Richard Neil shooting update

Richard Neil,has been traced and is French of Algerian origin and linked to a group who have a long police record linked to violence and drug trafficking.Richard Neil has become the 6th fatality to die as a consequence of the settling of scores in Málaga province this year. The first of them was last August at The Point bar, when a 38 year old Estonian was shot dead with a single shot to the head.
Two weeks later the burnt out body of a man was found in a car in Estepona. He had also been shot. And on September 11th three Colombians were killed in the Torreblanca del Sol Urbanisation in Fuengirola, in the settling of scores over cocaine trafficking.

Two bouncers shot at club

Two bouncers at a club in San Ginés are in hospital with bullet wounds, after they were shot on Sunday night by a group of people they had refused to allow in. They are both in the Virgen de la Arrixaca Hospital in Murcia, one with a shot to the head, and the other in the leg.
20 minutos said it happened outside the Sala Princesa on the local industrial estate, where a private function was taking place. The website quoted police sources saying the suspects, who have yet to be identified, returned with weapons after they were refused admittance and opened fire on the two men.

Amy Fitzpatrick:stranger offering her a lift just several hundred yards from the gated complex.

Amy's neighbours said her 13-year-old daughter told her on Sunday about a stranger offering her a lift just several hundred yards from the gated complex.
"Roxanna was out looking for our dog and she couldn't find it," said Karen. "A man in a dark blue Mercedes drove along and asked her to get in the car. She refused and started running away." Her young daughter was terrified by the incident.The police believe the Dublin teen has run away, as she has a number of times in the past. However, previously she always returned within a day or two, and this time she vanished without any money or phone.

Amy Fitzpatrick : Fathers Statement

Amys father Christopher issued a statement from his home in Dublin, which was read by Amy's aunt Christine Kenny.
The family have appealed for anyone who may be holding Amy to let her go and have asked her to get to a phone and contact the gardaí or the Spanish police.
They say they just want her back safe and well, that they have been devastated by her disappearance and that any information would be greatly appreciated.

international drug-smuggling ring:Spanish police arrested five suspects

several tons of cocaine hidden in a cargo of frozen octopus. Eight people are in custody.235 of the 635 boxes on board were found to contain a frozen substance with traces of octopus, but which also tested positive for cocaine. The total weight, including the ice, is 9.4 tons. A complete analysis of the cargo is being carried out at the Police Forensics Laboratory in Lisbon to determine exactly how much cocaine is in the boxes.Five of the eight arrests took place in Spain: in Toledo, Madrid and Salamanca. One of them is originally from Colombia, but now has Spanish nationality. There were also four property searches which resulted in police confiscating 50,000 € in cash, laptop computers and PDAs, two luxury vehicles, mobile phones, and a large amount of documentation.
The refrigerated container reached the port in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, on 22nd December, ostensibly with a cargo of 24 tons of frozen octopus. It came from Venezuela and was to be delivered to a Portuguese importers, and then sent on to Spain.
Portuguese police said Monday they had seized 9.4 metric tons (10.4 tons) of cocaine hidden in a ship container and broken up an international drug-smuggling ring.
A police statement said a joint investigation with Spanish authorities that lasted almost three years led to the discovery of the cocaine last month in a ship that docked at Lisbon after traveling from Venezuela.
The cocaine was dissolved in a frozen liquid that was part of a cargo of octopus, the statement said.
Following the seizure, Spanish police arrested five suspects, including one Colombian, and two other people were detained in Portugal.three people taken into custody in Portugal are all Portuguese, and one is a woman.

Amy Fitzpatrick: Prank calls hamper search.

Amy's stepfather Dave Mahon said that there were still no firm leads but the investigation had been hampered by a spate of prank calls. while they have been getting a wide volume of calls, there has not been one sighting of Amy.
police had confirmed that they had found a bra and a bag of clothes just 500m from the home of missing teenager after further investigation, local police established that the clothing, found on wasteland, did not belong to Amy. forensic examinations have been intensified in the area around the popular seaside area. Due to the three Kings national holiday the scale of the search had been temporaly scaled down but it has now been resumed with 200 police taking part, search dogs and helicopters.Reader: Thank you for the donation of the photograph. Costa del crime will bring as much information as possible to help the family.

