Saray Tinoco disappeared going to dye her hair, she never returned for supper.

15 year old has gone missing in Andalucía with the announcement that 15 year old Saray Tinoco who vanished from Lepe, Huelva last Wednesday, a week ago.
Saray Tinoco left home last Wednesday with her I.D. but with no money.
Saray left home at 5pm with her ID card, but without any money, and the family says they had no idea that she may have wanted to run away. They say Saray said she was going to dye her hair, but she never returned for supper.
The Guardia Civil have now organised a search for the youngster.

Fifteen Russian sailors arrested in Spain for alleged drug trafficking have been allowed to see their relatives

Fifteen Russian sailors arrested in Spain for alleged drug trafficking have been allowed to see their relatives. They were detained two months ago, along with other foreigners in the port of Huelva on the Atlantic coast.
The crew maintains it undertook the extra work of unloading cargo from an unknown vessel while their ship was under repair. Spanish police say they were caught unloading a cargo load which contained four tonnes of hashish.

Fifteen Russian sailors arrested in southwest Spain

Fifteen Russian sailors arrested in southwest Spain in a narcotics sting operation last month have been charged with smuggling and crimes threatening the health of Spanish citizens, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.The sailors were detained on May 14 near the city of Huelva on southwest Spain's Atlantic coast in a large-scale police operation, after around four metric tons of marijuana was seized from their two vessels, both of which belonged to a Russian company. "The sailors were detained by police when they were traveling in a private minibus to a foreign vessel, which docked outside the port where the drugs were seized," Andrei Nesterenko said.Representatives of the Russian Embassy in Madrid said the suspects are being held in 'normal' conditions, and that no procedural violations in their arrest have been observed. The Russian Foreign Ministry is maintaining close contact with the captains of the crew and the Spanish authorities, Nesterenko said.

Russian sailors arrested near the city of Huelva

Fifteen Russian sailors have been arrested in the southwest of Spain on suspicion of being involved in drug trafficking, a Spanish Civil Guard official said on Friday.
"The Russian sailors were arrested near the city of Huelva two weeks ago during a large-scale police operation, along with 29 individuals suspected of drug trafficking," the official said, adding that other foreign nationals had also been arrested. The Civil Guard said four tons of marijuana smuggled into Spain in two vessels had been seized during the operation. "The extent of the Russians' involvement in the case will be established during the investigation," he said.
Another police officer said the Russian sailors were believed to have been hired by drug dealers to unload the vessels, for which they could face long prison terms.
Russia's embassy in Madrid said crew members from the fishing ship Yuozas Aleksonis, which belongs to the Russian Arkhangelsk trawler fleet, were among those arrested.
A fleet official said earlier on Friday the crew could have been set up to discredit the company involved in a long-running litigation over the ownership of several trawlers, including the Yuozas Aleksonis, now anchored in Spain. "In any event we will seek our sailors' return home," said Nina Zelenina, chief spokesperson for the fleet based in northern Russia. The Arkhangelsk fleet dispatched 60 sailors to Spain after a Spanish court upheld in December 2007 Russia's suit against a Mauritanian national who appropriated the vessels after leasing them in 2004. The sailors were supposed to carry out maintenance work on the fishing vessels to prepare them to be towed to a neighboring country for repairs. But the Mauritanian appealed the ruling, and the trawlers ended up stuck in Spain pending further court hearings.

Demonstration as Santiago del Valle, the man arrested in connection with the death of five year old Mari Luz Cortés, arrived at the court in Huelva

Demonstration as Santiago del Valle, the man arrested in connection with the death of five year old Mari Luz Cortés, arrived at the court in Huelva shortly after 5 on Thursday afternoon, where a crowd of some 600 people had been waiting outside since the early hours of the morning. The angry crowd shouted "Asesino!"[murderer] and hurled bottles and stones as the detainees, Santiago and his sister, arrived in police vans. The security fences that were serving as a barrier between the public and the court were used like throwing weapons. The police, who had send to the place several intervention teams, were forced to move against the crowd, with shots to the air and using their batons, trying to keep the order and disband the crowd , who were, besides throwing stones, doing fires in the streets and vandalizing several parked cars.During the uproar, two Spanish journalists, who were covering the story, were slightly injured. Izidro Huete, a cameraman from Cuatro Television [Channel 4], was hit in the head with a stone and had to be carried to a hospital to receive medical treatment. As well, a journalist from the radio Onda Cero was injured in the arms, in the middle of the crowd clash.

The first one breaking the orders from the police was the grandfather of Mari Luz, Juan José Fernandez, a fact that gave more strength to the protesters. ‘You criminal murderer, you have to pay for what you did! The prison is not enough for you!’ this was one of the various sayings directed to Santiago del Valle the confessed killer of Mari Luz.Between the screams and pushes, the rage of the relatives and neighbours mixed with a will of provoking chaos by a group of young persons from the El Torréjon district forced the authorities to expand the perimeter of security, closing all the streets that had a connection to the court.

Spanish police fired rubber bullets and clashed with protesters gathered outside a court Thursday in the town of Huelva on arrival of two suspects

Spanish police fired rubber bullets and clashed with protesters gathered outside a court Thursday in the town of Huelva for the arrival of two suspects in the disappearance and death of a 5-year-old local girl.
The crowds shouted «murderer» and hurled bottles and stones as the suspects _ a man and
his sister _ arrived in a police van. Three police officers and two journalists were slightly injured. Two people were arrested.
«I insist in asking people to stay calm and to let the courts do their work,» Juan Jose Lopez Garzon, Interior Ministry delegate for the southern region of Andalucia, told reporters.The detained man and his sister were arrested Tuesday in the central city of Cuenca.Mari Luz Cortes vanished Jan. 13 when she left her home in the southern town of Huelva to buy sweets. After weeks of searches, police found her remains March 7 in an estuary near the city.The case was major news in Spain given that the child had disappeared in an area about two hours' drive from the Portuguese town where British girl Madeleine McCann went missing in May of last year while on vacation with her parents.
Lopez Garzon said the detained man is the main suspect. He had been a neighbor of the dead girl, Mari Luz Cortes, but had left Huelva shortly after her disappearance. He was arrested weeks later but released for lack of evidence.
The General Council of the Judiciary, an oversight board, said Thursday it had ordered an inquiry into why the suspect had been free despite having been sentenced twice in recent years for child abuse.

Santiago del Valle García has confessed to the murder of Mari Luz Cortés

Santiago Del Valle had always been the prime suspect in the case but police lacked evidence against him. According to police sources quoted in the newspaper, he had a history of child molestation, even on his own daughter, and had left the El Torrejón district of Huelva to avoid possible reprisals from indignant neighbours. His wife, whose name does not appear, was detained for questioning with her husband although she is not a suspect; his sister could be accused of collaboration in the execution of a crime.
Santiago del Valle García, 52, has confessed to the murder of Mari Luz Cortés, according to news sources. He had already been questioned in Granada but was released for lack of proof. Santiago G. and his wife and sister, who had been neighbours of the Cortés family in Huelva, were detained in Cuenca, to where they had moved well before the body of Mari Luz was found downriver from the family home.
Mari Luz disappeared on her way back home from buying a packet of crisps on January 13th and was the subject of a wide search throughout the country, with European extensions. Her body was found accidentally on March 7th by workmen at the Cepsa refinery in Huelva. Autopsy reports indicated that she had been murdered very near, or on the date she disappeared.

man, named by the Mari Luz Cortés father Juan José, as Santiago G.

Europa Press reports that the arrested man has now confessed, to the police but not to a judge, to his involvement in the disappearance of the five year old, but says that she died accidentally. According to his statement to police, he said that she fell and died accidentally when she was with him ‘at her own choice’. The paper reports that this man had been arrested earlier in Granada just a few days after Mari Luz vanished, and was released on a lack of any evidence.
A man, who was arrested in Spain yesterday is reported to have confessed to his involvement in the death of Mari Luz Cortés, the five year old girl who vanished in Huelva on January 13. The man, named by the victim’s father Juan José, as Santiago G., lived locally in the same Torrejón district of the city, but has recently moved to Cuenca with his wife to avoid reprisals.
The suspect, who has a previous criminal record for child sexual abuse, was arrested with his wife in Pajaroncillo, a village in Cuenca province. Canal Sur reports that his sister has also been detained by the police.
Known as the Spanish Madeleine in the British press, she vanished when going to buy some crisps on the previous January 13 in the Torrejón district of Huelva. