.

A GANG of “guns for hire” who spread lawless violence in a spate of gun and grenade attacks across Merseyside were today starting life behind bars.

The five were the “go to” men for gangsters across the area as they carried out attacks on underworld rivals.
But their spree saw innocent people caught in the middle as indiscriminate shootings and grenade attacks escalated.
At the top of the tree sat Tony Downes and Kirk Bradley, a “thick as thieves” pair of career criminals from Huyton, and Gary Wilson, who used his ill-gotten gains to buy himself a plush seafront Southport home.

Bradley and Downes, both 26, never got their hands dirty – Downes was directing operations from his cell in HMP Liverpool and was said to be the group’s “chief executive” by a judge yesterday.
Instead their underlings, “trusted and active lieutenants” Craig Riley and Joseph Farrell, were given “jobs” to carry out and would farm some tasks out to younger crooks wanting to make a name for themselves.
On their instructions, the young thugs would be given guns or explosives and an address or a specific individual to target.
They threw grenades into a room where a woman babysitting her seven-year-old grandson was sleeping and shot people in the legs and stomach, leaving them with life-changing injuries.
Their “modus operandi” saw them use the same guns over and over again – two guns linked to the group were used in 16 different shootings – and carry out their attacks on scrambler bikes, ideal for a quick getaway.
Police slammed the gang as “parasites, the worst kind of mercenary” after bringing them to justice.
A covert police operation was launched to snare those linked to more than 20 incidents over two years.
As the net closed on them, officers took an arsenal of weapons off the streets.
At Woolwich Crown Court yesterday the “chapter” in the ongoing fight against gun crime was brought to a close by high court judge Mr Justice Henriques when he sentenced each of the gang to life imprisonment.
Only Farrell, Wilson and Riley were actually in the dock at Woolwich yesterday.
Downes and Bradley escaped from a prison van in Manchester last summer as they were being brought to court in Liverpool.
Their escape caused their trial, which was in its 11th week at the time, to collapse and a retrial at maximum-security Woolwich was ordered.
But the day after they were convicted in their absence, Downes was picked up after eight months of freedom.

Six arrested in fake medicine bust

Six people have been arrested in a police sting in Spain and Britain, suspected of importing and selling large quantities of fake medication from Asia including Viagra, Europol said Monday. "The members of the criminal gang were importing fake pharmaceuticals from Asia -- mainly China and Singapore -- and distributing them via the Internet to 'customers' throughout Europe," the police agency said in a statement. Police seized some 300,000 doses of fake medicine after an operation by Spanish police in the southeastern city of Murcia as well as in Britain and the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Europol said. Anti-potency pills like Viagra and Cialis as well as generic drugs were distributed by the group, it added, saying the drugs were made in clandestine laboratories. One Spanish, two Romanians and a Dutch citizen were arrested in Spain, while the two Britons were arrested in their home country on Wednesday and Thursday, said Europol. "They were the most important individuals in the network, but other arrests could follow," Europol spokesman Soren Pedersen told AFP. "Unlicensed, untested and potentially laced with dangerous filler ingredients, fake medicine can put users' health and even life at risk," Europol added. The World Health Organisation said half the medication sold on the Internet was fake. In September last year, police and customs officers from 81 countries in an operation seized a record 2.4 million doses of counterfeit medicines to be sold on the Internet. They arrested 55 people in 10 countries mainly in Europe, Japan, Colombia and Uruguay.

At least four people, including three children, were killed, when a man on a scooter opened fire outside a Jewish school in Toulouse in southwestern France

At least four people, including three children, were killed, when a man on a scooter opened fire outside a Jewish school in Toulouse in southwestern France on Monday, officials said. The attack also left several injured, two of them seriously, and followed the killing of three soldiers in two separate shootings in the same region last week by a man who escaped on a scooter. BFM TV news channel said that the gun used in the attack at the Ozar Hatorah school was of the same calibre as that used in the soldiers’ shootings, but a spokesman for the interior ministry could not immediately confirm this. President Nicolas Sarkozy cancelled other appointments and was on his way to Toulouse on Monday morning, accompanied by Education Minister Luc Chatel and the president of the CRIF French Jewish association, Richard Prasquier. “I saw two people dead in front of the school, an adult and a child … Inside, it was a vision of horror, the bodies of two small children,” a distraught father whose child attends the school told RTL radio. “I did not find my son, apparently he fled when he saw what happened. How can they attack something as sacred as a school, attack children only sixty centimetres tall?” Several other people were injured, two of them seriously. A rabbi at the school, identified as Rahamim Sabag, told Israel’s channel two television that the dead were a 30-year old rabbi who taught at the school, the rabbi’s five-year-old son and two eight-year old children, one of them the daughter of the school’s principal. A spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry, Yigal Palmor, expressed outrage at the killings: “We are following with great shock reports coming from Toulouse and we trust the French authorities will solve this crime and bring those responsible to justice.” A spokesman for the interior ministry said that security was being tightened at all Jewish schools in the country. About 50 investigators are already looking into the killings of two soldiers on Thursday in the town of Montauban, close to Toulouse, as they tried to withdraw money from a cash machine close to the barracks of the 17th parachute regiment. A third soldier was killed the previous weekend in Toulouse. Investigators had already confirmed on Friday that the same weapon had been used in both incidents.