Mark C.A. was arrested when he returned to Spain from the UK on Friday.

British resident of Cuevas del Almanzora was arrested at his place of work in Vera last Friday for an assault which took place at the beginning of October. They name the suspect as 39 year old Mark C.A.
It happened in the Villaricos area of Cuevas del Almanzora on 6th October where the suspect and a friend were drinking in a local bar, and asked another man who was there to buy them both a drink. The Civil Guard said he had never met the two men before. He refused, and was followed out into the street when he left the bar, and was assaulted. The victim suffered a number of broken ribs, injuries to his face, and bruising, and was left unconscious in the street.
Mark C.A., who it’s understood has a police record in the UK for robbery, public disorder, drug possession, receiving, and vehicle theft, was arrested when he returned to Spain from the UK on Friday.

Amy Fitzpatrick : Massive Police search operation

Massive Police search operation is underway in Spain for Amy Fitzpatrick , who has been missing for four days, after she left her friend's house to walk home.

Deborah Hatto (update)

The sister of a British expatriate murdered at her home in Spain has flown to the Costa del Sol to be with the woman's young daughter.

Domestic violence incidents Torremolinos & Rincón de la Victoria

Torremolinos man has been arrested after he drove his car into the front of the house where his wife and two children were sleeping. Police say 25 year old Juan José M.C. drove into the façade of the building several times in the early hours of Tuesday morning. They say he had come from an earlier shooting incident in the Campanillas area where he had been refused entry into a private party at a house in the town. Police say two men had used a gun to try and shoot the door down. Although two shots were fired there were no injuries.
It was one of the men who had been seen leaving the scene in a BMW car, the same car which then was driven into the building in Torremolinos.
Police needed support to arrest the man who had also been witnessed earlier abusing his wife. She has not placed a complaint about domestic violence however, because of fear, according to a police source quoted by La Opinion de Málaga.In another incident a 32 year old man who was injured on Friday in Rincón de la Victoria, shot by police as he was being arrested, died on Saturday in the Carlos Haya hospital in Málaga.in hospital as a result of her injuries.The police were trying to arrest him in connection with alleged domestic violence against his girlfriend who now remains
Mayor of Rincón de la Victoria, José Miguel Fernández, said the woman had gone to the local police station on Friday afternoon to denounce her partner who had sexually abused and injured her.
When police called to arrest the individual, named only as Antonio, when found to be driving a stolen car, he crashed the vehicle against a building in the Avenida Málaga and drew a pistol, leading the police to shoot him.

Deborah Hatto (update)

Daughter is being cared for by her grandparents who have flown to Spain. After there grandaughters emergency telephone call. British police tipped off the Guardia Civil in Malaga within minutes of the girl's call at 2.30am on Friday. Deborah, originally from Crawley, West Sussex, had earlier been drinking at a restaurant with boyfriend Jimmie Welles, 59. He appeared in court yesterday.

Mrs Audrey Fitzpatrick, from Dublin, said that she was starting to fear the worst

Spanish Civil Guard searched waste ground yesterday in the tourist resort of Riviera del Sol, near Fuengirola, as part of their hunt for the Irish teenager. The land is close to the route that Amy would have taken on her ten-minute walk back to the home she shares with her mother, brother and stepfather.
She spent New Year’s Eve at her friend’s house, babysitting for the girl’s younger brother, and stayed the night before the pair headed to a local shopping centre on January 1. Amy then returned to the friend’s house before heading home at about 10pm.
Her mother, Audrey, 39, said last night that she had not heard anything from her daughter since a telephone call early on the day she vanished.
“The last time we spoke was on New Year’s Day morning when she rang to wish me happy new year.”
Mrs Fitzpatrick, from Dublin, said that she was starting to fear the worst.

