fight in Playa Flamenca

A man died and four others were hospitalised following a fight in Playa Flamenca.
The incident happened in the early hours of Monday outside the Chinese restaurant on Calle Nicholas Bussi in Playa Flamenca on the Orihuela Costa. The 25-year-old, who has not yet been named, died in hospital from stab wounds following the fracas. Another man was also seriously injured and three others were slightly injured. It is thought that the altercation started in the bar next door to the Chinese restaurant and after the men were requested to leave, the fight continued outside.

Missing

Derek John Cross, nicknamed Des or Dosser, has not been seen since he was holidaying with friends in Benidorm on November 15, 1996.

Spain is going to be the largest grower of Cannabis

Spain is going to be bigger than Jamaica or Holland as a cannabis growing country.The Spanish sun is free, and the climate in some parts of the country is good for growing cannabis 10 months a year, but we see indoor growing as superior because it offers a controlled environment, and avoids the possibility of rip-offs and problems with insects and lack of water," Molina said. "Growers can combine indoor and outdoor growing, using their indoor gardens during cool weather, and also getting a head start on making plants for transplanting to outdoors. Pretty soon, Spain is going to be bigger than Jamaica or Holland as a cannabis growing and tourism destination

Judah Eleazar Binstock

Judah Eleazar Binstock, is a 78 year old British businessman and financier and is now believed to have been the person who financed trips taken by Marbella councillors the week before the motion of no confidence was placed against Julián Muñoz. He is now thought to have been hidden in the background and pulling the strings behind much of the corruption in Marbella. This information has been given to Judge Miguel Angel Torres in the declaration from the ex councillor Carmen Revilla.

Binstock, who has large real estate interests in Marbella including the Villa La Magnolia in the Camino de la Cascada de Camoján, is reported to be wanted for questioning by the British police in connection to several financial frauds including the BCCI case.
Actually born in East Germany, he grew up in Moscow where is was a member of the Communist Party. He took up British nationality at the end of the sixties. He is thought to have a large income from several casinos. United States intelligence services link him to the Syrian magnateMonzer Al Kassar and Adnan Kashogui and arms sales of missiles to Iran and possible links to Al Qaeda.

Binstock has been missing since the Malaya case broke in Marbella and there are some reports that he has travelled to his mansion in Paris. The missing and wanted councillor, Carlos Fernández, is said to have had a relationship with Binstock’s daughter.

four Madrid Lawyers have been ordered that they be held in prison pending trial

Murcia Judge Miguel Angel Torres who has been investigating the corruption scandal in Marbella has indicted four Madrid Lawyers and has ordered that they be held in prison pending trial. This follows the arrest of the Cartagena property developer Juan Antonio Roca for corruption charges. Roca is belived to be the mastermind behind a corruption ring in Marbella, Andalucia.

The four Lawyers have been involved in large projects in Los Alcazares like Nueva Ribera. All four lawyers are from the firm of Sánchez Zubizarreta-Soriano Zurita in Madrid. Police experts have confirmed it will be many months before the evidence in assimilated into a case which can be brought before the court. During the police intterogation the lawyers were questioned about the transfers of many thousands of euros during the last few weeks.

‘Malaya 2’

‘Operation Malaya 2’ new offences came to light, resulting in some 30 city councillors and business people being accused of massive corruption. These accusations were in addition to the arrests made earlier in the year. Then. 29 people were arrested, including Mayor Marisol Yagüe, her deputy, Isabel García Marcos and José Antonio Roca, who was town planning advisor. During the investigation, Judge Miguel Ángel Torres said of Mr Roca that he was the driving force in Marbella City Hall and that the Mayor performed a mere symbolic role. In September 2006, the former mayor and her deputy were released from custody on 60,000-euro bail.

