35 year old man wanted in the United States in connection with child pornography has been arrested in Spain

35 year old man wanted in the United States in connection with child pornography has been arrested in Spain while trying to leave the country. The arrest was made in Málaga by officers from the international crime unit of the Costa del Sol Organised Crime and Drugs Squad and the National Court in Madrid will now handle the suspect’s extradition back to the United States.Named by Europa Press as M.R.W., he was wanted on a warrant from the Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona on 10 counts of possession, transport and distribution of child pornography. He was charged in February last year after police found a large amount of pornographic material on the computers he used at a number of residences in Arizona.The suspect is married with two twin daughters, and it’s understood the original complaint to police came from his wife’s sister.

Manhunt for wanted Stephen Burnell, as part of a wider investigation into ten known criminals thought to have fled to Costa Del Sol region of Spain

Paedophile on the run for abusing a nine-year-old girl could be hiding in a Spanish resort. Now investigators will be launching a manhunt for wanted Stephen Burnell, as part of a wider investigation into ten known criminals thought to have fled to Costa Del Sol region of Spain. Burnell, 55, went on the run in 2007 after sacking his defence team days before his trial was due to start. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment for carrying out a number of sickening sex crimes against the nine-year-old – including attempted rape, making pornographic images, and eight sex attacks – and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life in his absence.
Despite a nationwide search for Burnell, who once lived in the South Bank area of York as well as other parts of the city, he still has not been found. Under the banner of Operation Captura, investigators behind UK crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers, and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), want the help of the public to trace fugitives thought to be on the run in Spanish resorts. Several waves of the appeal, first launched in October 2006, have led to the arrest of 23 out of 40 criminals arrested.

Burnell is described as being 5ft 9ins tall, of medium build, with blue eyes and has a ruddy complexion with cropped receding ginger hair with a full ginger beard and moustache.

He has a number of distinctive tattoos, including a black panther on his left arm; a skull with a dagger behind; and the words Do Or Die printed over the top of his right arm. He is described as having a nomadic lifestyle. Details of the ten men, which also include a suspected child rapist, Martin Smith from Tyneside, and suspected Manchester jewellery robber Benjamin Murphy, are posted by Crimestoppers on a “most wanted” website targeting the region.

Estepona British couple attacked and man was stabbed twice in the back, piercing his kidney

National Police are investigating the brutal attack of a 50-year-old British tourist who was stabbed twice and hit over the head with a bottle by a gang of youths in Estepona on May 10.The attack took place when at approximately 4am the victim and a British woman were sitting by the seaside in an area which is frequented by young people who drink and socialise there at the weekends. For unknown reasons the victim was attacked by a group of North African youths who were only a few metres away. One of the youths approached the man and hit him over the head with a bottle. A second youth then stabbed him twice in the back, piercing his kidney.
The gang ran off while the woman managed to help the victim to Avenida España where they found a Local Police patrol.The victim was rushed to the Costa del Sol Hospital where he remains under observation. The police have now launched an investigation to try to identify and capture the group of violent attackers.This is the third case involving a knife attack in less than a week after a young man was stabbed in the Torrequebrada area of Benalmadena while he was stood in the front porch of his house.
In an isolated attack a few days earlier, a man was arrested for allegedly attacking his sister with a knife in Torremolinos. She sustained cuts to her hand.

British man arrested on the Costa del Sol

Details have emerged on the violent burglary gang arrested on the Costa del Sol in the Civil Guard operation ‘Ronin.’ Their nationalities have been given as 7 Spaniards, 2 Moroccans and one each from Belgium, Colombia, Argentina and Britain.The leader of the gang is Spanish.According to information from Diario Sur, officers in Operation Ronin carried out 17 property searches as part of their investigations: in Málaga city itself, and, in the province, in Fuengirola, Mijas and Marbella, as well as in Melilla.
The group is said to have operated in Fuengirola and Mijas, targeting fast food restaurants and private homes.

James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police

James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police trying to stop a violent
drugs war that has broken out on the Costa del Sol.NOTORIOUS Liverpool gangster was today behind bars in Spain after being arrested for attempted murder.James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police trying to stop a violent drugs war that has broken out on the Costa del Sol.The 29-year-old is also being investigated over claims he is the ringleader of a gang which has brought terror to the sunshine streets.
A leaked report to a Spanish judge over a spate of shootings says the gang is a “worldwide organisation that is dedicated mainly to drug trafficking, targeted assassinations and has a hierarchical structure among the members, almost all of whom originate in Liverpool and Man-chester”.Taylor was arrested over the shooting of a Brit after a nightclub brawl last August.