Deborah Hatto,Jimmie Welles. (Updated)

A British woman died after being stabbed at her home in the southern town of Coín, near Málaga, Spain. The Civil Guard named the victim as Deborah Hatto, 42, after officers arrested her German partner, 59, at the house in the early hours of the morning. The woman lived with the man, who has not been named, and her ten-year-old daughter.UPDATE:German partner Jimmie Welles, originally from Frankfurt, was arrested at the house by the Civil Guard and is to appear before an investigating judge.

Amy Fitzpatrick

Amy Fitzpatrick, 15, has not been seen since the evening of New Year’s Day, when she left the friend’s home on the Costa del Sol.
Officers from the Spanish Civil Guard searched waste ground yesterday in the tourist resort of Riviera del Sol, near Fuengirola, as part of their hunt for the Irish teenager. The land is close to the route that Amy would have taken on her ten-minute walk back to the home she shares with her mother, brother and stepfather.
She spent New Year’s Eve at her friend’s house, babysitting for the girl’s younger brother, and stayed the night before the pair headed to a local shopping centre on January 1. Amy then returned to the friend’s house before heading home at about 10pm.
Her mother, Audrey, 39, said last night that she had not heard anything from her daughter since a telephone call early on the day she vanished.

María del Cármen D.G

María del Cármen D.G girlfriend of a Malaga Businessman freed by police last week was arrested for being behind the contract kidnapping.
The woman was named as María del Cármen D.G and it is said she has a lengthy arrest record for fraud and forgery, and had been living with the businessman under a false identity for the past two years. She is now in custody, along with her son and two accomplices.
The police were informed of the possible kidnap situation after a phone call the businessman made to his staff on Wednesday last week, asking for 160,000 € to be delivered to his home. He asked for the money in cash and said it was urgent.
The supposed kidnappers agreed to drop the ransom demand to 120,000 €.
Police who had the home under surveillance were able to free the hostage and took the four suspects into custody after searching two properties.
The girlfriend had already left with one of the two accomplices, faking that she was being taken hostage to guarantee payment of the ransom.

52 year old R.J.W. from Ireland, and M.E.V., who is 35 and is from Romford in Essex.

The Civil Guad have taken two foreign residents of Benalmádena into custody after an operation by the Organised Crime and Drugs Squad in Málaga over the Christmas period.
Officers seized more than one and a half tons of cannabis resin. The two suspects are named in a Civil Guard press release as 52 year old R.J.W. from Ireland, and M.E.V., who is 35 and is from Romford in Essex
They have both been remanded to custody.
The drugs were found on a lorry intercepted by the Civil Guard, and were hidden amongst pallets of crockery. The cargo was bound for the UK.

Discovery of a dead woman on Saturday morning

The latest information confirms that the body discovered on the beach in Sabinillas is that of a woman. The dismembered body parts were found amongst piles of debris washed up on the beach after the torrential rains of Friday night.The body was removed by Guardia Civil officers at 13.30 hrs and taken to the Institute of Forensic Anatomy for investigation. There was no identification on the body and police report that DNA and dental records would be needed to identify the victim and the cause of death although early indications are that it was a violent one.

www.todotorrente.com

Spanish police have announced the arrest in Alicante of the three administrators of a web site which offered movie downloads on the same day the films were premiered.
Police estimate their profits at more than 30,000 €, with losses caused to the copyright holders put at 535,000 €.
The site in question is named as www.todotorrente.com, which has now been closed down by a court order. It’s reported to have had 4,000 active links to productions protected by copyright, with some 750,000 users every month, and used ‘peer to peer’ technology for file sharing.

52 decoders were impounded and other items and documents seized.

