Welcome to Oculto Café – Cordoba’s infamous Satanic saloon.

 GLASSES shoot across tabletops, busty vamps serve blood-red cocktails, and twisted locals raise a toast to an image of Aleister Crowley. Welcome to Oculto Café – Cordoba’s infamous Satanic saloon. The bar is situated in a maze of narrow, winding streets in the ancient ‘Old Town’ district. Stepping outside for a Marlboro, I scan my surroundings. It’s a chilly, moonlit night and the streets are deserted. Strain your ears, however, and you’ll...

Body found in boot of crashed car on Alicante motorway

 Firemen called out to an accident on the A-31 Alicante-Madrid motorway early on Monday found an unidentified body in the boot of a car which had crashed into the central reservation at Sax and then burst into flames. The body was partially burnt but appears to be that of a man. Reports indicate that the deceased had been tied up and gagged. No other occupants were found at the site and the Civil Guard are now trying to identify the victim...

Two British tour operators who come to Spain go bust

 Two British tour operators who bring tourists to Spain have gone bust. Romano Travel ceased operations on October 26, a day after Airborn Limited. Romano Travel specialized in package holidays to Spain and Turkey and had been operating for 30 years. There were no more than half of dozen or so pending bookings from the Buckinghamshire firm which was fully protected with an ATOL licence and was a member of ABTA. Airborn Limited operated as...

Spain no longer the main destination for Brit's second homes

 A new survey carried out by the HomeAway holiday rentals company and real estate group Savills International has concluded that Spain is no longer the first choice among the Brits for their second residence. 1,700 British property buyers were questioned. More Britons now prefer France because of its better economic stability and the moderation in its house prices. 40% of Brits who buy in Spain later rent out the property, sometimes obtaining...

Malaga on the Mediterranean coast, in the Southern Spanish region of Andalucia, was the city you avoided

The city of Malaga on the Mediterranean coast, in the Southern Spanish region of Andalucia, was the city you avoided. An industrial port encircled by a tired ring of Franco-era low-rise apartment buildings, it was always the city tourists dashed by on their way to Torremolinos or...

Five arrested for road rage attack in Madrid

 National Police have arrested five people, two of them underage, for a brutal road rage attack in a tunnel on the M-30 motorway in September. They were taken into custody after they were identified on video footage from security cameras in the tunnel. The aggressors were travelling in two vehicles on the evening of September 17, and were seen on film chasing another car into the tunnel, speeding ahead and cutting across it to bring it to a...

32 arrests in luxury car scam in Spain

 National Police in Spain have arrested 32 people accused of stealing 25 vehicles worth over a million € from counties such as Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland, to be sold on in Spain. The sale of the vehicles were helped by official dealers and the gang even had the collaboration of workers at several ITV/MOT centres which issued certificates to say the vehicles had no signs of being manipulated. The Ministry of the Interior...

Spain's first private airport goes bust

 Spain’s first private airport has closed. The Ciudad Real Airport was opened in December 2008, considering that it could act as a Madrid overflow for residents in the south, but that just has not happened. The very last flight, operated by Vueling and with just 45 passengers, took off for Barcelona on Saturday at 2,45pm. The airline lasted less than a year at the Ciudad Real airport which has been dogged by bad luck from the start. It had...

Man stabs three people to death in Valencia

 A man has stabbed three people to death and injured another two in a hamlet close to Valencia. It happened in Castellar-Oliverar to the south of the city on Friday night at about 9pm. A 48 year old is reported to be very seriously hurt and is in the intensive care unit of the La Fe Hospital. Another 44 year old man has injuries to his back and head, and is stable in the General Hospital. Two of the dead are father and his 13 year old son, while...

Gang ringleaders: Mehmet Sirin Baybasin (left) and Paul Taylor (Pic: PA)

 A GANG of drug dealers planned to flood Britain with £4 billion of cocaine - arranging the plot from a phone box.The Liverpool and London-based gangsters were planning to smuggle 40 tonnes of cocaine from South America by sea, hidden inside tins of fish...

Fresh appeal launched to find man living abroad accused of murdering Nantwich man

 NEW appeal has been launched to capture a man wanted in connection with the murder of a Stapeley market trader. Christopher Guest More, 33, of Lymm, near Warrington, is one of 10 individuals wanted in the latest campaign being run by Crimestoppers and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). He is suspected to have been part of a gang involved in the torture and murder of market trader and cannabis farmer Brian Waters, who was killed in a...

Boland launches new radio station on same frequency as Heart

 HEART FM bosses have denied any bad feeling after controversial DJ Maurice Boland took over their coastal frequency for a new radio venture. The self-styled ‘Mr Marbella’ has left the station and plans to launch his new business later this month. “As far as we are concerned he can have it, it was an amicable agreement,” owner Pat Jay told the Olive Press. But other sources have revealed that there has been ‘considerable tension’ over the...

Thousands of Telefonica clients disconnected for 5 hours

 THOUSANDS of Telefonica clients on the Costa del Sol were left without service for five hours. The problem, which affected clients in Marbella, Ronda, Casares and Estepona, last Friday was due to a fault with a commutation network system, and also caused minor problems in Malaga City. According to Telefonica, it affected 20 per cent of communications in Malaga province, however, it did not affect clients with smartphones, which account for...

BRITISH catamaran heading to Spain carrying 300 kilos of cocaine with a street value of €1 million was towed into Cadizport by police,

 A BRITISH catamaran heading to Spain carrying 300 kilos of cocaine with a street value of €1 million was towed into Cadizport by police, the Interior Ministry said. The ship was located 198 miles west of Cape Saint Vincent, where it was boarded and...

Gardai in Spain for 'Fat' Freddie handover deal

 DUBLIN detectives have travelled to Spain to negotiate the handover of gangster 'Fat' Freddie Thompson. Sources say that gardai are spending a number of days with their Spanish counterparts examining evidence against Thompson. "This is standard procedure in a case like this," a source said. Thompson is due to appear before the High Court today where he is expected to apply for bail after being remanded in custody on Friday when he was arrested...

Spanish town rushes to wed gays before election

 Spanish town is offering gay couples fast-track marriages before a likely November election win by the conservative Popular Party, which opposes same-sex marriage. The mayor of the small southwestern town of Jun, Jose Antonio Rodriguez, said he offered the service across Spain after hearing from gay couples fearing a change in the law after the November 20 vote. “People are very afraid, they are starting to realise that there could be a real...

Choose your petrol station carefully in Malaga Province

 UP to €4.50 can be saved be choosing the cheapest petrol station to fill up. The average price per litre for unleaded petrol in Malaga Province is now up to €1.34, 13 per cent more than the same time last year, according to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce and the highest in the whole of Spain. Diesel is €1.29 on average, 16 per cent more than October 2010. The cheapest place to fill up with 95 octane is Distreax-22, Velez-Malaga,...

¡Ole! Spain drives legality into mobile services with Sybase 365

 Spain was one of the first countries to start to lay down laws relating to old non-registered pay-as-you-go SIM cards for anti-terrorism reasons i.e. you MUST tell the authorities your name and address and get a new SIM if you had one of the old anonymous ones. Following on from this "mobile legality" theme, news this week bubbles of Sybase subsidiary company Sybase 365 working with Spanish mobile operator Yoigo. The two firms have joined...

Catholic Church Child Trafficking Network

 Spain is reeling from an avalanche of allegations of baby theft and baby trafficking. The trade began at the end of the Spanish civil war and continued for 50 years – hundreds of thousands of babies are thought to have been traded by nuns, priests and doctors up to the 1990s. This World reveals the impact of Spain’s stolen baby scandal through the eyes of the children and parents who were separated at birth, and who are now desperate to find...

Spain’s property bust is only getting worse.

AFPCranes erecting the Pelly tower under construction in Seville.Spain’s property bust is only getting worse. The wonder is that the country’s economy and banks are still this resilient.The Spanish government said Tuesday that housing prices remained in free-fall in the third quarter,...

MAN ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING POLICE OFFICER

 Police have arrested a man identified as DFM, accused of assaulting a police officer and of driving his car whilst under the influence of alcohol in Roquetas de Mar. Command sources indicated to Europa Press that the incident occurred on Sunday when, at around 20.00hrs the 27 year-old man came by car to the Guardia Civil headquarters in Roquetas de Mar in an evident state of drunkenness to formulate a complaint against his former partner. At...

MARBELLA Urban Planning Department is currently working on the legalization of more than 500 houses.