UPDATED:Spanish police seize fake and stolen Dalís at a hotel in the southern Costa del Sol region.

Spanish police are seeking the owner of a £1.1m bronze elephant, possibly sculpted by Salvador Dalí, that was stolen with a major haul of work purportedly created by the mustachioed master of the so-called paranoid-critical method.The three-metre-high elephant was impounded with 81 works that had been on display at a hotel in the southern Costa del Sol region. It was not clear whether the pieces were stolen, genuine or fakes.The works, which included sculpture, bas reliefs, lithographs, textiles, furniture and cutlery had been transported to the hotel in Estepona from France and were due to be auctioned there. The asking price for the elephant sculpture, believed to be a work known as the Space Elephant, was €1.2m (£1.1m) .Police said they were investigating reports from around the world that up to a dozen pieces similar to those on display had been stolen. The robberies had been reported in the United States, France, Belgium and Spain. An unidentified Frenchman was arrested and charged with fraud and faking documents, they said.frenchman was arrested yesterday for trying to organize an exhibition of works by Dali in a hotel in Fuengirola, an coastal town between here and Marbella. Yes, a hotel in Fuengirola is a likely place for a serious art exhibit. So it's pefectly normal for the works to be thrown into a truck sent here from France. And of course you'd store over sixty Dali originals in one of the hotel's rooms with no special security. Right. And exactly who did this guy think was going to buy these valuable pieces of art? Dali is one of the most forge artists in the world. I guess the guy figured he'd find plenty of suckers here who wanted to launder some money. And probably a very reasonable supposition

Marbella,Three Brits were arrested and another was on the run

Three Brits were arrested and another was on the run last night after police in Spain seized almost four tonnes of hashish in a raid on a Costa del Sol warehouse.
Spanish drugs squad officers swooped on the industrial unit in Antequera, near Malaga, earlier yesterday before arresting the three suspects.A fourth British man was cornered during a similar raid on an apartment building in the Costa del Sol resort of Marbella, but he managed to escape through a first-floor window and was still at large, police officials said.A drugs squad officer said: "We carried out the raid after a tip-off and made one of the largest drugs seizures of the past 12 months."Three British men resident on the Costa del Sol are being held in custody facing charges for drugs trafficking."The officer confirmed: "A fourth British man, who is believed to be connected to the other three, escaped and is still on the run."

Paul Hickey is currently serving 15 years at Fontcalent jail, one of Spain's toughest penitentiaries.

Hickey, is currently serving 15 years at Fontcalent jail, one of Spain's toughest penitentiaries.Sandra Conroy said she would block any attempt by Paul Hickey to move to an Irish prison for the rest of his sentence.He was sentenced in November when he admitted battering Celine (26) to death at their holiday home on the Costa Del Sol three years ago. He can apply to be transferred to an Irish prison, but this would have to be approved by both the Spanish and Irish authorities."I'm still in contact with my solicitor, it's still not over for me," Sandra said."I'll keep up the fight if there is any way they can even consider letting him come home. If it's the courts or the Dail, I'll tie myself to the railings if I have to to keep him in Spain."
Sandra remains sceptical about claims Hickey (31) has made about being stabbed repeatedly in jail.She said she was sickened by a recent press interview he gave complaining of conditions at the notorious prison."He said he'd been stabbed in prison, but I didn't see any marks on him when he was in court," Sandra said. "It was all about himself and how hard he was having it."Meanwhile, Sandra has said she is still haunted by Hickey's sneering attitude as he was sentenced.The family spent Christmas together and visited Celine's grave in Glasnevin.

Daniel Paul Johnston wanted for four robberies in Derbyshire now thought to be living in Spain

FUGITIVE wanted for four robberies in Derbyshire now thought to be living in Spain is still being hunted by crime-fighters.
Police issued a photograph of Daniel Paul Johnston, 27, in January, along with an appeal for information from the public.
But Johnston, who is originally from Matlock and is wanted for four robberies at off-licences in Derbyshire, remains on the run and is still believed to be in the Costa Del Sol.As part of Operation Captura – a scheme launched by the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Crimestoppers and the Spanish authorities – Johnston was named on a list of 20 fugitives police wanted to trace.
An agency spokesman said: "We are still making efforts to trace this man and continue to work with colleagues to do so. There are indications that he went to Spain and we believe he is still living there.
"While we cannot talk about the specifics of investigations, we can say that work with the relevant authorities in Spain is on-going."
Johnston is thought to have committed two robberies in September, 2004, and one in January, 2005, at Bargain Booze, in Limetree Avenue, Midway.
Another, in October 2004, took place at Wellwood Road Stores, in Newhall.
A knife was brandished and cash stolen.
Operation Captura identifies people wanted by British police for crimes committed in the UK. To date, 14 fugitives have been brought to justice following 20 such appeals on the Crimestoppers' Most Wanted website.
The appeals ask members of the public, either in Spain or the UK, to contact the authorities to help trace suspected criminals.
SOCA co-ordinates the appeals and then processes a European arrest warrant, which is used to bring fugitives back to the UK.
The introduction of European arrest warrants came about in 2003 as part of the Extradition Act and is used to speed up the transfer of suspects from one country to another.The spokesman added: "We have had great success from the operation so far and we will do all we can to bring people to justice."
The Costa del Sol, in Andalucia, was given the nickname "Costa del Crime" over 20 years ago because of the number of suspected UK criminals thought to be living there.

Irish-linked drugs distribution network in Spain ordered two pipebomb threats carried out

Irish gangster based in Spain is believed to have ordered two pipebomb threats carried out yesterday. Detectives were last night working on the theory that the pipebombs, which were viable and packed with homemade explosive, were sent as a warning to a man who was allegedly in debt to the gangster.The man does not live at either of the west-Dublin addresses targeted by the attacker.The gangster is originally from the north inner city and is connected to a former-gangland figure, who was the subject of a major investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Gardai believe he has been in control of an Irish-linked drugs distribution network in Spain since earlier this year.One of the devices was found at a house in Ronanstown yesterday morning and the other at an address in Ballyfermot shortly afterwards.Both of the pipebombs had been left under parked cars. Army bomb-disposal teams made each device safe and broke them down into component parts before taking them away for forensic examination.The tests confirmed that the devices were viable and contained quantities of homemade explosive. There were similar-ities in the construction of the pipebombs.Last night, the remains were handed over by the army to the gardai.Earlier, an old training grenade was found during a planned garda search at Grove Lane in Coolock. It was examined by an army ordinance team, who established that it had no explosive content.On its way back to barracks from the Ballyfermot incident, the army team was diverted to a fourth call-out at Oliver Bond flats, off Thomas Street.The device, which had been found by Dublin city council workers in a vent in a flat during routine maintenance work, was a hoax.
All of the scenes were cordoned off during the army examinations and several houses were evacuated during two of them.Meanwhile, three shots were fired at a convicted heroin dealer as he drove his car through Finglas yesterday afternoon.Last night, local gardai were trying to find a motive for the attack. The intended target was not injured.Gardai believe the target is a former associate of murdered gangland boss Martin "Marlo" Hyland.

Spain organized crime is increasing

Organized crime is increasing on Spain's touristic southern coast, the Costa del Sol, where more than 700 international criminal rings operate, the far-left party Izquierda Unida (IU) said in a report released Friday. The number of criminal organizations present in Malaga province grew by almost 10 per cent in 2007.
More than 50 abductions and settlements of accounts occurred in 2006 on the Costa del Sol, where police dismantled over 130 criminal rings, detaining more than 1,200 people, over three years. The report stressed the link between organized crime and political corruption on the Costa del Sol. More than 170 people including mayors, officials and entrepreneurs have been detained in connection with scandals linked especially with the construction sector in the region in the recent years.
IU representative Antonio Romero accused regional authorities of not taking sufficient measures against organized crime.

local construction industry will be at a complete standstill in two months time, as work is completed on those sites where it is already underway.

Málaga Chamber of Commerce has said that the local construction industry will be at a complete standstill in two months time, as work is completed on those sites where it is already underway. The declaration comes as there are still some 85,000 people whose work in the province is linked to construction. A call has been made for more public works as a way of keeping some of the jobs alive.

20 people have been arrested in a timeshare fraud on the Costa del Sol.

20 people have been arrested in a timeshare fraud on the Costa del Sol.The National Police are investigating the case which could have affected hundreds of people, most of them foreigners.The arrests are now known to have been made last week and new detentions have not been ruled out and several promoters are reported to be under investigation.La Opinion de Málaga reports that the fraud could consist of offering the purchaser a set time in the property without confirming that the time has already been previously sold. The paper says that investigations remain open and more arrests will take place shortly.

