Spanish police hold suspected 'Irish serial murderer'

 

SPANISH police were last night reported to be holding an Irishman on suspicion of stabbing two women to death in their Costa del Sol homes. Leading Spanish TV station Telecinco described the suspect as Irish. Last night speculation was mounting that detectives were treating him as a suspected serial killer and looking to link him to a series of other unsolved murders across the country. Detectives established a link between the deaths of two women reported to have worked as prostitutes advertising their services through papers. A 45-year-old Spanish woman of Argentine origin was found in her luxury apartment in the Costa del Sol resort of Calahonda on August 11. She had been stabbed 15 times. A month later, police discovered the body of a 47-year-old Ecuador-born woman at her rented home near Marbella. She had bled to death after being stabbed up to 12 times in her chest and neck. Secrecy Due to the investigating judge granting a secrecy order on the case, spokesmen from Spain's National Police and Civil Guard were unable to confirm the name and nationality of the suspect or discuss local media reports he had been carrying false ID when he was arrested. A spokesman for the National Police said: "I've seen the reports suggesting the suspect is Irish and I've also seen other newspaper reports he's from central Europe, but I cannot give you any details about the man who is in custody." His Moroccan girlfriend and her mother were also being held. The man being held in custody was arrested on Friday at a gym near his home in Riviera del Sol near Fuengirola. The block where he was arrested is just a stone's throw from the home of missing Amy Fitzpatrick's mum, Audrey. Police are believed to have arrested him after stolen credit cards belonging to one of the victims was used to withdraw cash from ATMs in the area.

Arrested man admits to killings on the Costa del Sol

 

An alleged serial killer, who has been operating on the Costa del Sol and who is believed to be responsible for the deaths of two women, has been arrested. The crimes were on August 11 and September 10 in Calahonda and San Pedro de Alcántara, and in both cases the women had Spanish nationality but were of Latin American origin, and both were stabbed. Preliminary reports from the autopsies show certain similarities between the crimes. The 42 year old man, who has been revealed to be a foreigner although his nationality has not been announced, was arrested in Mijas, and the man’s mother and girlfriend have also been arrested to determine their possible implication in the crimes. The arrest took place on Friday night in a gymnasium near the suspect’s home in Urbanisation Riviera del Sol in Mijas Costa, and he was taken for questioning at the Fuengirola Civil Guard Barracks, while the two women were taken for questioning by the police in Marbella. The investigation was carried out jointly by the Guardia Civil and the National Police. They say that they cannot rule out other victims in other parts of Spain or in other countries, and they will continue to investigate over the next few days to try and establish if the suspect has taken part in other killings. On Saturday they said that the arrested man could have committed two more crimes, and believe that the tortures his victims before death. Latest reports indicate that he has admitted to the two crimes on the Costa del Sol.

Spain clears cops in Basque militant tipoff case

 

Spanish court has dropped an indictment that had charged a former police chief and two other police officials with tipping off members of the Basque separatist group ETA that arrests were imminent. A 14-judge panel at the National Court ruled Wednesday night there was insufficient evidence against the suspects but ordered the probe to continue and be broadened because there was evidence a crime was committed. The case is politically sensitive. At the time of the alleged incident in 2006, ETA was observing a ceasefire and during that truce the Socialist government negotiated with ETA, although the talks went nowhere and the Basque militant group reverted to violence in a matter of months. ETA has killed 829 people since 1968 in a campaign of bombings, shootings, kidnapping and extortion. It is considered a terrorist organization by Spain, the European Union and the United States. Critics of the Socialist government say that the alleged tipoff was a way of going easy on ETA and nurturing prospects for a settlement in the decades-old Basque conflict. The Interior Minister then _ the man to whom the indicted police answered _ was Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, now the Socialist candidate for prime minister in general elections on Nov. 20. The opposition conservative Popular Party has been relentless in its questioning of Perez Rubalcaba in Parliament over the tipoff. The party reacted to the court decision saying it was pleased the case is still alive and said the panel has in effect confirmed that a crime was committed. "The police collaborated with ETA so it could continue to raise funds," said its spokesman on judicial affairs, Federico Trillo. The original indictment was handed down in July. Investigating magistrate Pablo Ruz wrote there was sufficient evidence to charge then National Police chief Victor Garcia Hidalgo and two other still-active police officials with tipping off ETA members that a raid targeting its fundraising extortion unit was imminent. On May 4, 2006, police were about to swoop in on a bar in the Basque town of Irun where its owner was allegedly about to give an ETA member the equivalent of some $70,000 extorted from a Basque businessman. The National Court has said someone walked into the bar that morning and handed owner Joseba Elosua a cell phone over which he was warned he was under investigation and should not hand over the money. He did not, because it turned out the money transfer was supposed to take place not in that bar as suspected but across the border in France. Weeks later, Elosua and more than a dozen others were arrested.

Spanish jail-house film shows without on-the-run actor

 

A Spanish prison screened a short film made by inmates Friday with one missing ingredient -- a key actor in the jail-house drama is on the run. Inmates spent months making "Guilty", about a murderer haunted by his victim, to show in an annual festival behind bars in Leon, northern Spain, a prison official and media here said. "Among the inmates taking part, there was one in the final stages of his sentence who was allowed out regularly with leave, but who did not come back from one of those leaves," said a prison service spokeswoman. Prisoners completed the film without the missing actor who disappeared at least two months ago, said the spokeswoman for the Secretary General of Penitentiary Institutions. She denied reports he had the leading role. "He may have had some more important scenes but he was not not necessarily the hero." The actor is being sought for breach of a six-year drug-dealing sentence, which had been due for completion in 2012, she said, stressing that he was not considered a danger.

Owner of marijuana plantation caused Ibiza fire by negligence

 

Spanish man who was arrested for starting the fire which broke out on Ibiza on Sunday night is believed to have started it through negligence while he was caring for his marijuana plantation nearby. Civil Guard sources have told the EFE news agency that the cause is thought to be either a cigarette he was smoking or a fire he had lit to cook food. The suspect had spent the past few days caring for his crop in the area where the blaze broke out. He spent his nights in a home-made shelter and used a nearby cave to dry out his plants. The Civil Guard seized marijuana plants and dried leaves at the site, amounting to almost 6 kilos of the drug. The man now faces additional charges of a public health crime. The fire which began in Cala Llonga and forced hundreds of people to be evacuated in Santa Eulàra des Riu destroyed more than 80 hectares of pines and just under 9 hectares of agricultural crops. The amount of land destroyed is however lower than the original estimate of 115 hectares. The Baleares Nature Institute, Ibanat, gives the amount as 92.3 hectares.