  The new General Plan for Urban Development in the town gave promoters who had built illegally the opportunity to pay compensation in order to make some complexes legal so that the homeowners would not be affected by demolitions as they had bought the properties in good faith. This had to be done within a year, although the period could be extended to two years. However, in cases which were classified as minor, where too many houses...

BODY discovered on a property in Mijas is that of missing Finnish teenager, Jenna Lepomaki

 BODY discovered on a property in Mijas is that of missing Finnish teenager, Jenna Lepomaki, Malaga National Police have confirmed. Nevertheless, an autopsy and DNA tests are being carried out on the body, which police are 99 per cent certain belongs to Jenna. Four people have been arrested, three of them in Finland, thanks to a joint operation between Finnish and Spanish police. The 19-year-old came to the Costa del Sol on holiday invited by...

Spewing volcano forces Spain to close island port

 Spanish authorities say activity by an underwater volcano has led them to close access to a port on El Hierro island. Ships have been ordered away from waters around La Restinga and aircraft have been banned from flying over the island's southern tip. The port's 600 residents were evacuated Tuesday after volcanic activity began. The regional government of the Canary Islands says scientists have detected airborne volcanic fragments called pyroclasts...

SPANISH AUTHORITIES are seeking to extradite a Dublin man, Freddy Thompson

 Freddy Thompson, of Loreto Road, Maryland, Dublin 8, leaves his extradition hearing at the High Court yesterday. He was remanded in custody by Mr Justice Michael Peart to next Wednesday's sitting of the court.Photograph: Collins CourtsSPANISH AUTHORITIES are seeking to extradite...

British man arrested with contraband tobacco in Cádiz

 Guardia Civil has arrested a British man on the quay at Cádiz port after 5,800 cartons of contraband tobacco from the canaries were found in a false bottom of the van he was driving. A statement was released from the Guardia Civil saying the arrest took place last Monday when searches were carried out on vehicles which had arrived from the Canaries. The unit from the UAR, the Risks Analysis Unit, which is made up jointly by the Guardia Civil...

Nine arrested for growing marihuana inside a luxury property in Zaragoza

 Nine people have been arrested and 2,500 marihuana plants recovered from a luxury villa in a village of Zaragoza. The electrical installation to heat and supply light to the plants used as much power as 50 homes, and an illegal connection had been established to the grid. The facility had the capacity to produce 1,500 kilos of cannabis a year and had been established following the ‘Holland Model` of optimising plant growth by controlling...

Estepona cracks down on street prostitution

 Estepona Town Hall has drawn up a new by-law which includes measures against street prostitution with a ban on offering, requesting, negotiating for or accepting paid sexual services in public spaces, particularly within 200 metres of residential or commercial centres and schools. Fines are envisaged for those who fail to comply with the regulations. Councillor Ana Velasco told Europa Press that the by-law is expected to be approved at the...

British fraudster arrested in Torrevieja

 The Spanish National Police has arrested a British man who is wanted by the authorities in the United States for a fraud. Named as 61 year old R.B.A. he was arrested in Torrevieja, Alicante, when he was carrying out some transactions in a real estate company. The US fraud dates from March 1999 when the Briton was the main owner of a company which mis-invested the firm’s retirement funds. He and others in the company invested part of the fund...

Moroccan teenager found dead on Marbella roadside was shot for trying to steal marijuana plants

 The wife of the man who shot him has been arrested for covering up the crime and another youngster is in custody for attempted robberyThere have been two more arrests in the case of the 15 year old Moroccan boy whose body was found on the roadside between Marbella and Ronda on morning. The owner of a nearby finca was initially arrested, and it has now emerged that he shot the teenager dead after catching him breaking in to try and steal his...

Man arrested in connection with body found on Marbella roadside

 A man has been arrested in connection with the death of the 15 year old Moroccan whose body was found by the roadside between Marbella and Ronda. The arrested man lives on a nearby finca to where the body was found, and has claimed that the 15 year old was continuously stealing from him. Government Sub Delegate for Málaga, Hilario López Luna, said that the National Police arrested the Spaniard on Tuesday. The 15 year old Moroccan is known...

National police officers suspended the search for the two children who went missing on Saturday in Cordoba, Spain.

Photo: EFE.  The children, Ruth and José Bretón Ruiz aged six and two respectively, went missing at around 18:40 on Saturday while playing in a park just in the outskirts of Cordoba. They were with their father when they vanished. He claimed that they vanished when he lost...