Spain's Unicaja, Caja Espana savings banks merge

Spanish regional savings banks Unicaja and Caja Espana have merged following the government's recent requirement that banks raise substantially their provisions set aside to cover toxic real estate exposure. The merger, in which Banco Caja Espana-Duero (Banco Ceiss) is effectively absorbed into Unicaja Banco, creates a group with approximately (EURO)80 billion ($104.9 billion) in total assets and a turnover of (EURO)120 billion ($157.4 billion), according to a joint statement released late Friday. The deal must first receive Finance Ministry and central bank approval and would require (EURO)850 million ($1114.86 million) of state aid, which is added to (EURO)525 million ($688.59 million) already injected into Caja Espana in 2010 by the Bank of Spain's restructuring fund (FROB).

German taxpayer would be obliged to subsidise the wages of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

 

When faced with the prospect of the Spanish government waiving the collective €752m debt the nation's football clubs owe to the country's tax authorities, the reaction in Europe last week was one of outrage. The German tabloid Bild even asked how long the German taxpayer would be obliged to subsidise the wages of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. What they meant was that while the European Union members bailed out the Spanish economy, successful Spanish clubs were failing to meet their own tax obligations. Strictly speaking, Real Madrid have no tax debt among the €170m debt that the club carry, but Barcelona owe €48m of their overall €364m debt to the Spanish taxman. Uli Hoeness, the outspoken president of Bayern Munich, got to the point rather more quickly when asked about the proposal to excuse Spanish clubs their tax debt. "This is unthinkable," he said. "We pay them hundreds of millions to get them out the shit and then the clubs don't pay their debts." It is a uniquely modern European dilemma, encompassing EU bail-out funds and the competitiveness of the continent's respective leading clubs, all of which ultimately adds another fiendishly complex element to the concept of Financial Fair Play, as proposed by Uefa president Michel Platini. It is further proof that while Spanish football is undoubtedly top dog in Europe, with five teams in the quarter-finals of the two Uefa competitions, it is not without problems. As The Independent's Pete Jenson reported in these pages on Saturday, a government report in Spain last week disclosed that the equivalent of £625m is owed by Spanish clubs to the country's public purse, with £353m of that due from 14 of the 20 clubs in the top division. This is not money owed to banks, investors or owners. It is owed to the Spanish people. On a sporting level it is "financial doping" at its very worse. On a social level it is nothing short of a disgrace in a country where youth unemployment currently runs at 50 per cent. Not all top Spanish clubs are culpable and it was reassuring to read in the breakdown of club debt by AS newspaper that Athletic Bilbao, the team of largely home-grown Basque stars who left English football spellbound with their schooling of Manchester United last week, do not owe the taxman a cent. So too Real Sociedad, Getafe, Villarreal and Sporting Gijon. On the other hand, Atletico Madrid, currently eighth in La Liga and drawn against Hannover 96 in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, owe the Spanish public purse €155m (£128m), more than any other club. The money from the €50m sale of Sergio Aguero to Manchester City last summer went straight to the tax authorities. Valencia, who play AZ Alkmaar in the same stage of the competition, owe €6m in unpaid tax. When Hoeness expressed German football's bitterness that their government is, indirectly, subsidising the success of Spanish clubs it is the likes of Hannover he was talking about. Atletico's big signing was Falcao from Porto last summer, a £33m signing financed by third-party ownership deals. Hannover bought Mame Biram Diouf from Manchester United. Enough said. No one would pretend that British football is the perfect financial model, especially given Rangers' and Portsmouth's debts to HMRC. Even the Germans have had their problems with Borussia Dortmund and Schalke. But unpaid taxes at a time when public services are being cut and jobs lost are particularly repugnant. Real Betis, Real Zaragoza, Racing Santander, Levante and Mallorca (denied a place in last season's Europa League because of their finances) owe a total of €118m to the Spanish tax authorities between them. There are also suggestions that unpaid social security contributions by some Spanish clubs rival those eye-watering figures for unpaid tax. In the past, Spanish football has been protected by the assumption that punishing badly-run clubs would cause such a backlash against government by voters that it would not be politically expedient. There is no points penalty in Spain for going into the equivalent of financial administration as there is in England. But attitudes are changing. The governing political group Partido Popular has described the situation as "intolerable". The government was forced to disclose the figures of unpaid tax because of an official request by Caridad Garcia of the Izquierda Unida (IU) party. A spokesman for IU, José Luis Centella, made the connection last week between the financial hardship felt by the Spanish people and the clubs' failure to pay. "This is bad news for all the people who have lost homes and suffered from the cutbacks while there is this tremendous generosity towards football." Wisely, the Spanish sports minister Miguel Cardenal announced last week that the government had dropped any consideration of giving football clubs a clean slate on their tax debts. There has even been a call from the centre-left party PSOE to ban clubs with tax debts from competing in the league, a rule that, already in place in Italian football, would change the face of La Liga overnight. Were the Spanish tax authorities to call in their debts tomorrow, Barcelona would surely be able to find, or borrow, the €48m they owe. Atletico, on the other hand, would find themselves in the kind of dire situation currently enveloping Rangers. There is a lesson for English football that in the risky game of investment and borrowing that most clubs enter as they attempt to fulfil the ambitions of supporters and owners, there are certain obligations that are non-negotiable. Football clubs command such loyalty and affection that they are too often cut slack, but, as the situation in Spain is starting to show, there is always a limit. Ridicule of Richards the last straw Down the years, Sir Dave Richards has given every appearance of being invulnerable to criticism or error of judgement. He has survived adversaries in the Football Association such as Lord Triesman and Ian Watmore in recent years. The financial problems of Sheffield Wednesday, where he was chairman, do not seem to have had an impact on his reputation. He walked out on the 2018 World Cup bid in a huff and it all blew over. Which makes it all the more incredible that an ornamental fountain, and a slightly unhinged but largely irrelevant speech on football, should prove his undoing. It just goes to shows that a divisive figure in football administration can survive a great deal but once their mistakes start to make people laugh – it's over. Will City seize their chance to get Mourinho? When Manchester City meet Chelsea on Wednesday, the shadow of one man falls over both clubs. Jose Mourinho is the last card that the most ambitious football club owners can play. If all else fails, then give Mourinho the job and if that does not bring success then you really are out of options. In Spain, the mood is that Mourinho may stay at Real Madrid in the penultimate year of his contract next season or he may go back to England if the right job presents itself. Is that Chelsea or could it be City? If Roberto Mancini fails to win the title this season and Mourinho is willing to come then it places an idea in the heads of City's owners. It is not as if he is available every summer.