"Fat" Freddie Thompson has been disguising himself against assassination

"Fat" Freddie Thompson has been disguising himself against assassination.
Thompson has been wearing a wig based on Oasis star Liam Gallagher’s distinctive mop, sources said. Separately, gardai said today they seized four Glock handguns when they stopped two cars in Dublin. The automatic pistols, which are becoming increasingly popular among city gangs, were found in a search by officers in Clondalkin. Officers said the find was unconnected with recent feuding in the city.
Meanwhile, sources today told how Freddie Thompson, whose associates have been involved in the murderous feud in the capital, has also been wearing the wig around his Spanish hideaway. The unusual Oasis-style wig has caused much bemusement in Garda ranks. “He has been keeping what’s left of his hair completely cropped so it’s easier to wear the wig and look anonymous,”said a source today. “He can wear what he wants on his head, but there is no mistaking his face,” the source added.
Gardai were first alerted to the strange dress up routine when they stopped Thompson and one of his hoods in March 2005. Officers noticed a passenger and his driver wearing bullet proof vests while travelling close to the Dail on Dublin's Kildare Street. On closer inspection, gardai realised that the passenger was in fact Freddie Thompson.
Gardai described Freddie as a "Noel Gallagher look-alike" with a heavy wig and dark glasses.
Since then he has been spotted on further occasions donning the Oasis-style look.
Thompson is living in constant fear of his life from other crime rivals in the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud which has so far claimed 13 lives. Thompson left Ireland following a flurry of gangland tit for tat style incidents. Garda intelligence shows that a number of attempts had been made on his life. His name was also regularly appearing on 'hit lists' of rival gangs.
Thompson was travelling with his associate Patrick Doyle when he was murdered in Marbella on February 4 this year.
Since that date Thompson has remained in Spain where he is surrounded by friends and fellow criminals.
Recent gun and grenade attacks on the home of his grandparents in the Coombe and on the homes of a number of his partners-in-crime have contributed to his decision to remain in Spain. Rumours of his death last month were quashed and described as an "elaborate ploy". The gang boss was later pictured alive and well in his Spanish retreat.

Audrey Fitzpatrick and her partner Dave Mahon met with former BBC reporter Clarence Mitchell at the Westbury Hotel

Audrey Fitzpatrick (40) and her partner Dave Mahon met with former BBC reporter Clarence Mitchell at the Westbury Hotel to seek new ways of raising awareness about the search for Amy.Clarence Mitchell works full-time as spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann whose little daughter Madeleine was abducted from their holiday apartment in Spain.Dubliner Amy Fitzpatrick disappeared in Spain on the night of January 1 last while walking to her home in Calahonda from a friend's house on the Costa del Sol.
"We had a very encouraging meeting with Clarence. He flew into Dublin just to meet us and flew back to England a few hours later," Audrey told the Herald today.
"When Clarence appeared on the Late Late Show a while ago, a lot of people were telling him about Amy so he left his number for us to contact him," said Audrey.
"He offered to come over to meet us. It was very good meeting him. He has offered us real help in getting Amy into the British media," she said."He was confident he will be able to get Amy's story on the BBC and on Sky and on GMTV too," she said.
"He is doing this just because he wants to help find Amy. We're very grateful to him. We have been trying for a long time to get the British media interested in the search for Amy," she added.Audrey and her family have been anxious to alert the 200,000 British people living on the Costa del Sol about Amy's disappearance. The British ex-pats mainly use British television channels and British newspapers.
Audrey and her partner are in Dublin for a few days before they return to their home in Spain.

Costa del Sol Health centre robber caught

Police finally caught the woman, named only with the initials, M.I.C.G. in the act at the Carlos Haya Hospital in the city where she was in the offices and taking personal items which belonged to health staff.A 42 year old woman who dressed up in a white lab coat and put a stethoscope round her neck so she could steal from health centres has been arrested in Málaga. Diario Sur reports that she had carried out thefts in Ambulance stations, hospitals and health centres along the Costa del Sol, such as Las Lagunas in Mijas, in the search for wallets and other items. She now faces four charges of theft, two of them violent, and another count of attempted theft.