Those arrested as part of ‘Malaya 2’ included the former chief of Marbella’s police Rafael del Pozo and Tomás Reñones, the city’s second deputy mayor. Mr Reñones became acting mayor after the arrest of the mayor and the first deputy mayor. However, his involvement in the scandals became clear during the following-up investigations and Judge Torres ordered his unconditional detention. Tomás Reñones was football player and captain of Atlético de Madrid, the football club owned by the late Jesús Gil, the first of the big corrupted mayors of Marbella and founder of GIL, the political party whose members included the disgraced mayor Marisol Yagüe.

hidden storage room

Police have uncovered a hidden storage room in Spain holding 1,800 pieces of pre-Colombian art, including ceremonial masks, ceramics, jewellery and a suit of 37 plates of gold - artefacts from a collection last seen in public 10 years ago.
Many of the metallic pieces, including four copper masks, four gold rattles and four gold nose pendants, derived from the ancient tomb of the Lord of Sipan, one of the most important vestiges of pre-Inca Moche culture in Peru.

torture and other ill-treatment

Spanish police are getting away with repeated acts of torture and other ill-treatment, according to a new Amnesty International report.
The report highlights cases of people who have been hit, kicked, punched and verbally abused by police officers, both in police custody and on the street. Some complainants report being being beaten while handcuffed. Others claim they were threatened with a gun or knife, whipped on the soles of their feet and subjected to death threats

Spanish drug survey

The figures released yesterday are the result of a survey carried out by the government in secondary schools. Teenagers between 14 and 18 participated in the nationawide survey. According to the results, the number of teenagers who admit to taking cocaine is now four times as high as it was in 1994, and the number of people who smoke cannabis has doubled. 87 per cent of teenagers consider that it is easy to buy alcohol, 64 per cent find it easy to buy cannabis, and 53.8 per cent have no problem in getting sleeping tablets.

5,627 structures that are not reflected in the property register.

Using the satellite images of the town’s urban centre and outlying urbanisations and rural zones, officials have identified 5,627 structures that are not reflected in the property register. The majority of the unregistered buildings, 69 per cent of which existed prior to 2002, are in the countryside and the El Rodeo, Cortijo Benítez, Miravalle and Las Delicias districts.
Comparing images taken in 2002 and 2006, officials discovered 2.676 land-use changes.

Three Britons have been handed prison sentences

Three Britons have been handed prison sentences for their involvement in a recent late-night brawl in Ronda.Three received prison sentences of six months each for attacking two local police officers and a local resident. As they have no previous convictions, the jail terms were deferred but will be taken into account if they offend again.
In addition to the prison terms, they also have to pay 1,500 euros in compensation to one of the officers, 800 euros to the local resident, who received a face wound requiring four stitches, plus 36 euros to the second policeman.

Four prisoners who took three prison officers hostage

Four prisoners who took three prison officers hostage at Picassent jail, near Valencia, yesterday evening have been split up and transferred to different jails. The crisis began at around 6pm yesterday evening when four prisoners from the high-security wing took three officers hostage, apparently using one of their fellow prisoners as a bargaining chip.
Two of the three officers, both in their twenties, were released shortly after midnight and following all-night negotiations, the third man was set free shortly after 6am this morning.

British man, whose initials have been confirmed as AMT

A 66 year old British man resident in Fuengirola (Málaga) has been arrested accused of heading up a gang trafficking cannabis between Spain and the UK.
Two weeks ago, a suspicious trailer was intercepted on its way to a company that runs daily shipments to the UK. It was found to contain industrial-sized water purifiers, though police sniffer dogs later detected 2,500kg of cannabis resin hidden inside the machines. A further 1,500kg was found inside a warehouse on a Barcelona industrial estate from which the lorry had been spotted leaving.
The British man, whose initials have been confirmed as AMT, visited Cataluña regularly to ski, always staying in luxury hotels.
The investigation started last October when Guardia Civil officers seized 1,200kg cannabis found hidden inside a shipment of computer terminals, although they were unable to find sufficient evidence implicating AMT to arrest him on that occasion.