The National police have arrested 28 people across the country today Friday, in relation to alleged crimes against intellectual property and telecommunications fraud.
Among those detained are the owners and administrators of hotels, local cable television networks and presidents of neighbour’s communities.
A statement from the police said the operation, named ‘Riós’, estimated that the amount defrauded was some eight million €.
Several distributors of modified decoders were also among those arrested. They had been advertising their wares on Internet portals.
The police operation was carried out in collaboration with the judicial police in Madrid, Alicante, Málaga, Soria and Logroño together with officers from Vigo, Elche, Coria del Rio and Astorga.
Among the local cable networks affected and accused of broadcasting copyright material were those in Nerja and San Pedro de Alcántara.

Internet Child Porn Ring

Arrested three people in Alicante Province on charges of producing pornographic images of children being abused by adults. Investigators say that in one video a 10-year-old girl was being abused by an adult.This investigation also led to the arrest of 24 people who had purchased the images.

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10 burglaries with violence

The arrests followed a lengthy investigation by undercover officers who linked the four men to 10 burglaries with violence carried out in Rincón de Loix, Armanello, Salto del Agua, Amafrá, Foi Manera and La Lloma and nine attacks on tourists.
arrested four men in connection with a series of violent robberies and car thefts carried out in the town and other parts of Alicante Province.Police say the four men, all Moroccan, are also facing charges of being in the country illegally.The four detainees are aged between 18 and 21 and have 42 previous arrests between them.
All of the crimes were committed at night and involved violence including strangulation.

Three of the detainees were picked up at the same time while the fourth was captured by local police following a pursuit through the town. Police were alerted to the man after a check on the vehicle he was driving found it had been stolen weeks earlier in Orihuela.A search of property being used by the gang uncovered 1,600 watches, a large amount of jewellery, mobile telephones and coin collections.

Threw the cash into a waste paper bin

bank robbers dumped an envelope containing nearly 3,000 euros into a waste bin in Los Alcázares last Friday.The two men had stolen the money from a Cajamar saving bank office in the town shortly before. One of the robbers thought a Protección Civil car – which was parked in front of the savings bank office – was a local police car and became so nervous that he threw the cash into a waste paper bin in the street.Both men then fled the area in a car.

Calypso La Cala

Calypso La Cala de Mijas last Thursday night saw a total of five local businesses affected by the flames.The cause of the fire is still been investigated , however local residents are convinced that the fire was caused by arson. The fire moved along the terraces of the shops, and also affected the inside of most of the businesses, generally restaurants. Foreign owned Restaurant Rex was most affected by the flames. Fire crews from Mijas, Fuengirola and Marbella attended the blaze.Local residents say it is a common occurrence that containers are set on fire and cars see wing mirrors broken in frequent acts of vandalism in the area.

Tony King

The 19 year Jail sentence against Tony King for the murder of the Mijas youngster Rocio Wanninkhof who died after being stabbed nine times on October 9 1999 was confirmed by the Spanish Supreme CourtThe 19 year Jail sentence for murder was confirmed by the Supreme Court. Reports indicate that the appeal against the sentence placed by the King defence has therefore been rejected. The Andalucian Supreme Court TSJA consideration last April that the guilty verdict was ‘sufficiently motivated’, therefore stands.

Francisco Salinas

National Police officers arrested the mayor of Ojós this morning on charges of corrupting children. Francisco Salinas, who represents the Independent Group, was elected mayor in 2003, replacing Bartolomé Bermejo. He has a degree in Pharmacology and works as a pharmaceutical analyst at the Morales Meseguer Hospital in Murcia.
Ojós is the smallest town in the Murcia region with only 600 inhabitants.