Spain has been surprised at the magnitude of this property down slide. thinking thought it would be around 10 percent.

Home-owners in Spain received yet another blow when figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) show that house prices fell even further in the last quarter of 2011.

House prices in Spain have been in free-fall since the start of the economic crisis with the construction industry coming to a virtual standstill. The figures show that the price of new build properties dropped by 8.5 percent in the final quarter of 2011 compared to The equivalent period in 2010. Those trying to sell their used homes are suffering even further with a drop of 13.7 percent.Analysts are blaming the recession, unemployment and uncertainty about Spain's economy as major factors, according to a report in El Pais. Property expert Julio Gil said:

“We have been surprised at the magnitude of this down slide. We thought it would be around 10 percent.”

With more and more people defaulting on their mortgages, the banks are being left with huge stockpiles of homes that they can't sell, even at knock-down prices, whilst the immigrants from Northern European countries that helped create the property boom in Spain have all but disappeared. This is the worst quarterly drop since the INE started recording the statistic, with Madrid the worst affected region.

Stop Desahucios

Logo of action group aiming to help families facing eviction.

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The Wall Street Journal reports that Spanish banks now hold "more than €400 billion worth of loans to the construction and real estate sector, " an amount that is equivalent to 40 percent of gross domestic product for Spain. Early figures show that the price drop is continuing in this first quarter of 2012.The personal tragedies behind the stark figures are very sad. An action group, called 'Stop Desahucios', has been formed to try and stop people being forcibly evicted from their homes. With unemployment rising at an alarming rate, many more people are finding themselves unable to pay their mortgages and discover that the banks are less than sympathetic to their plight, despite the fact the banks are overloaded with properties they can't sell. The action group try everything to help the families and if that fails they literally stand in front of the homes preventing officials from getting in to evict the families, many of whom have small children.Many foreigners with homes in Spain, whether permanent or holiday, just hand in the keys to the bank and head home leaving huge debts behind them.What is certain is that property prices in Spain will continue to spiral downwards and it will be some years before the property market begins to recove

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/321327#ixzz1pOewnM7S

Prosecutors charge Catholic nun in alleged stolen baby scheme at Madrid hospitals

A Catholic nun has been charged with being part of a child stealing operation that ran over four decades in Spain. Sister María Gómez Valbuena is the first person to be indicted in connection with the probe into more than 100 cases of babies snatched from hospitals between the 1950s and 1980s. She was subpoenaed to testify before investigators recently but refused to answer questions, according to sources at the Madrid prosecutor's office. Identity crisis: Randy Ryder as a baby being cradled in a Malaga hospital in 1971 by the woman who bought him Her name has surfaced in dozens of complaints filed by mothers who claim they were robbed of their babies after giving birth at San Ramón and Santa Cristina hospitals in Madrid. Sister María was the assistant to Dr Eduardo Vela Vela, whose name also appears in the complaints filed by mothers. Prosecutors have decided that there is sufficient evidence to file charges against Sister María in one case, based on a woman's testimony that her daughter was taken from her in 1982 after she gave birth at the Santa Cristina Hospital.   More... The doctor who broke up families: Psychiatrist who damned hundreds as 'unfit parents' faces GMC probe Is legend of St Patrick just a bit of blarney? He was a runaway tax collector turned slave trader, says expert The woman, identified as María Luisa, states that she was told that her baby had died at birth but claims she was actually given to another family. Shortly after giving birth, María Luisa saw an ad published in a magazine taken out by a nun — Sister María Gómez Valbuena — who offered her services to help single mothers. María Luisa was separated at the time and had another daughter. When she went to see her, María Luisa discovered that the nun was actually offering to take her daughter away to give to a family. Reunited: Randy Ryder with Manoli Pagador, who believes she may be his real mother The children were trafficked by a secret network of doctors, nurses, priests and nuns in a widespread practice that began during General Franco’s dictatorship and continued until the early Nineties. Hundreds of families who had babies taken from Spanish hospitals are now battling for an official government investigation into the scandal. Several mothers say they were told their first-born children had died during or soon after they gave birth. But the women, often young and unmarried, were told they could not see the body of the infant or attend their burial. In reality, the babies were sold to childless couples whose devout beliefs and financial security meant that they were seen as more appropriate parents. Official documents were forged so the adoptive parents’ names were on the infants’ birth certificates. In many cases it is believed they were unaware that the child they received had been stolen, as they were usually told the birth mother had given them up. Experts believe the cases may account for up to 15 per cent of the total adoptions that took place in Spain between 1960 and 1989. It began as a system for taking children away from families deemed politically dangerous to the regime of General Franco, which began in 1939. The system continued after the dictator’s death in 1975 as the Catholic church continued to retain a powerful influence on public life, particularly in social services. It was not until 1987 that the Spanish government, instead of hospitals, began to regulate adoptions. The scandal came to light after two men, Antonio Barroso and Juan Luis Moreno, discovered they had been stolen as babies. Mr Moreno’s ‘father’ confessed on his deathbed to having bought him as a baby from a priest in Zaragoza in northern Spain. He told his son he had been accompanied on the trip by Mr Barroso’s parents, who bought Antonio at the same time for 200,000 pesetas – a huge sum at the time. DNA tests have proved that the couple who brought up Mr Barroso were not his biological parents and the nun who sold him has admitted to doing so. When the pair made their case public, it prompted mothers all over the country to come forward with their own experiences of being told their babies had died, but never believing it. One such woman was Manoli Pagador, who has begun searching for her son. A BBC documentary, This World: Spain’s Stolen Babies, followed her efforts to discover if he is Randy Ryder, a stolen baby who was brought up in Texas and is now aged 40. In some cases, babies’ graves have been exhumed, revealing bones that belong to adults or animals. Some of the graves contained nothing at all.

€500 REWARD is on offer to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest of the people who broke into a Marbella clothing store.

 

€500 REWARD is on offer to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest of the people who broke into a Marbella clothing store.

 

The incident took place at The Jeans Factory Outlet around 5.30am last Friday and around 600 pieces of clothing were stolen worth €45,000.

“My alarm company called me straight away,” said Dutch owner Roy Samshuyzen. At first Roy thought it might be a false alarm as was the case a few months ago.

“Looking at the camera system from home I could not see anything so I headed straight over, still in my pijamas.

When I arrived five minutes later there were around seven police cars already there with the alarm company.”

This would have given the three burglars less than three minutes after the alarm went off to make off with their bounty.

“Since the glass is 8mm thick, like that of a bank’s, the burglars must have rammed it with a truck with a metal bar on the front.” Although the glass was replaced that same afternoon, Roy estimates that it will take “between eight and nine weeks to recover the losses from the robbery.”

The Jeans Factory Outlet is located on the main road on the approeach to Marbella coming from Malaga direction, so Roy believes there is a “good possibility that someone saw something,” hence the reward offer.

Roy was surprised that the “gang ignored the expensive jeans including Ed Hardy, Tommy HiIlfinger and Guess and took around 35 pairs of Antony Morato jeans and pairs from his own brand that are sold exclusively in the store”.

Roy thinks this could be because the gang saw a security screen and cameras on the side of the shop were the more expensive items are kept, but the cameras cover the whole store.

CCTV footage clearly shows three men, one of them wearing a hood covering his face, grabbing as many clothes as they can.

Roy will be heading down to the various markets over the coming days to see if he can find any of the 600 pieces of clothes, which he says would have retailed at about €45,000.

“The frustrating thing is that since it will be on the black market they will only be sold for around €50 to €10 each. Roy is “fed-up” at the unfairness of the situation.

“We do everything by the book, do everything to protect yourself and then sh*t like this happens”.

“I am not worried about the robbery; the money or the damaged store front. All of these things can be taken care of through the insurance.

It is the future of Marbella and of the world I am worried about. I worry for my five-year-old son, what is the world going to be like when he grows up. What kinds of things will he have to deal with?"

Meanwhile, although Roy has never had his business broken into before, his Mercedes Benz car was stolen from outside the store last year.

He was “talking to two men inside the shop about buying a pair of jeans.”

One of them “slipped away and somehow he managed to get behind the store desk and take the car key off the ring".

Man admits killing his boyfriend in Calpe, but says he was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol

A man accused of killing his boyfriend during a sexual game has told the Provincial Court in Alicante today, Monday, that he ‘was not conscious’ of what he had done as he was under the effects of cocaine and alcohol which he had taken previously. In the first session of the court case the chamber heard how the accused said that in the early hours of July 3 2010, at a flat in Jávea, both he and the victim were repeatedly drinking alcohol and taking cocaine. He said that there had been no arguments on the day, and so he could not explain why later in the early hours he stabbed his friend to death and then threw the knife onto the roof of the home. Before that he used a dressing gown cord to tie up the victim’s hands and then blindfolded him with a shirt. The accused told the court that his friend had fallen asleep, still tied up and blindfolded, and he then decided to kill him so he went to the kitchen for a knife and stabbed him in the heart. The victim then turned over in agony, and was then stabbed in the back. The aggressor then took a shower, threw the knife on the roof, and walked to the San Antonio Cape with the supposed intention of committing suicide in the sea. However at 9,30am he called a friend and told him what had happened, and the friend called the Guardia Civil. His defence lawyer says that the facts constitute the crime of homicide, but he claiming temporary insanity as his own will had been annulled by the addiction to the drugs. The man has a long psychiatric history and has seen several attempts at suicide, a personality which has seen him attend several specialist centres already. The prosecutor however notes they consider the accused had his intellectual faculties intact at the time of the attack, and therefore considers it is a crime of assassination. He is demanding an 18 year prison sentence, and compensation of 90,000 € for each of the victim’s parents, and 45,000 for his brothers in concept of moral damages.