Ken MacIntyre from Ayrshire murdered

Ken MacIntyre from Ayrshire and his partner Bill had been drinking in bars near Plaza de la Constitución in the old town on Friday night when the attack took place.
The couple left Eros bar in Calle Santa Faz around 04.00 and headed in the direction of Plaza de la Constitución near the popular tapas strip.
They walked through Calle San Miguel and were attacked near Domino bar.
A friend told Costa Blanca News that Ken and Bill were allegedly tapped on the shoulder by two men who snatched their jewellery and attacked them until they fell to the floor.
Sadly, Ken took a severe beating and died at the scene of the crime

raping an 18 year old British tourist last Saturday night

A 39 year old taxi driver was arrested today accused of raping an 18 year old British tourist last Saturday night in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria). According to the victim's testimony, she caught the taxi at around 2am on Sunday morning in the Plaza de Maspalomas and asked the driver to take her back to her hotel. Instead, she alleges, he drove her first to a piece of waste ground where he raped her in the back of the vehicle before dropping her off at her hotel.

154 people were arrested

since the introduction of tougher penalties for dangerous drivers at the start of this month, a total of 154 people were arrested for traffic infractions, 151 of whom tested with more than 0.6mg alcohol per litre of aspirated breath.

The other three were caught speeding: one was arrested for driving at more than 60km an hour above the legal limit on an urban street, while the other two were clocked doing more than 80km an hour above the limit on the freeway.

criminal offence to drive drunk or speed

criminal offence to drive drunk or speed, and anyone caught doing so could face a prison sentence of up to six months. If they are caught committing both crimes together, the sentence could be up to two years.
The limit at which drunk driving becomes a crime is 0.60 milligrams of alcohol in exhaled air, while for speeding to be considered a crime the driver would have to exceed 200km/h on a highway or 110km/h in an urban area.

Except for people with prior criminal records, most sentences would be substituted for a fine. In the first two days of the legislation going into effect, 154 people were arrested.

Three out of every 100 Spaniards over the age of 15 paid a bribe last year

Three out of every 100 Spaniards over the age of 15 paid a bribe last year, according to figures released Thursday by anti-corruption organisation Transparency International

Three notaries have been arrested in connection with Operation White Whale.

Operation White Whale is the first time police have established a direct link between organised crime and Spain's booming construction and property industries. Half of all new construction starts in Spain take place on the Mediterranean coast.

In a boon for international criminals, established practice enables notaries to absent themselves for a few minutes when property contracts are signed, allowing the buyer to hand over “dinero B”, a substantial amount of undeclared cash. Unlike bankers, public notaries are not required to “know their clients” or establish the provenance of money exchanged in property transactions.

323 arrests in connection with organised crime

The Civil Guard,estimates that about 550 criminal groups operate in Spain, about half of them foreign. Last year, police made 323 arrests in connection with organised crime. “Criminals are businessmen these days,” says a chief inspector in a unit that fights organised crime. “They want good travel connections, an efficient banking sector, nice weather and anonymity. They get all that in Málaga.”

Seven Britons were involved in a brawl

Seven Britons were involved in a brawl with a group of Spaniards in the early hours of Saturday morning in the centre of Ronda.

nabbed a bag snatcher

Police in Benalmádena Costa nabbed a bag snatcher just moments after he had robbed three tourists on Friday afternoon. The alleged thief, identified only as a Romanian man, was picked up at 1.30pm on Calle Carril del Siroco. When police grabbed him, he was about to steal the bags of two British tourists.

crackdown on child pornography

A minor was detained in Málaga last week in a crackdown on child pornography. A Guardia Civil investigation into the exchange of images by mobile phone and the Internet has seen 40 people arrested across the country. A specialist team which deals with under-age suspects took part in the Málaga arrest.

four robberies in Sotogrande and Pueblo Nuevo de Guadiaro have been reported to the police

A further wave of four robberies in Sotogrande and Pueblo Nuevo de Guadiaro have been reported to the police. The thieves were looking for money and jewellery and used the same modus operandi as on previous occasions. They entered all of the properties while owners were asleep.

major paedophilia ring

A Malaga woman who was searching for information about babies on internet came across two files containing images of children being sexually abused by adults. She reported her find to the National Police and the resulting investigation led to the exposure of a major paedophilia ring. After tracing the origins of the files discovered on internet the police made 13 arrests, two in the province of Malaga, and thousands of files containing child pornography have been seized.