José Martínez Andreo

Guardia Civil officers have arrested the current mayor of Totana, José Martínez Andreo (PP), the Local Police chief and the municipal secretary as part of the 'Totem' council corruption inquiry. The Town Hall building has been evacuated while officers search for evidence. Totana judge, María Asunción Navarro, has remanded mayor José Martínez Andreo (PP) in custody without bail
Two others also arrested last Thursday - Town Hall general secretary, Laura Bastida, Juan Francisco Casanova - were released after each posting bail of €20,000 euros.
In total, twelve people were arrested on Monday, Thursday and Friday last week on a variety of charges including: bribery, falsifying public documents, giving false testimony, fraud, influence-trafficking, money-laundering, prevarication and embezzlement - relating to the expropriation of 2.2 million square metres of farmland to build more than five thousand new residential properties.
the first six arrestees have been brought before the judge handling the investigation. The main suspect is former mayor, Juan Morales (PP), who now represents the party on the provincial council. His current girlfriend and former wife, María del Carmen Jordán, are also implicated.
During a search of Ms Jordán's home, a number of council documents were found, which, according to a source close to the inquiry, should never have been in the possession of a private individual. Similar documents were found during a search of the consultancy owned by Ms Jordán earlier this week. When asked about them, Ms Jordán claimed that she was merely a secretary, saying that her former husband, Juan Morales, was the one responsible for delegating her work.
The same sources reveal that a briefcase containing documentation highly relevant to the inquiry was found in possession of Mr Morales's lawyer, Javier Cegarra, whose company was contracted to advise the council on urbanisation issues during Mr Morales's entire tenure (2003-2007) in return for a monthly fee of €1,800 euros. However, Mr Cegarra was sacked when Mr Andreo came to office following the regional and local elections earlier this year.

36 year old man from Birmingham was found dead

36 year old man from Birmingham was found dead in the centre of Vigo on Christmas Eve. Cause of death appears to have been alcohol poisoning.
The man, whose initials have been confirmed as KT, was found lying on the pavement outside a bar in La Puerta del Sol.

Guardia Civil officers arrested two men following a high speed chase on the Costa del Sol

The chase happened at 1PM on Saturday and started in the centre of La Cala de Mijas and ended 5km down the road when the suspects car dramatically spun out of control and smashed into a lorry in Torremolinos.
The Guardia were acting on information that a grey Renault Megane on the A-7 road was used to send messages between drugs gangs and to move quantities of cocaine.
The officers ordered the vehicle to stop but the too occupants sped off and officers followed
After the crash the two occupants were ordered out of the car at gunpoint although no shots were fired. In the event no drugs were found and the two Moroccans, who have a previous record
They have been charged with serious disobedience of authority and traffic offences.

lorry registered in Germany

A Ton of Cannabis Was Seized By Civil Guard Officers In Malaga Last Friday
Four People were arrested after a routine Civil Guard control of routes into the provincial capital pulled over a lorry registered in Germany which was carrying a cargo of tinned foods and officers discovered a ton of cannabis resin hidden amongst the cargo.

Cannabis Resin

The Civil Guard Seized over a ton of cannabis resin in Cabopino port in Marbella
arresting 5 people in the operation ,Four Moroccan nationals and a Spaniard who were caught as they were unloading their cargo into a van
A van and the boat used to transport the 1.275 tons of cannabis were impounded

link between the fire and the shooting of a French man

A Fire broke out at the Visconti Restaurant in Marbella on Monday morning. The fire is being investigated by the National Police who are suspicious that there could be a link between the fire and the shooting of a French man last week at the same restaurant.The fire has gutted the terrace of the restaurant, but the interior remains practically untouched by the flames.

link between the fire and the shooting of a French man

The fire is being investigated by the National Police who are suspicious that there could be a link between the fire and the shooting of a French man last week at the same restaurant.
The fire has gutted the terrace of the restaurant, but the interior remains practically untouched by the flames.

Mother threw away a marihuana plant

Police arrested a 17 year old youngster from Málaga The attack happened after the boys mother threw away a marihuana plant . She denounced her son for domestic violence following the attack after he pushed his mother head first through a glass terrace glass during a violent outburst at the family home in the Eugenio Gross area of the city.
Neighbours called the police after hearing screams coming from the house and when police arrived they found the property a wreck with blood on the walls.