The ex Mayor of the Málaga village of Alcaucín, José Manuel Martín Alba, and seven civil servants have been arrested in the ‘Arcos case’

 

The ex Mayor of the Málaga village of Alcaucín, José Manuel Martín Alba, and seven civil servants have been arrested in the ‘Arcos case’ which refers to real estate corruption in the Axarquía. The ex Mayor was arrested at his home this morning and more arrests have not been ruled out. The operation was carried out by the police from the UCO, Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard three of whom travelled from Madrid to take part in and supervise the operation. The Guardia Civil is also searching the offices of the Patronato Provincial de Recaudación in Málaga today, and has also been searching some lawyers offices and private homes. The Ex Mayor of Alcaucín has already spent three months in prison three years ago as a result of the Arcos case which sees some 50 accused and which uncovered the illegal construction and legalisation of homes built on non-buildable land in the Axarquía.

Secretary General of 'Manos Limpias' indicted for fraud and coercion

 

The leader of the independent right wing union, Manos Limpias, Miguel Bernard, has been called to court number 3 in Madrid as part of an investigation into fraud and coercion. When he appears, it’s thought sometime in May, he will be questioned about 2007 recordings given to the court by the Galician constructor, Manuel Núñez who has already been condemned in the Totana case to an 8,700 € for attempting to defraud the PP Mayor of Totana, Murcia, Juan Morales, who has in turn been found guilty of fraud, money laundering, falsification and misuse of public funds. Manos Limpias has been quick to present private prosecutions in several headlining cases in Spain, and have taken action against Emilio Botín, the CAM savings bank, Baltasar Garzón and the Infanta Cristina among others.

British man and French woman arrested in Fuengirola drugs swoop

National Police have made two arrests, a British man and a French woman, after a raid on a house in Fuengirola revealed more than 2,700 doses of anabolic steroids which are used for body building, and a further 150 ecstasy pills were found in the suspects’ top of the range car. During the investigation, according to a statement from the Málaga Provincial Police Station, a detailed search of the home was carried out and they found several safes. Inside these they found a revolver, two blank passports, a satellite phone, precision balances for drugs and an amount of money in cash.

55 security guards arrested with fake qualifications

 

55 false security guards working in sensitive positions have been arrested in Madrid, Toledo, Cuenca and Badajoz. The National Police arrested the 55 who have all be established to have been working fraudulently, and some with jobs looking after explosives or acting as bodyguards. A statement from the National Police said those arrested lacked the necessary preparation for the work and were employed because of falsified qualifications. Some of them have a previous criminal record.

The Spanish Government is to increase the tax on diesel vehicles

 

The Spanish Government has revealed that it wants to increase the tax on diesel vehicles because they ‘contaminate more’. The change will be a modification on the vehicle matriculation tax. The Secretary of State for the Environment, Federico Ramos, gave the news after meeting with the environment experts and said that in principle the regional administrations are in agreement. The local City and Town Halls say they now want to first analyse the financial consequences for them. Diesel vehicles not only pollute with CO2 but also emit Nitrogen Dioxide, and particles in suspension.

The ex Mayor of Alcaucín in Málaga, José Manuel Martin Alba, who was arrested for a second time with seven other people

The ex Mayor of Alcaucín in Málaga, José Manuel Martin Alba, who was arrested for a second time with seven other people on Tuesday in the ‘Tristan case’, which comes from the ‘Arcos operation’, made a statement on Wednesday to the investigators of the UCO central operations unit of the Guardia Civil. La Opinión de Málaga reports that he denied knowing the land registry civil servants that he allegedly manipulated with false data to obtain the classification of building land. These plots were often purchased by foreign investors with the idea of building on them. However, the Guardia Civil has said that the land was not buildable and therefore a crime of fraud had taken place, and this part of the investigation is still under reporting restrictions. The declarations continue from the arrested civil servants from the land registry, some in payments, others in Hacienda, as well as three management auxiliaries. The Guardia Civil says that the civil servants, ‘coordinated by a lawyer, modified the data base of the land registry with the end of introducing the false information to give legal coverage to the construction of homes on non-buildable land. The Guardia Civil contends that in exchange they received illegal commissions. Rafael Yus from the Nature Studies Group GENA said that he was not surprised by the ex-Mayor’s new arrest. He said the modification to the land registry was ‘part of what they do here’ and claimed it was ‘a corruption which extends to other municipalities, but which it difficult to demonstrate’.