White Whale case in Marbella

Police investigators in the United Kingdom helped uncover the links between British criminals and the White Whale case in Marbella. The British police were investigating the Eprom Fraud, which is expected to have involved as much as 800,000 euros. They investigated what happened to this money, gained through a fraudulent scheme by which the owners of Jade Technologies Limited, Harvey Levin and his wife, were selling pre-paid electronic circuits to unsuspecting customers at exceptionally low cost. Jade Technologies thus accumulated a fortune with the sale of components that their customers never saw, the components never being manufactured. In the traditional way that this type of business is done, the vast profits were allegedly transferred through an Australian company to the Egremont Corporation, represented in Spain by Fernando del Valle, who in turn transferred them to the Duconte Holdings and Gainford Corporation, also run from the Marbella office. The principal shareholder of the Gainford Corporation was Harvey Levin.

Silverkey Properties, Gates Investments and Fun Fair Investments

According to the police, three of the companies run from the offices of Fernando del Valle in Marbella, Silverkey Properties, Gates Investments and Fun Fair Investments, served to launder money gained from the trafficking of hashish. The foreign connection here was with a Tunisian named Sophiane Hambli, a known drug trafficker arrested in San Pedro de Alcántara during a shoot-out last year. Hambli was on the run from the French police, after having escaped from prison in France, where he was serving time for drug trafficking and other crimes. The laundering of this drug money, it appears, was being done through the Silverkey Properties and Garden Gates Investments companies, and Hambli worked closely with his father-in-law, Mabrouk Chebicheb, who was also detained in the Marbella operation, and his wife. The other company run from Del Valle’s office, Fun Fair Investments, was allegedly linked to Ghali Lamrani and Jamal Zegzaoui, two Moroccans wanted by various police forces for their membership of a cocaine trafficking gang. They had been arrested in the possession of three thousand kilos of cocaine and a thousand kilos of hashish. The Marbella companies had allegedly been used to launder 720,000 euros of illicit gains by this gang.

Del Valle´s real estate operations were a means to launder cash for up to nine international organized crime groups

Spanish authorities claim that much of Del Valle´s real estate operations were a means to launder cash for up to nine international organized crime groups. In particular, the authorities allege that the Del Valle law firm set up anonymous trusts - possibly hundreds of shell companies - in nearby Gibraltar, but also in other places likes the Netherlands and the Isle of Man

Since news of the operation hit the press, Spanish authorities have increasingly sought to place some of the blame on Gibraltar, which "is not cooperating in the fight against money laundering," according to Conde Pumpido.

Interpol report notes

As a sign of the international crime element an Interpol report notes: "There is an exceptionally large number of Estonian and Russian professional criminals carrying out, besides a large scale hashish and cocaine trafficking, remarkable sex business in the numerous hotels and restaurants of Costa del Sol." Meanwhile, according to Online Security, "Italian crime groups' longtime investments in real estate and entertainment enterprises--particularly gambling casinos--in Germany, France, Monaco, Spain's Costa del Sol, and the Caribbean are conduits for money laundering."

town hall says it cannot afford the postage costs

Over the last 18 months fines have been imposed by the local police for driving over the alcohol limit, speeding, using a motorbike without a crash helmet, operating a mobile phone while at the wheel and so on.

However while the tickets have been issued by the police many of the fines have not been sent out because the town hall says it cannot afford the postage costs. Unless the person receives the notification by post then the fine cannot be collected although the CSI-CSIF union says that some people have paid voluntarily.

Sean Wilkinson

Northumbria police are trying to trace Allan James Foster, 31, who sometimes uses the name Sean Wilkinson.
Originally from South Shields, Mr Foster is known to have spent time in Majorca and the Canary Islands. It is believed he may now be living somewhere on the Costas.
Foster is 5’8” tall and has a mole on the left side of his face.
He is wanted in connection with the murder of ‘Noddy’ Rice, 42 who was shot several times in a car park in South Tyneside at around 16.00 on May 24, 2006.
Police say father of seven, Rice was lured by his killers to the car park on the pretext of a meeting about money owed over a drugs debt. He was shot several times by two masked men at close range and died a short time later in hospital.
The crime was witnessed by a number of passers-by.
After the killing a Ford Mondeo was driven to a nearby lane where it was set on fire, the killers were then driven away from South Shields in a Ford Transit van.
One man has already been convicted and jailed for the murder along with a number of others convicted for their role in the attack.

17-YEAR-OLD Málaga boy was stabbed to death

A 17-YEAR-OLD Málaga boy was stabbed to death in the early hours of Sunday morning in a brawl at the Kiu discotheque in Benalmádena’s Plaza Solymar nightlife zone. Two young men, aged 18 and 20, both from Mijas, were arrested shortly following incident after they crashed their car while speeding away from the scene.

Andrew Alderman, 48, fled the UK

Andrew Alderman, 48, fled the UK just before being convicted of rape and indecent assault of his 15-year-old stepdaughter. The abuse of his stepdaughter began when she was just eight-years-old and culminated in rape when she was just 15. Police believe he’s hiding in Spain, Ibiza, Majorca or the Canary Islands. If you know where this man is ring Crimestoppers NOW on 900 555 111 and bring him to justice.

attackers yelled “Gypsy s**t, you’re going to die like rats” as the attackers’

Milagros Galán was lowering the front room shutters of her first floor apartment in a block in the Fuensanta district of Coín at 1 am last Wednesday morning when the bullets started flying.

No-one was hurt in the lightening attack and police said later they thought the bullets were intended for a gypsy family living a few doors away.

Neighbours said there had been an argument between the gypsies and some people - allegedly relatives from Fuengirola - the previous day.

They also reported that the attackers yelled “Gypsy s**t, you’re going to die like rats” as the attackers’ cars sped off after the attack.

Police said at least four people were involved in the attack and at least three weapons were used, including hunting shotguns.

thefts of heavy construction-related vehicles

The police are investigating a rash of thefts of heavy construction-related vehicles such as cement mixers in Malaga province. They believe an organised gang is behind the theft of these vehicles which can weigh more than 20 tonnes, cost about 150,000 euros and are sometimes owned by self-employed people rather than companies.

The last two thefts occurred at two cement plants on the Marbella-Coin road. The owners of both vehicles left them at the plants at the end of the week, and found them gone the following Monday. One of the owners, who lives in Cártama, said it was worse than a car theft: “They’ve robbed me of my job”. There have been similar incidents in Cordoba and Sevilla and last week, police in Velez-Malaga recovered a digger which had been stolen from a construction site in Granada.

Miss Zaldivar regularly used to receive garbage bags full

Marbella. Miss Zaldivar regularly used to receive garbage bags full of what she liked most: money – to the tune of somewhere in the region of seven hundred million Pesetas, or about £3.5 million. As she used to brag about how much these garbage bags were giving her, she has now been placed in jail by Judge Miguel Angel Torres, who is now planning to hear her testimony before taking any further action. All in all, since last March when the investigation first started, some seventy people have been placed in jail as a result of Judge Torres’ investigations. Also arrested under orders from Judge Torres yesterday was Jose Maria Gonzalez de Caldas, the director of the Xativa bullring.

detained the head of the Municipal police force along with his deputy

The Guardia Civil of Torrevieja yesterday detained the head of the Municipal police force along with his deputy and two officers, after receiving orders to do so from a local judge. More arrests are expected today, and all are accused of creating a series of false documents and of failing to investigate crimes. A local judge has undertaken the current case during the last few months, and yesterday’s arrests were carried out very discreetly according to local sources. Following their arrest, the four were taken to a local court and allowed to go free on condition that they not leave Torrevieja.