Hit and Run

A woman who was crossing the road in Estepona on Christmas Eve died instantly after been knocked down by a hit and run driver some 100 metres from the Church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen.
Following the accident in Calle Ceuta in the centre of the town police launched a intense search based on witness statements. They arrested a man shortly afterwards and he was held on Monday night in the cells of Estepona police station ahead of appearing before a judge.
The victim was a 60 year old Argentinian Woman

a two-year investigation focused on internet users in Spain using foreign websites

Sixty-three people have been arrested in Spain on suspicion of involvement with child pornography, following raids across the country, officials say.
Police said large amounts of computer-based "paedophile material" had been seized as the raids were executed over more than 10 days.
a two-year investigation focused on internet users in Spain using foreign websites.
The operation was carried out with help from US, German and New Zealand police.
Those arrested included four Russians detained in the seaside resorts of Lloret de Mar and Benidorm, suspected of making about 200,000 euros (£140,000) from selling access to pictures.
Those arrests gave investigators information which led police to arrest 59 other people. They were said to include production and distribution ringleaders and individual clients.

unscrupulous skippers had taken cash in return for letting illegal African refugees swim out to the cages and be towed into European ports, hidden amo

bluefin tuna had recently streamed from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar, following ancient migration routes to their traditional spawning grounds off the North African coast.
“In Malta last week, where local businessmen working with Japanese, Korean and Spanish partners are at the forefront of the tuna revolution, “Whoever gets to the tuna first, claims the biggest prize in fishing history. For this is no ordinary catch. Astonishingly, each haul can be worth up to £10 million.
“Small wonder, then, that these traditional fishing grounds have become something akin to a battle zone with allegations of Mafia involvement, gunfights between fishermen and stories of rival boats ramming each others’ nets.”unscrupulous skippers had taken cash in return for letting illegal African refugees swim out to the cages and be towed into European ports, hidden among tuna.”

Mafia gangster known as the Acid Man, is in a Spanish jail

Learco Chindamo, 26, is serving a life sentence for stabbing headmaster Philip Lawrence to death outside his school in Maida Vale, north London, in 1995. Learco Chindamo’s father, a Mafia gangster known as the Acid Man, is in a Spanish jail awaiting trial for murdering his ex-girlfriend.
Massimo Giuseppe Chindamo was arrested last year after the brutal stabbing of the Venezuelan woman in Gran Canaria.
He went on the run and hid out for a week in a cave, but was eventually snared by police.
It also emerged yesterday that in the build-up to the Philip Lawrence murder trial in 1996, Massimo exchanged dozens of letters with his son from his own cell at the top-security Viterbo prison north of Rome.
At the time, Massimo was serving a 15-year sentence for throwing sulphuric acid into his estranged partner’s face in 1988 - the crime that earned him his gruesome nickname.
Interviewed in the prison, Massimo tried to take some perverse credit for how his son had turned into a murderer.
“He writes to me every week - we are very close,” he said. “He is my favourite son and always will be.
“He looks up to me and he respects me for being his father and teaching him so many things. Learco is like me - he has courage.”
The 55-year-old, who has numerous convictions for assault, extortion, possession of firearms and arson, fled to the Canary Islands after the acid attack.
In his absence, a Milanese court sentenced him to 15 years.
He was eventually arrested in 1991 and extradited to Italy, where he was jailed until 2005. That year he returned to the Canaries.
But in May 2006, he allegedly stabbed Maria Elena Pedraza in broad daylight in a jealous rage after she broke up with him.
He is said to have then dumped the bloodied murder weapon and hidden in caves for a week.
Acting on a tip-off, officers spent four hours on foot searching for his hideaway before finding him.
Despite being cornered, Massimo tried to escape but was arrested and will face trial towards the end of the year.
Last night his lawyer, Javier Hernandez, said: “I am aware Massimo has a son in the UK but he has never said anything about him being in jail.
“He has never denied killing Maria Elena, but I will be insisting there was no premeditation and that he did not intend to kill her the day she died.
“If he is found guilty, I’m envisaging a sentence of between 12 and 15 years.”