Escaped prisoner Anthony Downes arrested and held in Amsterdam

 

Anthony Downes, who was arrested in Amsterdam, escaped from a prison van while being transported from HMP Manchester to Liverpool Crown Court in July last year. He had been facing trial for conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to cause damage with intent to endanger life. He was convicted in his absence at Woolwich Crown Court and is due to be sentenced at the end of this week. Downes, 26, featured as part of Crimestoppers’ latest Operation Captura Campaign in October 2011, which seeks to locate wanted fugitives believed to have fled to Spain, who are wanted by UK law enforcement agencies. Lord Ashcroft, KCMG, Founder and Chair of Crimestoppers, said: “This is yet another example of how criminals on the run will eventually be caught and I am delighted to hear that this individual has been arrested. “Crimestoppers is seeing huge success with its fugitive campaigns and the fact that we now have 48 arrests out of 65 appeals from our Captura campaign proves that wanted criminals will eventually be brought to justice.” Deputy Chief Executive, Dave Cording, added: “This arrest comes less than six months after the fifth anniversary of Operation Captura. “Through close collaboration with the Spanish police, SOCA and the public, these individuals have nowhere to hide and those still on the run should think about handing themselves in before they are caught next.” This latest arrest brings the total number of those located to 48 out of 65 appeals since the campaign launched in October 2006. Operation Captura is the successful multi-agency campaign which identifies serious criminals believed to be on the run in Spain.

Expats in Spain warned of faulty hip replacements

Therapist Carol Duquemin, 59, decided to act after being forced to have her hip replacement removed after just four months. Duquemin – whose ordeal came after the manufacturer recalled the faulty product in 2010 – has teamed up with free health care service Medilink to provide advice and support to expats. “Up to 9,000 people in Spain could have been affected by the implants,” Duquemin said. “People are still not aware of the problem and the danger it poses to their health. “The law says you have to have it removed in the country where you had the operation but some hospitals here are not giving the help and information that they should, and it is a big operation that causes a huge trauma to the body.

525 hectares affect by fire at Tossa de Mar

 

Fire fighters brought a fire on the Costa Brava under control on Saturday after it had affected some 525 hectares. The famous local Tramutana northerly wind complicated matters, and dozens of residents had to be evacuated from their homes in Tossa de Mar and Llagostera. The fire started on Friday and was out by Saturday afternoon after firemen opened a firebreak by the road which goes between Sant Grau and Tossa de Mar so they had better access to the fire. Airborne resources, three helicopters and four planes, were key in the controlling of the fire on Saturday after land based equipment was using during Friday night. The cause of the Girona fire, and of the four fires in the Pyrenees which are now extinguished is being investigated.

44 year old British angler, named as Andrew Latham, has died while out fishing for carp at the Amadorio dam

44 year old British angler, named as Andrew Latham, has died while out fishing for carp at the Amadorio dam inland from Villajoyosa. He died instantly last Wednesday morning, at about 1130am, when his fishing line hit a power cable after he lifted his rod above his head after catching a fish. A fellow anger called the emergency services, when he saw the body floating in the reservoir, but they were unable to revive the Briton. Spanish police say they are treating it as an accident. It’s not yet clear whether Andrew Latham was a resident of Spain or on holiday.

British man falls to his death in Benidorm

 

42 year old father of four, Tyrone Jones, known as Ty, has died trying to climb into his apartment after locking himself out on the last day of his holiday. He had been visiting Benidorm for two weeks with a friend. The motor trader from Exeter in Devon fell off a four metre wall and suffered fatal head wounds. Reports indicate the top bricks of the wall were loose. His grieving relatives report that he must have been lying on the ground for up to five hours before he was seen. His parents flew out to Spain when they heard about the tragedy and Ty was on life support in hospital. His organs have been donated to save the lives of three other people, with use being made of his kidneys, pancreas and liver.

Abusing your embutido is prejudicial for your health

 

It has been revealed that those who eat more than 20 grams of chorizo or other embutidos a day could see symptoms and in severe cases suffer a chronic obstruction to the lungs, known as Epoc. It’s thought that the cause of the problem comes from the nitrates which are added as preservatives. The warning comes from CREAL, the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, who have published their study in the European Respiratory Journal. They say that more than 18,000 people die from Epoc each year.

German man arrested after Málaga lawyer's body found in the boot of his own car

It's now been established that robbery was the motive of the fatal attackThe lawyer's car where his body was found in the boot -The body of a lawyer, named as Salvador Andrés Reina, has been found in the boot of his car in Málaga. The lawyer had vanished in strange circumstances in Málaga last Friday and his body was found on Thursday, in the boot of his own car, parked by the bus station in the city. Police say the man’s body shows evident signs of having suffered violence, having been stabbed several times. A 50 year old German man, named with the initials P.R.B. has been arrested in connection with the case. He was arrested before the body was recovered on Thursday morning. Questioning has revealed that he had pretended to be a client, and killed the lawyer to rob him of 1,200 € which the lawyer was forced to take out of his bank. The lawyer’s family raised the alarm with the police on Friday morning last week after Salvador Andrés failed to return home as normal the previous night. They noticed that he had taken a large amount of money from the account, and this was very strange behaviour for a happy married man with two children. The German’s face was captured on a security camera, which has led to his arrest. The Málaga Lawyers College issued a statement which said that Salvador Andrés Reina ‘had been assassinated when meeting his obligations as a lawyer, attending to his office, when a unknown man turned out not to be a client, but a thief and a killer’. The College expressed its sympathies to the family, his companions and friends, and thanked the police for their ‘very intense’ work in solving the case and detaining the suspect.

Spain's 2 big unions call for general strike March 29

Spain's two main unions on Friday called a general strike for March 29 to protest the new conservative government's labor reforms and austerity cuts. It will be the first general strike against the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, which won elections last November and took office late last December, in the midst of Spain's deep economic crisis. The last general strike, in September 2010, was against the then-Socialist government, which also had initiated austerity measures. That strike slowed industry and transport, but much of the country went to work and many analysts saw it as a kind of a draw between the government and unions. Since then, the economic crisis has deepened. Spain's jobless rate is nearly 23 percent overall, and nearly 50 percent for youth. Nearly 5.3 million Spaniards are out of work. Union protests across the nation last month drew large crowds, which analysts say emboldened the unions to move ahead with a general strike. The government says the latest labor reforms are needed to bring flexibility to the workplace and to simplify the rules for employers. But unions say the effect will be to make it easier and cheaper to fire workers. The two main unions -- the Socialist-leaning General Workers Union and the Communist-leaning Workers Commissions -- held separate meetings Friday and then announced the general strike for March 29, a date Spanish news media have been reporting for days as the likely date for the strike. Rajoy, at a recent European Union summit, was reported by Spanish media to be overheard, via an open microphone, telling another EU leader that the labor reforms would cost him a general strike. The reforms were approved first as a decree law, with immediate effect, and the unions called on the government to make amendments as the bill moved through parliament. But the conservatives have a commanding majority in parliament and on Thursday approved the reforms unchanged. The government says the labor reforms make up only a portion of the elements needed to spur an economic recovery. It predicts a 1.7 percent decline in the economy this year. The government also has demanded reforms in the banking sector with the aim of getting credit flowing again and to clean up the books of lenders stuck with huge uncollectable debts left over from Spain's real estate and construction boom that went bust, precipitating the economic crisis. The unions earlier called a round of protests for this Sunday, which coincides with the eighth anniversary of the Madrid train bombings terrorist attacks that killed 191 people.

Top Italian mafia chief arrested in Jerez

 

Guiseppe Polverino has been controlling his business interests in Italy from JerezThe Guardia Civil, in collaboration with the Italian Carabinieri, have arrested a Camorra mafia chief and his deputy in Jerez. Giuseppe Polverino is the boss of the Naples Camorra and was with his deputy, Raffaelle Vallefuoco, when they were found by the Guardia Civil who were carrying searches of several properties the Mafia chief was known to have in Jerez. Documents found indicate that the 56 year old Polverino controlled his ‘business interests’ in Italy from Jerez. Many fake documents were found along with dozens of mobile phones. Polverino has been on the run since 2006, and was on the list of the top 30 Italian most wanted. The Italian judiciary thinks he has been controlling an economic empire worth 1 billion €.

Emergency op for Maurice Boland

RADIO DJ Maurice Boland has thanked his fans for support after he was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment. The DJ, who launched his own station iTalk last year, suffered an infection in the lower colon, but is now back home and on the road to recovery. “It was great to get such an extraordinary amount of messages of support,” he told the Olive Press. “It got me thinking about how many expats are in hospital without anyone to visit them. “I’ve set myself a mission to get volunteers to visit sick expats in hospital.”

German man arrested after Málaga lawyer's body found in the boot of his own car

 

The lawyer, who has not yet been named, went missing last Friday.The lawyer's car where his body was found in the bootThe body of a lawyer, named as Salvador Andrés Reina, has been found in the boot of his car in Málaga. The lawyer had vanished in strange circumstances in Málaga last Friday and his body was found today, Thursday, in the boot of his own car, parked by the bus station in the city. Police say the man’s body shows evident signs of having suffered violence. A 50 year old German man, named with the initials P.R.B. has been arrested in connection with the case. He was arrested before the body was recovered on Thursday morning. It’s not been revealed if he was a client of the lawyer, or whether robbery was his motive. One theory the police are following was that there was a kidnapping which somehow went wrong. The police operation continues open. The Málaga Lawyers College issued a statement which said that Salvador Andrés Reina ‘had been assassinated when meeting his obligations as a lawyer, attending to his office, when a unknown man turned out not to be a client, but a thief and a killer’. The College expressed its sympathies to the family, his companions and friends, and thanked the police for their ‘very intense’ work in solving the case and detaining the suspect.

AN expat gangster has fled his £3million Spanish villa amid claims his life has been threatened by the Russian mafia.

 