Car theft costa more than 40% of car thefts in Europe occur on the Costa del Sol

More than 40% of car thefts in Europe occur on the Costa del Sol according to a recent meeting of the National Police in Fuengirola. Spain is known as the gateway for trafficking of stolen cars into Africa and is considered one of the most important car showrooms in the world.It is planned that in a couple of years, all cars will be computerised and there will be a databank of information enabling all stolen cars to be located, worldwide and then returned to its rightful owner. The scheme will not however include Morocco, for they have a law that states that if a vehicle is brought into the country with illegal paperwork then it cannot be granted an exit visa. The only way that this could be rectified would be by an amendment to the Moroccan custom laws, which may never happen.
In Spain it is often international crime rings that organise the vehicle trafficking as the profit to be made is so huge. The most sought-after models include 4 wheel drives such as Mitsubishi, Mercedez, Range Rover and Jeeps which are most useful in countries where there is a lot of snow or desert. The route for stolen vehicles is usually via the ports of Almeria, Algeciras or Cadiz.With the abolition of European borders, the problem is getting out of hand.

Drugs runs from Cueta to Estepona

National Police operation against a drug smuggling gang which operated between Ceuta and the Costa del Sol, and which brought large amounts of cannabis into Spain illegally. Central government offices in Ceuta said eleven arrests have taken place in Marbella, Estepona and Ceuta, and that six of them were from the Autonomous City, two from Málaga province, and the remaining three were Moroccan.It has been a joint investigation on both sides of the Strait, which brought information that the gang planned to make a drugs run to Estepona on the 5th of this month. The haul amounted to more one and a half tons of cannabis, and would, according to information from EFE, have brought the smugglers almost 2.5 million €.Also confiscated in the operation were the Zodiac boat the smugglers used for the trip across the Strait of Gibraltar, a stolen van and two other vehicles, satellite telephones, and GPS navigation equipment.

Graham Hall, was held with six others following the discovery of the drugs destined for the UK

Guardia Civil have arrested a Tyneside man in a £9.2m cocaine bust on the Costa del Sol.Graham Hall, 41, of Wallsend, was held with six others following the discovery of the drugs destined for the UK.Hall was detained hours after Dublin drugs baron Paddy Doyle was shot dead in Estepona near Marbella.Northumbria Police said they haven’t had any communications with the Spanish authorities over Hall’s arrest but are making further inquiries.Murder squad detectives are working with Irish officers and are trying to establish links between the drugs haul and Doyle’s death last Monday.Officers from Spain’s Drugs and Organised Crime Unit approached a group of men loading furniture on to a van in the town on Tuesday.And discovered the 140 kilos of cocaine in secret compartments inside the furniture.Seven men, six British and one Irish, were arrested. Hall was one of those arrested along with Edward Thompson, 49, from Liverpool.Spanish police have been working in collaboration with the Irish Garda following the assassination of Dublin gang member Doyle.A man wanted for a gangland killing on Tyneside two years ago was named last month among 10 suspected criminals hiding in the “Costa del Crime”.Police believe Allan Foster flew from his Spanish hideaway to assassinate David ‘Noddy’ Rice in South Shields in May 2006 with a silenced semi-automatic gun.It is thought he flew out of the country the day after the killing, at a seaside car park near Marsden Grotto, and has remained a fugitive since.Foster, 31, was named among 10 suspects by Crimestoppers on a most-wanted website targeting the Costa del Sol.Mr Rice, 42, was shot nine times by two masked men on the seafront at South Tyneside after being lured to the meeting by Steven Bevens, 39.Bevens worked for Foster, who police believe fired the fatal shots. Last year Bevens was sentenced to life with a minimum of 26 years behind bars for murder, while getaway driver Derek Blackburn, 51, of Humberside, who turned informer on the duo, was given four years for assisting an offender, later cut to two and a half years.A Foreign Office spokeswoman said this afternoon: "A British National was detained on February 5, however he was later released without charge."

David Alfred Andrews

David Alfred Andrews, 66, was born in the village and is accused of being behind the importing of cocaine from south America.
Crimestoppers and SOCA have issued new appeals for information concerning Andrews and nine other British men thought to be on the run in the Costa del Sol region of Spain.
He allegedly conspired to import large amounts of the drug by using corrupt Heathrow Airport employees.
Operation Captura was originally launched in October 2006, and eight of 20 fugitives have so far been brought to justice.
Bill Hughes, director general of SOCA, said: "British crooks who thought they could enjoy a yachts and villas' lifestyle in Spain have received a nasty shock. Many of them are now experiencing a rather different lifestyle at Her Majesty's pleasure."
Andrews is 5ft 11in tall, has grey, collar-length hair, large build and is usually clean shaven.