Arrested at a warehouse near Castellon

two Britons and a Polish man were arrested at a warehouse near Castellon, on the east coast of Spain, accused of preparing to smuggle cannabis hidden among cheap ceramics.

Passion Storm 3.4 tonnes of cannabis stashed below decks

Three Britons were arrested on a luxury yacht after drugs worth £10.2million were found on board. Spanish customs officers stopped the 43ft Passion Storm 300 miles off the north-west tip of Spain after a tip-off from police. A Moroccan crew member was also held. Police believe the 3.4 tonnes of cannabis stashed below decks were headed from Morocco to the UK.
The three Britons and the Moroccan, who have not been named, were being held last night in the Spanish port of Vigo.

4.5 metric tons of cocaine on board

Spanish police on Monday reported detaining a ship that was sailing from Latin America with 4.5 metric tons of cocaine on board.
A police official said the cocaine was presumably intended for drug dealers in the northwestern province of Galicia, and that several local residents suspected of complicity were arrested along with the ship's crew.
Galicia's mafia, one of the most powerful in Western Europe, is notorious for its involvement in drug trafficking, and deals especially in Latin American cocaine and hashish from Morocco.
More than seven tons of cocaine was seized off Spain's coast from the Russian cargo ship Tamsaar in 1999. This is the largest haul to have been seized by Spanish police so far. The Tamsaar crew were sentenced to ten years in prison for drug smuggling

organized crime group which brought young women from Russia to Spain and forced them to work as prostitutes

Spanish police have broken up an organized crime group which brought young women from Russia to Spain and forced them to work as prostitutes.
"Twelve members of the gang, mainly Russian and Uruguayan nationals, who controlled four night clubs in northeastern Spain, have been detained on charges of assisting prostitution and illegal migration, forgery, and sexual harassment," a police official said.
He said the ring, led by a Uruguayan national, sent hundreds of young women from Russia to Spain, and that gang members raped them and forced them to use cocaine.
The operation was carried out by the Spanish National Police and Barcelona city police.
This is not the first time this year that police in Spain have clamped down on international criminal gangs trafficking women from Russia and subsequently forcing them into prostitution.
In July, Spanish police busted a gang that lured Russian women with job offers and then forced them into prostitution in the province of Almeria, southern Spain. Police then arrested a total of nine people, six of them Russian nationals and three Spanish.
In April, 40 Russian women were freed from sex slavery in a special police operation in Costa Brava, a coastal region near Barcelona. Most of the women were from St. Petersburg and had been held captive under threat of physical violence.
Seven people, including the gang leader - an Albanian national - were arrested and face charges of human-trafficking and organizing a prostitution ring. The gang also included three Russians, one Kosovo Albanian, and one Armenian.
Criminal groups involved in the illegal sex trafficking normally recruit women with offers of legal work abroad, and promise to sort out their visas. The women are then forced into prostitution to pay off their debts, and their documents are stolen.

Russian national 15 burglaries in Almeria

Police in southeastern Spain have detained a Russian national on suspicion of committing at least 15 burglaries, a police department representative said Friday.
"The Russian national was arrested red-handed with a laptop computer after a theft in the town of Al-Ejido in the province of Almeria," the police spokesperson said, but declined to reveal his name in the interests of the investigation.
He said that a Spaniard, who received stolen goods in exchange for cocaine, was also arrested. A search revealed at least 100 pieces of jewelry, presumably stolen by the Russian.

Greco Organised Crime Unit for the Cadiz Costa

The Greco unit, which specialises in fighting organised crime will be based in Chiclana. It will be responsible for controlling the western part of Andalucía, as its counterpart in Málaga does on the Costa del Sol. Indeed many crime experts believe the success of the Málaga unit has been responsible for the increased presence of organised crime gangs in Cádiz as they have moved west to avoid the attentions of the Costa del Sol squad.
Sr. Alonso made the announcement during a speech at a conference on organised crime held in Jerez. He stressed that the government will not tolerate this type of activity, which includes drug smuggling, people trafficking and money laundering. He praised the work of the police and the Guardia Civil, saying that the authorities are trying to improve their resources to make their fight against crime less difficult.