Ten Britons arrested in new Ibiza raid against drug traffickers

 

The gang dealt in cocaine and designer drugs at the clubs on the island.Britons and an Irishman have been arrested by the Guardia Civil on Ibiza, accused of supplying drugs to discotheques on the island over the summer. The head of the gang was arrested in Manchester where a search of his flat revealed 40,000 pounds sterling and five kilos of cocaine. Information leading to the arrests came from a previous operation carried out at the end of August against other British traffickers on the Baleares, in which there were 13 arrests, nine Britons, three Irish and a Polish man. The Guardia Civil say the groups only operated in the high summer season, and made the use of several homes on the island to store small quantities of drugs which would be distributed within days. The main store of the drugs were hidden in hard to access parts of the countryside more than 5 kms away from any homes. They were protected in plastic bags, sealed with tape and placed in lunchboxes to avoid damp and any deterioration of the drug.

Detectives suspect possible serial killer in two murders on the Costa del Sol

 

The National Police are working together with the Civil Guard to solve two recent murders on the Málaga coast which La Opinión de Málaga reports officers believe could have been committed by a serial killer. Both victims were women, of a similar age, and were both from South America. They had both taken out Spanish nationality and were both found stabbed to death in properties which were not theirs. The first victim was Susana M.F. from Argentina, whose son found her stabbed to death in a flat in Calahonda, Mijas, on August 11. One month later, on September 10, the body of Maryuru Alice P., a 47 year old woman from Brazil, was discovered in San Pedro de Alcántara, by the owner of the flat where she was found. The autopsy has shown that she died the previous day. Domestic violence has been ruled out in both cases. La Opinión has spoken to detectives who are working on the investigation, who believe the killer could be related to previous murders with a similar modus operandi.

FIVE HUNDRED MARIJUANA PLANTS FOUND BY BOMBERAS

 

Firefighters discovered five hundred marijuana plants on Sunday when they entered a house in Jacarilla to attend a fire. According to sources from the emergency services, the two-storey building was empty when emergency staff arrived at the scene. The Civil Guard is now trying to locate the owner. The marijuana plants were fitted with an irrigation system and lighting for easy cultivation and a spokesman suggested that the flames could have been caused by an electrical short caused by excessive energy consumption. The Bomberas reported that the fire broke out about 2pm on Sundat afternoon and took about an hour to quell the flames and ventilate the building, which had been affected by smoke.

Spanish custom officers seize cigarette packs

 

SPANISH customs officers in La Linea de la Concepción seized 2,848 packets of cigarettes last weekend, according to press reports. Contraband tobacco was found hidden in three vehicles crossing the border into Spain from Gibraltar. In a fourth case, the bag of a person walking by the Levante area was searched and was found to be carrying 1,000 packets of contraband tobacco.

Brits arrested for drug trafficking on the Baleares

 

 

The Organised Crime Squad ECO of the Guardia Civil based on Mallorca completed the second part of an operation against drug trafficking on Sunday. The first part of the operation had been started at the end of August. At that time ten Britons were arrested and on Sunday the ECO agents picked up another ten youngsters of the same nationality. Judicial sources say that seven of the ten were sent to prison in Eivissa, on remand, while two were granted bail of 10,000 € and one was released without bail. Reporting restrictions have been imposed in the case. And in a separate case on Saturday the Guardia Civil have arrested a British man in Sant Antoni, Ibiza found to have 300 ecstasy pills hidden in his hotel room. The investigation is being handled by the Judicial Police of the Guardia Civil. We also have more details about a Guardia Civil drugs raid last Wednesday, also in Sant Antoni, when four homes were searched in the second phase of the Rula operation. 5 kilos of cocaine was recovered along with 5,000 ecstasy pills, and ten more arrests were made. Diario Ibiza reports that all those arrested are men, nearly all of them young and also British, although there are some Irish in the group. Judge Carmen Martín in Instruction Court 3 in Ibiza took their statements on Sunday.

Banker link to Panda murder

 

FORMER bank worker holds the key to the murder of one of the country’s most feared drugs barons, ‘the Panda’. Michael ‘Micka’ Kelly died in a hail of bullets in broad daylight as he was targeted by two ruthless brothers who control the Real IRA in Dublin. Now detectives believe an ex banker – known as ‘Jewie’ – who was Kelly’s righthand man, witnessed the murder and then fled the scene. The Real IRA hitmen shot ‘the Panda’ with a handgun and a high powered rifle and then drove over their slain victim’s head. “Jewie is in a state of shock. He knows they would have killed him as well if they could. He is in a very vulnerable place now that Kelly has been murdered,” said a source. The Real IRA had their victim under surveillance for the past two weeks from an apartment in the Clongriffin complex where the murder took place. Officers initially thought there was a firefight when bullet holes were discovered in the killers’ getaway car. Now detectives have established the bullet holes were fired from the inside-out and caused by the gunmen letting off shots within the vehicle. The 30-year-old ‘Panda’ died in a hail of bullets fired from a high-powered rifle at 1.15pm Thursday outside apartments at Clongriffin,north Dublin. Officers were working on the theory that pals of drug dealer Anthony Foster – murdered by the Panda's mob in 2008 – enlisted the Real IRA to carry out yesterday’s murder. Less than an hour after he was shot dead and his body driven over, the home of a female associate of Anthony Foster was raided by armed detectives. No arrests were made and nothing of significance was found, but sources say that gardai searched the property because they believe that Foster's associates ordered the revenge murder of Kelly. The young woman whose home was raided also has links to the notorious band of brothers from Donaghmede who are considered the leaders of the Real IRA in Dublin. Kelly – who made a fortune from drug dealing – is understood to have a major property portfolio which includes apartments in Dubai and Spain. He had spent most of the last year living in Spain's Costa-Del-Crime but had returned to his home patch in recent weeks after his girlfriend gave birth to a baby boy, the thug's third child. It is understood that he had just visited this child yesterday when he was blasted to death. Originally from Swans Nest Road, Kilbarrack, Kelly and his mob were suspected of a savage attack on an innocent man in a Northside pub just a fortnight ago which left the victim hospitalised. Gardai are hoping to conduct further interviews today of The Panda's driver who spotted the hit squad seconds before Kelly came out of the apartment block at Marrsfield Avenue. This man – a loyal and key associate of Kelly – is nicknamed Jewie and is a former bank employee. He fled the scene shortly after his pal was gunned down. Jewie now holds all the secrets – not only about yesterday’s murder but of also of the location of the hundreds of thousands of euro that ‘The Panda’ has hidden away. Gardai believe Kelly's murder was well planned and that his killers had very accurate information about his movements and had him under surveillance for some time. The gangster was paranoid about his movements and knew that his life was under threat because of his involvement in a string of other gangland murders in the last five years. Execution Yesterday's execution is considered the most significant gangland murder since Eamon ‘The Don' Dunne was shot dead in a Cabra pub in April 2010. Kelly had links to ‘The Don' and, like Eamon Dunne, dozens of gangland rivals wanted him dead. With Kelly a major target for gardai for years, the High Court gave the Criminal Assets Bureau permission in December to seize a house and two cars which were owned by him. The house, at Boyne View, Navan, Co Meath, and cars were sold and the proceeds will be transferred to State coffers. In December 2008, he was the target of a major raid by specialist Garda units, including the Criminal Assets Bureau. Twelve properties were searched as part of a major investigation into the proceeds of drug-dealing in north Dublin. Kelly – who loved fast cars and women – had barely any major criminal convictions and never served any jail time. His most serious conviction dates from 2000 when he was given a three-year suspended sentence after being caught with a haul of ecstasy tablets. ‘The Panda’ ordered the murder of his pal Anthony Foster in July 2008 as apart of a bitter drugs dispute. Foster's murder deeply upset his associates who are now believed to have paid a Real IRA murder squad up to €100,000 to kill Kelly yesterday. Sources say that the “completely ruthless nature” of the Real IRA thugs can be seen by the fact that The Panda had himself employed the exact same thugs to murder his gangland rival Sean Winters in Portmarnock last September.

Case summary reveals the size of Astapa corruption in Estepona

 

The judge in the Astapa case, regarding corruption in Estepona Town Hall, has more than 40 million € belonging to the 99 indicted in the case frozen, and Hacienda has detected a missing 20 million from appraisals on four real estate deals. These are named a El Ángel, Valle Romano, Arroyo Enmedio Este and Camino del Cerrillar. The case summary shows that as many as 1,800 properties have been impounded in the case, along with 50 vehicles, and a stud with 38 horses. One of the papers dated December 2010 shows that police have requested information from more than 100 local companies, most of them hotels, banks or builders and from what was obtained have concluded that the Town Hall and the political parties organised events and other items paid for by third parties, or by the people alleged to be at the centre of the case. El País reports that the ex Chairman of the Caja Jaén is among those implicated for bribery. José Antonio Arcos Moya, is alleged to have been involved in the payments surrounding concessions made by the Town Hall in 2007 regarding the first occupancy licence for La Reserva de Selwo Golf S.L. The case summary notes the high life style of the ex Councillor, José Ignacio Crespo and says there are indications that he received a 40,000 € payment from a company with town planning interests in the town. The tax authorities are investigating more than 120 companies and individuals and the police continue to wade through 160 boxes of files and 100 hard disks of information.

Moroccan cops seize Scot caught with £500k of cannabis resin

 

holidaymaker is being held in a hell-hole Moroccan jail after being caught in a camper van with £500,000 of hashish. Daniel Healy, 66, was arrested last week as he tried to drive across the border from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. The police discovered the 100kg stash of cannabis resin hidden in aluminium boxes stashed in a water tank. Since then, Healy – who is from Glasgow – has spent six nights in the violent and cramped Tetouan prison. Friend Graham Boszormenyi, 46, claimed that Healy was unaware of the hidden drugs. Ex-Royal Navy submariner Graham said: “Daniel is a good friend of mine and I know that he had no knowledge of what he was carrying. “I spoke to him a couple of days ago and he said he plans to plead guilty because he’s been told he’ll only get one year. “But I know the system in Morocco and I don’t believe it for a minute. “I’ve been through this before. Twice they’ve had me in Morocco and I think he could end up getting four to six years – and he’s too old for that. “He’s in the worst prison possible, where there are 60 people in a cell with one shared toilet. “He’s a harmless old man who is known by lots of people around the world. He’s a noisy drunk but he’s not any kind of criminal. “I know the people who are behind this and I think they will help by coming forward to the UK authorities and telling them that he knew nothing about it. “I have spoken to his family in Scotland and they are understandably very worried. “He has been sucker-punched. He had no idea that these people had just used him. It’s backfired on everyone, especially him. “He was travelling under a different name, John McLeish. I don’t know why. He’s due to be tried on Tuesday.” Healy was driving the Spanish- registered camper van when he was stopped on the border between Morocco and Ceuta. He had been expected to get a ferry from Ceuta across the Mediterranean to the Spanish city of Algeciras. Healy’s daughter Siobhan is a celebrated glass artist with a studio in Glasgow’s Dennistoun. The 34-year-old – whose clients include the Scottish government, the BBC and many councils – said: “I don’t know anything about this. “It doesn’t sound like the kind of thing my dad would be involved in.” Officials from the British embassy are expected to make the 215-mile trip from the Moroccan capital Rabat to offer Healy assistance. A US state department report on Moroccan jail conditions said: “They generally did not meet international standards. “Prisons were overcrowded, resulting in poor hygienic conditions and are prone to violence.” A Moroccan police spokesman said: “We arrested a Scottish man and he is now in prison. We can’t tell you anything else.” A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are aware of the arrest of a British national in Morocco."

Why some Harley Davidson bikes are 'too American' for Spain

 

The Spanish traffic authorities have impounded hundreds of second hand Harley Davidson motorbikes which had been imported from the United States as they are ‘too American’. Hundreds of Spanish owners of the bikes are angry that they cannot remove them from the Guardia Civil barracks where they are being stored as it has been determined that the bikes do meet the Spanish official approval level. Only the Harleys which are sold via official dealers in Spain are being considered to meet the homologación official. An association has been formed by those affected says most of the bikes have passed the ITV test and are identical to those being sold by dealers. Their lawyer, Francisco Gualda, says that as many as 5000 bikes could be affected. Many bikers have opted for imported bikes to save money; quite how much is not clear. One report that it is 800 € has been dismissed by the lawyer who told El País, ‘Nobody would risk losing their bike for such an amount’. The Guardia Civil says the vehicles need to have the official approval sign assigned on an individual basis, but the bikes owners say it is impossible for individuals to obtain the documents. The DGT traffic authority has denied that there is any campaign against Harvey Davidson’s, saying that when a driver is stopped and his documents are not in order, then the bike is impounded. Josep Grañó, the Managing Director of Harley Davidson in Spain has told El País that the imported bikes are different as they have different engines. ‘That’s why we cannot repair them as they require different tools’. He also says the imported bikes do not meet many standards including CO emission, and noise.

British man arrested in Martorell facing paedophile charges

 

British man has been arrested in Martorell, near Barcelona, accused to taking photographs of and abusing youngsters in the locality. The complaint against him was made by a shop owner who saw how the man was taking photographs of his children in his shop. Closed circuit television in the shop confirmed the behaviour of the suspect who visited the shop every day and who told the children how to pose, including showing their underwear. The shop owner also alleges that touching took place. The 54 year old Briton has not been named in reports, but is said to live in Burjassot, Valencia, and faces charges of involvement in child pornography and also the sexual abuse of children, according to the regional police, Los Mossos d’Esquadra. They found some 40,000 paedophile archives on the man’s computer at his home and the suspect is being held in prison ahead of appearing in court

Fury over 'link' of drug arrests to Jodie's death

 

SPANISH police investigating the circumstances surrounding Jodie Nieman's death made nine arrests last week. Although police are certain the Kenley beautician died from a heart attack, it is not clear whether her death was drug-related. ​ MISSED: Jodie Nieman An investigation has been launched into drugs supply in Ibiza and police announced last Thursday that they had arrested nine men after seizing cocaine, thousands of ecstasy pills, steroids and laboratory equipment. One of the men is from Croydon but it is not suggested Ms Nieman, who died just days before her 20th birthday on July 15, knew him. The former nail technician's mother Debbie, of Waterbourne Way, Kenley, said she was "disappointed and angry" Spanish police had linked the arrests with her daughter. She said: "We still don't know if Jodie took any pills. The doctor in Ibiza said they weren't told she had taken any tablets. "Until we have results saying she took any drugs, we just don't know and it is upsetting because we are still waiting on tests." Spanish police said most of the pills found are known as Pink Rock Star, similar to those thought to have caused the death of Ms Nieman and the poisoning of others in July, officers added. The UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency took part in the operation against a mostly-British gang which travelled to Ibiza to feed the demand from the summer influx of clubbers. Detectives arrested five British men, including a 39-year-old from Croydon, three from Ireland and one from Poland. They were being questioned by officers from the Guardia Civil on suspicion of various drugs offences. The former Riddlesdown student was just three days into her holiday when she had a heart attack on a night out at the Space club in the Playa d'en Bossa resort. The teenager's funeral took place at Croydon Crematorium on August 16. Mum Debbie said her 19-year-old daughter was a "stylish princess" who would defend her friends to the end. Ms Nieman added: "She had champagne on the plane over and it came in a plastic glass – Jodie just said: 'Who has champagne in a plastic glass?' "That was just Jodie. Every day another person tells me they knew Jodie and they went to the funeral. I didn't know she was so loved."

Expat fraud suspects arrested in Spanish mountain retreat

 

According to Spanish local media, police estimate that the couple, known as John and Amanda Treagust, may have netted up to £150,000 by advertising bogus Spanish rental properties, complete with pictures, on their website, Costa Blanca Live. Up to 60 holidaymakers, including Britons, French, Portuguese, Italians and Belgians, are alleged to have fallen for the scam and paid upfront for properties that weren't, in reality, available for rent, or had been rented out to multiple people. The pair ran a blog entitled Life on the Costa Blanca, and boasted of growing their business from a "small project" in 2007 to "a busy and bustling company.....with over five thousand properties managed directly by us, meaning you have the peace of mind that should anything go wrong, or should you have any concerns, we are here to help." Amanda Treagust, referred to as the company's commercial director, is described on the blog as "never resting until her clients are settled into that perfect property and are enjoying the Spanish lifestyle she has come to love and adore". The Treagusts were arrested at a small property in the mountains of Mojacar, Almeria, after an eight-month police operation following an initial complaint lodged back in February. Originally from the Chorley area of Lancashire, John Treagust used to run the Last Orders pub in Wallagate, Wigan. On the pub's Facebook page, created by Treagust, he says: "I had three happy years there, now running a property business in Spain." An online forum about the couple's business dates back to March 2009 and has been inundated with 23 pages of comment, containing more than 200 threads. One comment, posted on August 20 this year, read: "13 girls put down a deposit for a hen weekend away in a villa in Los Balcones also and were informed two days before that the villa was double-booked. As it was a special occasion we have to find somewhere else very quickly and pay the additional fees. "We have still not received any money back and are still chasing. We all want to take action and stop others suffering in the same way." Spanish police were unable to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Spanish police retrieve diamond swallowed by thief

 

 

Spanish police have foiled an attempted robbery from a British woman, after discovering a stolen diamond inside a man's stomach. The woman's handbag - which contained cash and a diamond pendant worth 12,000 euros (£10,500) - was taken as she dined in a restaurant in Marbella. The suspects were caught four hours later with most of the loot. But it took three days to retrieve the most valuable item, the diamond, after one of the men swallowed it. The woman had been sitting in the Marbella restaurant with a friend when two smartly dressed men entered - one of the men taking the table behind the women. Some time later the women realised that both men had disappeared along with the handbag, which contained 2,000 euros and £500 in cash as well as the diamond and other valuables. At 18:00 the same day police were conducting a routine vehicle check about 50km (30 miles) up the coast in Torremolinos when they spotted four men, known to have criminal records for robbery. Their suspicions raised, they inspected the vehicle and discovered jewellery and a woman's purse containing British currency and ID documents. But it was the sight of a suspect raising his hand to his mouth that drew the attention of one sharp-eyed officer. He guessed the man was swallowing some of the evidence. All four suspected thieves were promptly taken to a local clinic, where X-rays revealed a diamond, minus the chain it once hung from, inside one of their stomachs. The British woman was reunited with most of her possessions that same evening. But she only received the precious jewel three days later. According to police spokeswoman Ana Moreno in Torremolinos: "It was retrieved in the simplest and most natural way."

Smuggler Tosses Passengers Off Jet Ski

 

Spanish police say a human smuggler trying to sneak two Moroccans into Spain by crossing the Strait of Gibraltar on a jet ski threw them into the water when detected by coastal authorities and that one drowned. A Civil Guard statement Tuesday said the incident happened Sept. 9 near the Spanish town of Tarifa. The Moroccan driver has been charged with negligent manslaughter. One of the travelers managed to swim ashore after being dumped 500 meters from it, but the other did not survive. Spain is a lure for poor North and sub-Saharan Africans because it is Europe's southern gateway. Every year, thousands try to reach the Spanish mainland or Spain's Canary Islands off the coast of west Africa.

PORTUGUESE AUTHORITIES SEEK TRIAL OF ALLEGED GIBRALTAR DRUGS DEALERS

 

An ongoing investigation dating back well over a year continues after a local man aged 73 was arrested last week and remanded on Friday on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant. On Thursday officers of the RGP arrested Angel Vella of No. 7 Maidstone House. The warrant issued by the Portuguese authorities is for alleged offences of conspiracy to import 6000 kilos of cannabis resin into Portugal. Vella appeared before the Magistrates Court on Friday where he was remanded in custody until September 19. Vella, who was granted legal aid and is represented by Carl Rammage, did not agree to being surrendered to the Portuguese authorities. In court the Portuguese Government was represented by Crown Counsel Karina Khubchand of the International Division EU International Department of the Government of Gibraltar.

 

Spanish-based Seven guilty of 'boiler-room' fraud

 

Seven men were convicted today of an £8 million boiler-room fraud, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said. The Spanish-based operation targeted thousands of investors in the UK applying high pressure telesales techniques to push shares in a bio-diesel company, Worldwide Bio Refineries (WBR). In fact, the company was practically worthless. One defendant, company director Redmond Johnson, 66, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud investors. Fellow director Dennis Potter, 72, who lived in Singapore, was convicted of the conspiracy along with John Murphy, 35, and Greg Pearson, 38, both of Marbella, Daniel Murphy, 37, and Lee Homan, 37, both of Hertfordshire, and Peter Bibby, 44, of south London, who all managed share sales. Bibby absconded before the Ipswich Crown Court trial and was convicted in his absence. There is a warrant for his arrest. Commenting on the convictions, SFO director Richard Alderman said: "This is an excellent result. Not only do boiler-room fraudsters prey on vulnerable people, they also deprive genuine businesses of the capital they need to grow. "Quite bluntly, they ruin lives. I am delighted that the SFO is playing its part in tracking down operations like these and bringing fraudsters to book." WBR was set up in 2003 and had a processing plant in County Durham that was purported to produce diesel fuel from vegetable matter. It also had a plant in Singapore producing diesel intended to be marketed in the UK. The share selling was undertaken by salesmen working from a number of boiler-rooms in Marbella and Barcelona although many of them used false names and claimed to be calling from offices Frankfurt, Stockholm or Amsterdam. The business prospects of the company and the bio-diesel market were inflated by WBR's directors and the salesmen, who claimed that substantial international business was being done and that the business's shares were valued at £110 million. Investors believed that their investment in a successful bio-diesel enterprise would net them significant short-term returns, bolstered by claims that WBR was to be floated on the stock market. These claims were bogus. The SFO found that the bio-diesel plant had no output and, with only limited imports coming from the Singapore plant, WBR was not being managed with any intention of it becoming a growing commercial success. Virtually all of WBR's revenue between 2005 and 2007 was generated by share sales. Of the £8.2 million attracted from investors, around £4 million was transferred to accounts in Cyprus, Jersey and Spain for the benefit of the boiler-room salesmen. The group will be sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court on September 23.

Woman stabbed to death in Marbella

 

47 year old woman was found stabbed to death inside a flat in Marbella on Saturday. The woman had Spanish nationality but was of Ecuadorian origin. Reports indicate the victim did not live in the flat in San Pedro de Alcántara where her body was found, but she was a frequent visitor. Police sources say there was a lot of blood at the scene and she had been stabbed more than a dozen times. Some 20 National Police have taken over the investigation of the case, and reports are that they are considering it a crime of passion. Neighbours say the woman worked as a prostitute, inviting her clients to the flat. They note that there was no forced entry to the flat. Last August 11th, another woman, aged 45 and of Argentinean origin was found stabbed in a flat in nearby Mijas. That case remains open and is being investigated by the Guardia Civil.

Three Britons face a total of 27 years in prison for drug trafficking

 

Málaga Prosecutors’ Office has asked for a total of 27 years in prison for three British men who are accused of trafficking in cocaine. The three, who also face a 3.6 million € fine each, were found with some 15 kilos of the drugs, and one of them is also accused of document falsification for being found with fake passports. The value of the drugs intervened has been estimated at 900,000 €. Europa Press reports that the provisional conclusions of the prosecutor reveal that one of the men was caught by the National Police in Alsasua, Navarra ‘when he was transporting 15 packets of the drug in a rucksack, while driving an articulated lorry. The prosecution alleges that the transport had been agreed with the other two Britons, and the three had intended to sell the drugs to a third party. The oral hearing for the case is expected to get underway in Section Nine of the Provincial Court in Málaga on the 14th of this month.

Spanish police said their criminal assets agency was investigating properties worth millions including a holiday resort in Brazil.

 

Dissident republican crime gangs in Dublin have split and are feuding in ways similar to the bloody factionalising of the remnants of the terror group the Irish National Liberation Amy (INLA) in the late Eighties and Nineties. Since former Real IRA man Liam Kenny, 53, was shot dead at his home in Chapelizod, Dublin, in June a series of serious incidents including several attempted murders have taken place. Kenny, a former Provisional IRA member had been a member of the Real IRA in Dublin but fell out with other members after it split acrimoniously into two factions in the city. Last Wednesday, an associate of Kenny's, Frank Nolan, 49, was shot and seriously injured when a teenager on a bicycle pulled up beside him at Oranmore Road in Ballyfermot and shot him at close range. There had been a pipe bomb attack on Nolan's home in July. Nolan, who served a term of imprisonment for reckless endangerment in an incident in which a man was shot in the thigh in a Ballyfermot pub in 2000, is recovering in hospital. The incident has created more tension and gardai expect there were will be more attacks. The reasons for the attack were not clear but gardai say there had been a public meeting of republicans last weekend and threats had apparently been exchanged afterwards. It is believed that after his row with his former dissident republican associates, Liam Kenny left the Real IRA faction and moved to the group styling itself as the Continuity IRA. This group has now split in two as well, with one group led by a Limerick man in his late fifties but with support in Dublin and which is opposed to another faction also still styling itself with the same name based in Dublin. In traditional republican style, the various groups send coded claims to newspapers making allegations and threats against each other, followed by counter-claims that the initial statements were from "gangsters" or "drug dealers" and not republicans. This is exactly what went on when the INLA went into its finally destructive round of feuding in the late Eighties. All the Dublin dissident groups are aligned in one way or another with the city's drug gangs and gardai are concerned that they are adding an extra dimension to the already violent state of organised crime in the city. The investigation into Kenny's murder has become highly complicated with detectives trying to work out the reasons behind the killing as Kenny was at odds with not only his former dissident associates but also with drug dealers in the west of the city. There was initially suspicion last week that there might be a dissident link to the murder of Thomas McDonagh, 49, a traveller shot dead at his caravan in Ballymun last Saturday night. Gardai have known for some time of tensions between Traveller and settled gangs in north Dublin and believe that Travellers have been selling pipe bombs to both ordinary criminal and dissident republican gangs. However, Mr McDonagh was not involved in these activities and is believed to have been murdered by a Finglas-based gang of settled criminals involved in the drugs trade and in armed robberies including tiger kidnappings. It is believed he had been involved in drug dealing and had a heroin problem and was shot because of an unpaid debt of €15,000. One of the main current concerns among gardai in Dublin is the re-emergence of the gangland figure Freddie Thompson following a fire-bomb attack on his mother's house in the Coombe area. Gardai in the Dublin South Central Division have been on high alert since the attack on the home of Lisa Thompson, who has no involvement in criminal activity, but is believed to have been targeted by her son's rivals. Freddie Thompson had spent most of the previous 15 months in England, returning only for brief visits to Dublin and the gang violence in the south city had reduced. It is believed he was concerned that he would be arrested and extradited to Spain after Spanish police said they had issued a warrant for his arrest and extradition at the time of a series of high- profile raids in May last year on the mainly Irish gang led by Dubliner Christy Kinahan, who has been living in Estepona, Spain. However, the warrant has not been sent to gardai even though they have informed the Spanish authorities of his presence here. Thompson had been staying in Estepona up until shortly before the launching of Europe-wide raids aimed at the organisation, which Spanish, British and Europol police said was headed by Kinahan. There were 78 raids including 45 here, 21 in Spain and 12 in Britain. Some 34 people were arrested and €1m in cash seized. Spanish police said their criminal assets agency was investigating properties worth millions including a holiday resort in Brazil. Thompson was questioned in February 2007 when his associate, Paddy Doyle, 27, from Dublin was shot dead in Estepona but Thompson was not at the scene and it is thought the murder was carried out by Turkish mafia

Pensioner shot dead on a bench in Torremolinos

 

man in his seventies is under arrest after shooting a 79 year old man dead while he was sitting chatting with a friend on a public bench in Torremolinos. It happened in broad daylight at around 7 on Wednesday evening in the Plaza Costa del Sol in the town centre. The victim, 79 year old from Ciudad Real who Málaga Hoy newspaper said has a holiday apartment in Torremolinos, was shot at point blank range in the back of the head. His killer is a man from Cádiz province who lives locally and has a previous criminal record. He was arrested near the scene shortly afterwards, still carrying with him in a bag the shotgun he had used for the murder. There is no clear motive for the murder as yet, although friends of the victim said it could have been an argument over the sale of a property. There are unconfirmed reports from Público that it was an argument over a game of dominoes.

Spanish police have smashed the drug ring that is believed to have supplied Kenley teenager Jodie Nieman with the ecstasy

 

Spanish police have smashed the drug ring that is believed to have supplied Kenley teenager Jodie Nieman with the ecstasy tablet that probably killed her. Mark Adrian Whitley, 39 from Croydon, was among 13 suspected drug dealers arrested by police last Thursday in Ibiza where the 19-year-old died in July. Spanish police confirmed the majority of the pills seized in the raids were Pink Rock Star, the same type believed to have killed Miss Nieman. It is thought the dodgy pills were also responsible for poisoning eight other individuals in Ibiza over the summer. Police said the drug ring was the biggest British group operating on the island and had now been "completely dismantled". Officers from Spain’s Civil Guard, supported by British officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency, raided eight properties across the party island. As part of Operation Rula, police confiscated £60,500 in various currencies, 4kg of cocaine, 3,600 MDMA pills, 53g of hashish and 300 doses of anabolic steroids. There were also precision scales, mobile phones and other drug-related paraphernalia in the addresses. A Civil Guard spokesman said: "This one of the most active gangs on the island which is the main supplier of cocaine and other designer drugs around the clubs and bars. "Enquiries were carried out on the basis of intelligence obtained by the Guardia Civil after other gangs involved in drugs trafficking on the island were dismantled. "The majority of these gangs were British and took advantage of the influx of young people during the summer. "The gang, which is now dismantled, only travelled to Ibiza in summer to meet the large demand for drugs on the island during this period. "When some of the drugs were running short, other gangs based in the UK would send new batches via different methods." Miss Nieman, a nail technician at Nails To Be Seen in Warlingham, was holidaying with friends when she fell unconscious at the Space nightclub in the Playa d'en Bossa resort on July 13. She died of a suspected heart attack, with friends admitting to Spanish police they had taken ecstasy. But Croydon Coroner’s Court has ordered a second investigation into the cause of Miss Nieman’s sudden death. Miss Nieman’s mother Debbie and her partner Simon Atkar, along with her brother Mark, recently visited the island to see where the teenager had died and to bring her body home. Her funeral was held on August 16 at Croydon Crematorium but her mother discovered Spanish police had removed the girl’s heart for tests. The family have been told it could be six months until results of the tests, which might give a conclusive cause of death, come back.

£40m cocaine smuggling gang convicted

 

drugs gang responsible for smuggling cocaine with a street value of up to £40m into the UK has been convicted at the High Court in Glasgow. They were involved in importing the drugs from Spain between 2007 and 2009. The ringleaders were Keith Blenkinsop, of Annan, and Lindsay Harkins from Helensburgh. Three men who acted as mules - Andrew Burns, of Helensburgh; Robert Dalrymple, of Gretna; and James Elvin, from Clydebank - were also convicted. The cocaine was concealed inside suitcases and holdalls flown by couriers into Prestwick, Glasgow and Newcastle airports. The court heard how the drugs were concealed beneath a false bottom sewn into suitcases The court heard how the operation came to an end when one of the gang's couriers, David Harbinson, 41, of Annan, was caught with some counterfeit £20 notes and blurted out details of the drugs scheme to police. A teller at a Marks and Spencer bureau de change in Carlisle noticed the currency among a bundle of sterling he wanted to convert to euros. Mr Harbinson subsequently gave evidence against his former associates and has now been placed on a witness protection programme. He told advocate depute Iain McSporran, prosecuting, that the gang had a direct connection to Colombian drug barons. He said Blenkinsop and Harkins were the brains behind the operation while the other accused were couriers paid to take euros to Spain and bring back drugs. In fact, the gang exchanged so much sterling into euros that Blenkinsop's local post office won an award for the amount of euros it sold. The jury was told they sourced their cocaine from Colombians based in Barcelona and transferred it to Harkins' house in the Spanish city. Harkins, a former upholsterer, would then put the drugs inside a suitcase and sew in a false bottom. The cocaine brought in by the gang was mostly destined for the Glasgow area, although some of it was also sold in Dumfries. Refuted claims Mr Harbinson also gave the court a detailed breakdown of how he was approached to become a courier and the payments made to transport the drugs. All of the accused claimed that he was a liar and a self-confessed cocaine addict and said that nobody would have used him as a drugs courier. After a five-week trial Blenkinsop, 43, of Winterhope Road, Annan; Harkins, 44, of West Princes Street, Helensburgh; Burns, 56, of Old Luss Road, Helensburgh; Dalrymple, 43, of Loanwath Road, Gretna; and Elvin, 35, of Garscadden View, Clydebank, were all convicted of being concerned in the supply of cocaine in Scotland, England and Spain. Blenkinsop was also convicted of being involved in the supply of cannabis and amphetamines while Harkins was found guilty of supplying amphetamines. Dalrymple and Elvin were only convicted of being involved in the drugs operation as couriers in 2009.

Southend men held in Spain moved to new prison wing

 

TWO men who are being held in Spain on suspicion of attempted murder have been moved to a new prison wing with better conditions. Kyle Thain, 24, of Sandringham Road, Southend, and James Harris, 29, of Pelham Road, Southend, have been moved to a new wing of Fontcalent prison, Alicante. The pals, who have been held without charge since July 8, have been relocated to Modulo Respecto, a part of the jail which should make life a little easier for them as they fight for freedom. Jay Thain, 29, Kyle’s older brother, said: “The new wing is for people who are better behaved. It is a lot cleaner and the food is better. “They have a lot more facilities. There is a proper gym and a table tennis table, it is much better for them.” Mr Thain said his brother and James are doing as much as they can to help keep themselves occupied, stay positive and pass the time. He said: “They are trying to learn Spanish and Kyle is drawing.” Kyle and James were arrested as they went to board a plane home after a lads weekend away. The friends, both former pupils of the King John School, Thundersley, are accused of beating up and stabbing two men in a bar near where they were staying. However, the pair maintain they never even went to the bar and their families say there has been a terrible case of mistaken identity. Since the lads were arrested Jay has worked tirelessly, with the help of family and friends, to get both men back home. Sharon Harris, Kyle’s mum, has put her house in Brunswick Road, Southend, on the market to help towards legal fees, which have already topped £10,000. Meanwhile, family and friends have been busy organising a series of fundraising events. James and Kyle, along with another pal Joe Elliot, 24, landed in Cabo Roig on Friday, July 1. All three were quizzed on Tuesday, July 5, at Murcia Airport before Kyle and James were held on suspicion of attempted murder. A getaway car used by the two attackers is still being sought by Spanish police and once found is likely to help with the case. Jay said: “In August everything shuts, the court circuit closes and nothing gets done.”

British man shot in Arona hold-up

 

British man, aged 58, was injured in an armed hold-up of a currency exchange shop in Arona, on the south of Tenerife, on Tuesday morning. It happened on the Paseo de Las Tosqueras in Playa de Las Américas, shortly before 9am. The injured man is named as Dennis in reports, and it’s understood that he works in the store and was shot in the right arm by the gunman. He is now under hospital treatment with an entry and exit wound in his arm from a 22 calibre weapon.

British couple arrested for holiday rentals scam on the Costa Blanca

 

British couple resident in Mojácar have been arrested by the Civil Guard for an alleged holiday rentals scam which is believed to have brought them profits of more than 150,000 €. Europa Press reports that the pair advertised properties available for short term let on the Costa Blanca which were not in fact available for rent but were occupied by their legitimate owners. The couple, who are named as John Anthony T., aged 41, and 37 year old Amanda Jane T., advertised online on several sites with photographs and descriptions of each of the properties. Their victims, which the Civil Guard said could number more than 60 in the UK, Portugal, France, Italy and Belgium, made the bookings online and were then contacted by email by the property management company. There was however no further contact once the deposit and then the remainder of the cost had been transferred into the couple’s account. Some of those affected then travelled out to the property they had rented in good faith, only to find them occupied by their owners. The Civil Guard investigation began in February after an official complaint was presented by a French woman to officers at the barracks in Pilar de la Horadada. It was followed by other denuncias from other foreign nationals with similar stories

Irishman stabbed on Ibiza

 

19 year old was attacked by two men, thought to be British, in what is thought to be a drug-related attackArchive Photo EFE A 19 year old Irish man, named as Jack McCarthy, was stabbed four times in the back and once below one of his eyes in an attack on Monday in Sant Antoni, Ibiza. It happened at 4pm in Calle Barcelona, and it’s thought that the man was ambushed by two others, thought to be British. One of the stab wounds perforated a lung, and the victim is now being treated in the Can Misses Hospital. The latest hospital statement says that he is making progress and is stable although serious. Tuesday morning the youngster wanted to discharge himself, but the doctors advised the duty Guardia and they have kept him under treatment. The Sant Antoni local police say that they found small quantities of drugs in the victim’s home, and materials indicating that he was dealing, and they presume the aggression was therefore drug-related.

Doctor serves six months in prison because of his grandmother's mothballs

 

mistaken positive in a drugs test carried out at Barajas Airport in Madrid has resulted in a Panamanian doctor, Juan Rodríguez Lizondro, to be imprisoned in Madrid for six months. The customs authorities and Guardia Civil declared that his 19 kilos of clothes had been impregnated with cocaine, while the doctor claimed they had detected his grandmother’s camphor. The reported conversation at the time was.... ‘It smells strange – what’s it got?’ ‘I don’t know. I live with my grandmother. She irons my clothes with starch, and then puts it in drawers with balls of camphor ro repel the moths – maybe it’s that’. ‘Let’s see’, said the Guardia Civil, who then sprayed the clothes with an aerosol which produced a distinctive blue colour, indicating as far as they were concerned that it was cocaine. The 34 year old doctor, who is a Seventh Day Adventist, had come to Madrid because of a three month scholarship he had won with the Carlos III Health Institute. He did not drink or smoke, much less take drugs. Despite that the prosecutor called for him to be charged with drug trafficking and the judge, who considered the aerosol test could not be wrong on 108 different items of clothing. A second test on the clothing at the Spanish Medicaments Agency took six months to come up with the correct result showing that there were no drugs. ‘I came to Spain with all my dreams and a grand project, and everything turned into the worst nightmare’.

Detectives are to make enquiries in Spain,Architect victim of £140,000 fake firms swindle

 

Yorkshire architect has revealed how “boiler room” fraudsters stole £140,000 from him by pressuring him into buying worthless shares in fake companies. The 66-year-old self-employed victim has been forced to cancel his retirement plans after being tricked into investing in “cloned” firms set up by criminals to appear like thriving overseas businesses. It is the second heavy financial loss to befall his family, after he lost £80,000 following the near-collapse of the Equitable Life pension company in 2000. Detectives are to make enquiries in Spain, but admit there is little chance of recovering the money. Boiler rooms are bogus stockbroking companies which call investors out of the blue, often several times, and convince them to buy fake shares over the phone. The victim, who lives in South Yorkshire but has asked not to be named, said he was drawn into the scam in January 2010 when he began receiving a series of cold calls. “They advised us that there were opportunities for investment and money to be made in shares of companies that were likely to do quite well on the back of trends in the stock markets. “The suggestions were for two or three companies. One was a gold-mining company, which, on the face of it was promising. “Another company I was offered shares in was one of the biggest manufacturers of batteries in the world. It was another reasonable prospect. “When I went on the web to check, it seemed these companies did exist, but unfortunately the people who approached me had cloned the companies – all their details – and they were operating from a ghost address in London.” The architect and his wife became suspicious after paperwork failed to arrive. “We did more and more investigation and made more and more calls only to find that these companies didn’t actually exist. They were fictitious companies.” One of the cloned companies was based on a business in Italy registered with the Financial Services Authority. Contact email and web addresses given to the victim were found to terminate in Panama, where detectives have been unable to take the investigation forward. “The fraudsters were very specific and they had clearly spent a lot of time setting up the cloned company,” the victim said. “I think cold calling should be stopped as there is no earthly need for it.” The architect called on politicians to take a tougher approach to boiler room frauds, and to put more pressure on the Spanish authorities to help investigations. “I find it disgusting,” he said, “that if you commit a crime, you can go to Spain and not have anything to worry about. “This hasn’t bust us, but it clearly isn’t good news. “I had been planning to retire, but I guess the reality is that I’ll have to carry on working now.” The victim last heard from South Yorkshire Police in June, when the district commander for Rotherham, Chief Superintendent Richard Tweed, wrote to confirm his case was still being investigated. Mr Tweed said South Yorkshire was working with three other forces including City of London Police’s anti-fraud unit. “I have now had sight of a report by the investigating officer as to his desire to pursue enquiries in Spain, and more importantly attempt to recover some or all of the stolen funds,” the letter continued. “As you may imagine, this work is not an easy task and does take some time. Furthermore, all advice provided to my officer, from those agencies more experienced in such cases, was that such enquiries were likely to be fruitless.” Mr Tweed added that he had given the officer permission to investigate in Spain because “such an enquiry is completely justified, regardless of the chance of success, when set against the substantial loss that you have suffered”. A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said the investigation was ongoing and a number of potential offenders had been identified

The shadowy and much feared crime figure, from the Ballyfermot area, is based in Spain's 'Costa Del Crime', where he owns a luxury villa.

 

THE veteran gangster behind a Dublin pub shooting which led to three innocent men being shot is highly unlikely to be charged with the crime, senior sources have conceded. The shadowy and much feared crime figure, from the Ballyfermot area, is based in Spain's 'Costa Del Crime', where he owns a luxury villa. He has been a major target for the Criminal Assets Bureau and other specialised garda agencies for years and has made millions of euro from smuggling illegal cigarettes into Ireland. Feared -- and respected -- in the criminal world, the mob boss has close links to notorious criminal Mark 'Guinea Pig' Desmond but is also known as a family man. The millionaire first came to serious garda attention in the mid-1990s when he was arrested about the murder of a drug dealer in Ballyfermot. This week a 34-year-old criminal, who was arrested over the shooting at the Players Lounge pub in Fairview, was released without charge. The suspect -- who is a close associate of gangland serial killer Eric 'Lucky' Wilson -- was questioned for over 48 hours at Clontarf Garda Station, but there was not enough evidence to charge him. Sources say that the 34-year-old, who has survived a number of attempts on his life, was ordered to murder a senior Dublin Real IRA member in the pub on the night of July 26 last year. However the gangster -- an inexperienced gunman -- botched the hit and shot at three innocent men outside the bar who all miraculously escaped with their lives. It is understood that the 34-year-old was enlisted for the shooting because his pal 'Lucky' Wilson was "not available" as he was remanded in a Spanish jail in relation to the pub murder of an English criminal -- a crime he has since been convicted of. The man who ordered the hit is a gangland criminal aged in his 60s with serious IRA credentials. Last summer, he entered into a bitter feud with the Real IRA which resulted in two murders as well as The Players Lounge shootings. One of those murder victims was the veteran Ballyfermot crime lord's close pal, Colm 'Collie' Owens (34), who was gunned down at the Corn Store animal feed warehouse at Grove Industrial Estate, Dubber Lane, Finglas, when a masked man entered the building carrying a handgun at 12.10pm. Revenge The gunman asked a staff member where Owens was and eventually found the gangster in a back room and fired between five and eight shots at the victim's head and upper body. In the aftermath of this killing, the Ballyfermot crime lord vowed revenge and ordered the murder of another man with links to the Real IRA With tensions threatening to spiral out of control, gardai received intelligence that both sides were planning to carry out bomb attacks on each other. But then an uneasy truce was brokered, which holds to this day. Sources believe that as part of this truce, the crime lord "offered up" the 34-year-old who botched the Players Lounge hit and agreed to let the Real IRA kill him if they desired. A Real IRA hit-squad is suspected of shooting the 34-year-old in April, but he survived the hit.

Christy Kinahan has been extradited from Spain to Belgium where he faces a four-year jail term.

The 53-year-old was flown out of Madrid in handcuffs last week after a Spanish judge agreed to an extradition request. Kinahan was convicted of 10 counts of money laundering in Belgium in 2009 but was allowed to return to Spain after lodging an appeal. He was arrested on July 6th in Estepona on the Costa del Sol on a warrant issued by the Belgian authorities.

Kinahan agreed to be extradited when he appeared before a judge at Madrid’s National Court two days later. But he was held in a Madrid jail for more than a month while the judge considered the request from Belgium.

The extradition was delayed because Kinahan is being investigated in Spain over claims he ran a massive drug trafficking and money laundering organisation.

His passport had been confiscated as part of his €60,000 bail conditions and he was ordered to sign on regularly at the court in Estepona investigating his alleged crimes. The judge at the extradition hearing in Madrid delayed his ruling to consult the investigating magistrate.

A court source said: “The judge wanted to make sure the investigating magistrate in Estepona had no objections to Kinahan leaving the country to serve his sentence in Belgium. One of his bail conditions in Spain was that he was not allowed to leave the country.”

British fugitive arrested in Spain charged with sexually abusing children

60 year old British man wanted on child sex abuse charges in the UK has been arrested in Lleida. El Mundo newspaper names him as L.K. and says he was arrested in Torres de Segre.

The fugitive was wanted for 18 offences against children between the ages of 13 and 15 which were committed between 1996 and 1999, while they worked for him during the time he ran a newspaper shop in Bath.

L.K. was charged with seven counts of abuse in 1999, against two girls and a boy, and was released ahead of his trial set for the year 2000. He failed to turn up for the trial and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

A court in Bristol then reopened the case when police in Avon and Somerset confirmed that the suspect had assaulted two other children who had initially denied the abuse, and another eleven counts of abuse were added to the charges.

 

Two tons of cannabis recovered in the Gulf of Cádiz

Eight people were arrested after a Customs aircraft spotted the cargo being loaded from a mother boat onto four smaller vessels

Officers from the Customs Authority have recovered two tons of cannabis resin after four small boats were captured in the Gulf of Cádiz on Tuesday afternoon after unloading their cargo of drugs from a mother ship out at sea, some 10 kilometres from shore.

The transfer was spotted by a Customs aircraft which was on surveillance in the area, and the alert went out to capture the team of drug smugglers. Eight people were taken into custody.

La Voz de Cádiz notes that the boats were not the semi rigid fast boats which are typically used by drug smugglers, but were fibre glass boats, some 6 metres long, of the type which is used for recreational fishing.