 Pat McCadden hasn’t been seen at the Marbella mansion for weeks and his cleaner has told callers he has moved to South Africa. The convicted drug dealer – nicknamed Pat the Rat – is said to be living in fear after a bootleg tobacco deal turned sour. Underworld sources claim McCadden is wanted by a Russian gang who claim he ripped them off in a plan to smuggle cigarettes and tobacco to Ireland. One said: “McCadden is terrified. He has been missing for weeks and has only spoken to his cleaner. “He struck a deal with some Russians to smuggle tobacco into Ireland but they accused him of ripping them off. Now he’s been told there is a price on his head. “He has told her to tell anyone who calls that he has moved to South Africa.” No one answered the door when the Sunday Mail called at McCadden’s mansion last week. It’s a stone’s throw from the exclusive Las Brisas Golf Club, where Sean Connery was a regular when he lived on the Costa del Sol. Post and junk mail remained uncollected in the post box outside the property. There were no cars on the drive behind the metal gates and high hedge which surrounds the front of the house. A postman said: “I’m still delivering letters in Mr McCadden’s name but I’ve never seen anyone here.” A neighbour added: “Pat lived at the house with his family but they haven’t been around for five or six months at least. “Someone’s looking after the house and they’ve told us he’s gone away.” Another neighbour in the upmarket estate of Nueva Andalucia said: “I used to see Mr McCadden quite a bit and he seemed pleasant. I haven’t seen him for ages.” McCadden, jailed for 10 years in 1985 for drugs trafficking, has lived in Spain for more than 10 years. He spent most of 2006 on remand accused of the attempted murder of a Spanish police officer in December 2003. The officer was gunned down during a shootout with two men who moments earlier had shot British expatriate businessmen Luke Miller in the leg. McCadden was in jail for almost seven months before being released on bail while a judicial probe continued. But a judge dismissed the case against the Glaswegian after witnesses failed to identify him and there were also problems with DNA evidence. A source at Malaga’s Policia Nacional, which covers the Marbella area, said: “There’s nothing outstanding against Pat McCadden that we’re aware of at the moment.”

Spanish tax authorities are cracking down on tax offenders

Hacienda has announced it will be keeping a close eye on fiscal engineering from e-commerce firms trading on the Internet. The Agencia Tributaría will also be keeping a close watch on sportsmen and women and artists. A new anti-fraud plan also includes alerts for contraband tobacco and the Secretary of State for Hacienda, Miguel Ferra, says they expect to recover 8.171 billion more from the measures. Hacienda has been told it cannot take on staff but it can substitute one in ten of the retirees. The number of inspections on elite sportsmen will go up by 14%, there will be greater control on house rental and undeclared businesses, using evidence of electrical consumption. Hacienda is also looking more closely at people who declare themselves insolvent when they are not, when they hide their assets. The use of preventative embargoes is to be extended, and offenders who fail to pay their debts to the fiscal face prison. Hacienda has established also new agreements with fiscal authorities in Switzerland, Andorra, Pánama, Bahamas and the Dutch Antilles.

Spain to extradite Egyptian tycoon Hussein Salem to face jail sentence

The Spanish government has reportedly agreed to extradite fugitive business tycoon Hussein Salem to Egypt, says an Egyptian foreign ministry official. Omar Rushdy, the ministry's Plenipotentiary Minister reveals that the Spanish general prosecutor's office called the Egyptian ambassador in Madrid to notify him of the Spanish court's decision to send Salem and his son, Khaled back to Egypt. The court apparently has not yet made a decision regarding Salem's daughter, who is also residing in Spain. A business magnate who enjoyed close ties with the ousted ‎Mubarak regime, Salem, faces multiple charges of corruption and money ‎laundering in both countries. Salem has dual European/Egyptian citizenship. His son and daughter, who ‎were arrested in Spain last summer, are also accused of laundering some 2 billion Euros.‎ Egypt had requested Spain extradite the family to face trial. Salem, who fled Egypt on 3 February at the height of last year’s ‎revolution, was arrested in his mansion in Majorca, Spain in June of ‎last year.‎ On Thursday, the Giza Criminal Court handed Salem a 15-year sentence for illegally acquiring public property. Search Keywords: Egypt   |   Hussein Salem   |   spain   |   Mubarak   Short link:   Email Name Comment's Title Comment Readers Picks Most Viewed Most Commented 1. Egypt’s posturing against US over NGOs saga backfires 2. Cold spell continues across Egypt 3. Judges brew a storm around appeals court head who interfered in NGO case 4. Presidential hopefuls slam decision to lift travel ban off NGO suspects 5. German NGO welcomes home employees trapped in Egypt after travel ban lifted 6. VP of the Free Egyptians Party resigns, leaving the reasons a mystery 7. South Africa offers to help Egypt transition to democracy © 2010 Ahram Online. Advertising

Lloret de Mar turns its back on drunken tourists

 

A barrage of new by-laws has been issued to control the holidaymakers.Following the disturbances seen last summer, the Lloret de Mar Town Hall has passed more restrictive by-laws designed to combat ‘drunken tourism’. Last summer clashes between drunken tourists and police led to 20 arrests when the regional police Los Mosses stopped more clients entering a discotec because the air conditioning was broken. 22 people needed medical treatment including nine officers. That is being described now as a point of inflexion in the town’s tourism. The new regulations are designed to control behaviour on the public highway and encourage civic solidarity. They include a ban on routes known as ‘pub tours’ or ‘disco tours’, and the ‘offering, requesting, promotion or discussion of accepting direct or indirect sexual services’ is banned in public spaces. The consumption of alcohol in the street is also banned as the advertising or bar promotions for alcohol with greater than 20 º content. Also out are free bars, 2X1, happy hours and club cards. Machines which serve drinks are banned on the public highway. Also prohibited is sleeping by day or night in a vehicle, and urinating in the street. There is even a new law prohibiting the practice of ‘balconing’ with fines of as much as 1,500 € for that, although some fines could be as high as 3,000 €. People will only be allowed to walk without a shirt or just in a swimming costume when they are on the beach. Mayor of Lloret de Mar, Romà Codina, said the measures had much to do with the success of similar programs in Barcelona.