Spanish Home invasion robbers fuelled by drugs

Spanish Home invasion robbers work more often at night and on weekends when homes are more likely to be occupied. The Costa home invader will sometimes target the resident as well as the dwelling. The selection process may include a woman living alone, a wealthy senior citizen or a known drug dealer, for example. It is not unheard of for a robber to follow you home based on the value of the car you are driving or the jewelry you are wearing. Some home invaders might have been in your home before as a delivery person, installer or repair vendor. Home robbers rarely work alone and rely on an overwhelming physical confrontation to gain initial control and instill fear in you. The greatest violence usually occurs during the initial sixty seconds of the confrontation and home invaders often come prepared with handcuffs, rope, duct tape, and firearms. Some in-home robbers appear to enjoy the intimidation, domination, and violence and some even claim it’s a "rush."

Cocaine now sells for as little as 60 euros

Cocaine now sells for as little as 60 euros ($80) a gram, or 5 euros ($7) a line, and it is regularly used by 1.6 percent of Spaniards, up from 0.9 percent in 1999, a government report said this month.Traces of cocaine can be found on 94 percent of banknotes in Spain, a country that has one of the world's highest rates of users, according to a study published on Sunday.

a quarter of males younger than 49 in Spain have paid for sex

the state-run National Statistics Institute show a quarter of males younger than 49 in Spain have paid for sex) is satisfied by a population of sex workers who are over 95 per cent extranjeras (of foreign nationality). These women, who are ‘owned’ by mafias here, are trafficked from all over the world - most commonly from Russia, Romania, Nigeria, Brazil and Colombia, with Romanian trafficking mafias becoming especially prolific. Spain is also a transit stop for victims en route to France, Germany and Portugal.
In 2005, a huge police operation in Andalucía and Extremadura discovered 54 Brazilian women who had been trafficked on false pretences and forced into prostitution on arrival. In this case, 11 Spaniards and three Brazilians were arrested and accused of trafficking.

147 women for being in the country illegally

The police have arrested 147 women for being in the country illegally since January of 2004. Not all of them have since been deported: article 59 of the Foreigners’ Law states that they can remain in Spain and obtain work papers if they co-operate with the police in tracking down the people who brought them into the country and employed them illegally in the first place. gang arranged for the procurement of women in Romania, their transport into Spain and their sale to pimps who paid 800 to 1,000 euros per woman plus a monthly rent for the right to prostitute the woman on the gang's 'turf'. The women worked 10-hour days and in some cases were also required to sell drugs to their clients, in order to increase the gang's revenues, say police. The operation is still open and further arrests could be made.

brothels on the Costa del Sol

Following an investigation of brothels on the Costa del Sol over the past eighteen months, the National Police have arrested 150 people in Malaga province accused of sexual exploitation and other crimes relating to prostitution.

all residents of Malaga

Police seized 4.3 tons (4.7 US tons) of hashish in southern Portugal, and arrested four Moroccans on suspicion of drug smuggling, authorities said Friday.
Police intercepted the suspects Tuesday, in truck heading to Spain.
A search revealed 52 bales of hashish in the truck, police said in a statement. Another 88 bales were found at a remote warehouse, it said.
The suspects, all residents of Malaga, southern Spain, were in custody, the statement said.
Police said the drugs had an estimated street value of around ¤20 million (US$29 million).

cannabis intended for the European market

Some four tonnes of cannabis intended for the European market were seized by the Moroccan Royal Navy off the coast of Nador (northeast), local authorities affirmed here Monday.
The drug was concealed in a zodiac whose occupants succeeded in fleeing, the same source said, adding that security forces has already launched an international arrest warrant against traffickers.