I was set up, former chief of the National Police in Ronda claims

 former chief of the National Police in Ronda claims that he was accused in the police corruption case because people wanted to “bring him down”. Nine people are accused in the case which is currently being tried in Malaga. They include three other National Police officers and a Guardia Civil. The hearing was initially planned in March last year but was suspended after the defence for one of the accused asked to know the identity of...

Spain health service chokes as austerity tightens

 Medical suppliers haven't been paid for as much as two years, emergency rooms have been shut down and doctors in Catalonia have been told to accept a pay cut or 1,500 medical residents will lose their jobs. Spain's treasured public health care system has become the latest victim of the euro zone debt crisis. "We haven't been paid, but there's nothing we can do about it. We need the contracts, so we're just going to have to wait it out," said...

Possible Drug Connection Moroccan teenager found dead on a roadside in Marbella

 The National Police have identified a body which was found on the hard shoulder of the road between the Nueva Andalucía area of Marbella and Ronda on Monday as that of a 15 year old Moroccan boy who has been named by his initials, T.A. Despite the identification from finger prints there is no report of a missing person. It’s thought that his body could have been thrown from a moving vehicle as it passed the access road to the La Quinta urbanisation....

British man mugged in La Línea

 Local police in La Línea de la Concepción have reported that last Sunday they arrested three local men, 17 year old J.Z.B., 20 year old L.M.L.F. and 22 year old J.R.P. in connection with a robbery with violence. The police were patrolling the Calle Gibraltar in the town at 0630am close to a discotec, when they were approached by an 18 year old British man who told them that his father was being beaten up in the Princesa Sofía park. On their...

Four people arrested for murder of Finnish woman in Mijas

 Four people have been arrested in connection with a murder committed on the Costa del Sol this summer, after a body was found on an isolated property in Mijas last week. It’s believed to be that of 19 year old Jenna Lepomaki, a woman from Finland who arrived in Fuengirola for a holiday in June and was reported missing the following month after she failed to return home to her family. DNA testing is to be carried out to confirm the identification....

Dead Moroccan dumped on Marbella roadside

 BODY found on a Marbella roadside with shotgun wounds to the face has been identified as a 15-year-old Moroccan boy. The youngster was found near the La Quinta urbanisation on the Marbella to Ronda road on Monday, with reports indicating he had been thrown from a moving vehicle. An investigation is now underway, with an autopsy being held to determine the cause of death. Despite being identified by his fingerprints, there is no report of a...

alleged members of an organized network trafficking with weapons and drugs were arrested in Granada.

All the detainees are Spanish and are aged between 35 and 45.The operation began several months ago focused on locating illegal weapons which had allegedly been sold by the network. The police also found sophisticated cannabis greenhouses where more than 2,000 plants were seized....

Polish woman arrested in Marbella for murder

 POLISH woman was arrested in Marbella for her alleged involvement in a murder in Valencia in August 2009. The victim was Djordje Kenecevic, who was shot and burned inside his car in Almussafes (Valencia). The 49-year-old woman, identified as Danuta G.K. but also known as Renate B. and other identities, was arrested on the Palm Beach urbanization in Marbella. She had been identified as a suspect some months ago but was only located in Malaga...

Bank manager arrested for robbing his own bank

 Bank manager has been arrested in Vitoria after trying to rob his own branch. The man arranged for his brother to attack the bank, but things immediately went wrong when several people saw the brother putting on a wig and false moustache sitting in a car round the corner from the bank, and alerted the authorities. The man then left the bank by car but was found later by the police who found a wig, beard, moustache and false teeth in a bag...

Moroccan teenager found dead on a roadside in Marbella

 National Police have identified a body which was found on the hard shoulder of the road between the Nueva Andalucía area of Marbella and Ronda on Monday as that of a 15 year old Moroccan boy who has been named by his initials, T.A. Despite the identification from finger prints there is no report of a missing person. It’s thought that his body could have been thrown from a moving vehicle as it passed the access road to the La Quinta urbanisation....

Spain may exhume Franco

 Spain may exhume the remains of dictator Francisco Franco from his huge mausoleum near Madrid and move them to a cemetery, the daily Periodico de Catalunya reported on Monday. The proposal is being considered by a commission of experts which the government has tasked with proposing how to deal with the Valley of the Fallen, Franco's monumental burial place in San Lorenzo de El Escorial. The mausoleum is seen as being contrary to the 2007...