Granada-based businessman and his family

The Guardia Civil yesterday announced that it had dismantled what it considered to be ‘an important gang’ of four men and two women in two apartments – one in El Campello and the other in San Juan.

In addition, members of the Corps also confiscated a considerable armory of weapons that included assault rifles, pistols and grenades.

It is believed that it was this gang that carried the armed robbery on a bank in El Campello earlier this month as well as carrying out an armed aggression against a Granada-based businessman and his family in February, making off with 60,000 Euros in cash.

It is also thought that the gang also carried out a series of high-profile robberies in France and the French Police are helping the Guardia Civil as their enquiries continue.

piracy over television signals

The National Police Force has recently undertaken a coordinated attempt to stop piracy over television signals, with the detention nationwide of some fifty people. Amongst those arrested were a couple in La Nucia and a distributor in Elche. Of the fifty arrested, ten were administrators of websites, 22 distributed pirated decoding boxes, sixteen were responsible for creating illegal networks, and two were responsible for forming companies that illegally distributed TV signals in neighborhoods.

400 prisoners held in Alicante’s jails on remand, approximately 300 are foreigners,

the majority of crime is committed by foreigners, and not by Spaniards. Of the 400 prisoners held in Alicante’s jails on remand, approximately 300 are foreigners, mainly from Romania, Croatia, Columbia and Algeria. It may come as no surprise that the charges against these people relate to drugs, violent robberies, sexual crimes and even attempted murder.

Mark Acklom had defrauded an Asian businessman out of €18million

A British man has been jailed in Benidorm for 27 months after having been convicted of serious fraud. Mark Acklom had defrauded an Asian businessman out of €18million (£13million) in a property scam. He was led to believe he was investing in large property developments in Mascarat, Finestrat and Calpe.

Mark Acklom had defrauded an Asian businessman out of €18million

A British man has been jailed in Benidorm for 27 months after having been convicted of serious fraud.Police also discovered that Interpol was searching for him in the UK and the name he was using was false, saying he was really called Mark Richard George Acklom. Mark Acklom had defrauded an Asian businessman out of €18million (£13million) in a property scam. He was led to believe he was investing in large property developments in Mascarat, Finestrat and Calpe.

Irish Police have a near permanent presence on the Costa Blanca

discovery of the bodies of 2 Irish criminals, found buried in 2 metres of concrete, it has emerged that the Irish Police have a near permanent presence on the Costa Blanca. They are continuing to assist Spainish Police to identify and prosecute criminals from Ireland who have fled to Spain. It is suspected that some of the criminals have a paramilitary history.

concrete blocks chained to his feet

The body of a 34 year old man, who was reported missing ten days ago, was found last Sunday lunchtime by a fisherman at the bottom of the River Júcar with several concrete blocks chained to his feet.

The victim, who was from Cullera, but worked in a meat processing factory in Torrent, was found in an inaccessible spot located roughly halfway between Cullera and Sueca, known locally as 'L'Astut'.

Attempts to contact the victim by mobile phone immediately following his disappearance were unsuccessful, and his car was subsequently found parked in the nearby town of Sollana.

married couple was robbed of cash

married couple was robbed of cash, jewellery and a handgun during a break-in on the Els Tallats de Vilafortuny residential estate in Cambrils last Monday evening. The attack occurred between 8-9pm at the couple's home on the calle Salvador Dalí.
It seems that the burglars broke open the front door with a crowbar before tying up and threatening the homeowners with the crowbar and what seems to have been a fake pistol before making off with their booty.
A police spokesman explained that neither of the victims was injured in the attack and confirmed that no arrests have yet been made.

Janette May Grocutt, was stabbed to death last Friday by a gang of burglars

A 74 year old British woman, identified by the Foreign Office as Janette May Grocutt, was stabbed to death last Friday by a gang of burglars during a break-in at the home she shared with her bed-ridden husband, Douglas, who was not attacked, but who is now being treated in hospital for stress.
The results of the autopsy will confirm suspicions that Mrs Grocutt was killed when she bravely tried to fight off the gang.
It seems that the couple moved to Spain from Cornwall around six years ago, and ran a campsite.
Mrs Grucott's body was found by a close friend of the family last Friday evening at the couple's home, which is located on a small independent plot surrounded by a metal fence in the village of Paredón, close to the town of Pinoso (pop. approx. 7,350), which, in turn, is located in the Medio Vinalopó borough of Alicante province.
No arrests have yet been made, but police believe that the attack may have been perpetrated by a gang blamed for a number of similar recent attacks in the area, who appear to be targeting expat residents.

crashed through their road blocks

It was a car chase right out of the movies. When a Guardia Civil patrol tried to wave down a car in the early hours of Thursday morning, the driver stepped on the accelerator and shot off at almost 200 kph, almost knocking down one of the Guardia. The chase began at Pilas on the A-49 which joins Huelva and Cordoba, going round the outskirts of Sevilla. It ended 183 kilometres later seven kilometres short of Cordoba with several Guardia Civil patrol cars in pursuit of the 36-year-old driver who turned out to be under the influence of drugs. The Guardia said he had maintained an average speed of just under 200 kph all the way and had crashed through their road blocks, damaging several patrol vehicles in the process. He was arrested and charged with “serious disobedience” (failing to stop when ordered), attempting against the life of a Guardia Civil and reckless driving.

legal firm of Cruz Conde

police arrested 21 people, amongst them three notaries and a number of lawyers, in a new large-scale money-laundering case in Marbella the legal firm of Cruz Conde seems to be central to the investigation and police arrested the solicitor and carried out a detailed search of his offices. Investigations are also taking place at the luxury jet-set Marbella Club Hotel. The arrests were made under the direction of the Marbella court and the Málaga anti-corruption prosecutor. Over 110 officers of the organised crime squad led the sweep, backed up by 70 other National Police officers, 50 members of the judicial police and helicopter support.

A 56-year-old British woman was arrested last week in Torremolinos

A 56-year-old British woman was arrested last week in Torremolinos as one of four alleged operators of a brothel that employed illegal immigrants as prostitutes.
Rosemary O.B. and three other women – Duangjun K. (53) and Sunantha P.L. (55), both from Thailand, and Edna C.T. (59), from the Philippines – allegedly had eight to 10 women of numerous nationalities working at the club. Seven of them, two Bulgarians, a Romanian, a Moroccan, a Columbian, a Filipina and a Czechoslovakian, were in the country illegally, according to National Police officials.
During the raid on the club, officers also seized 575 euros and small amounts of cocaine and hashish. The police arrested the Briton and her four business partners for labour-related offences – irregular working hours and conditions, lack of work contracts and Social Security contributions, and the employment of undocumented immigrants – as well as sexual exploitation charges. Allegedly they kept 50 per cent of the money generated by the prostitutes’ activities.

A British couple alleged to have insulted and threatened the mayor

The mayor of Polop, Alejandro Ponsoda (PP), is still in an extremely critical condition after being shot in the head last Friday evening in his car outside his home in nearby Xirles.

A British couple alleged to have insulted and threatened the mayor over a boundary dispute last Wednesday, when they were informed of plans to expropriate part of their land, were detained shortly after the shooting. They were interrogated at Altea Guardia Civil barracks, but have since been released without charge.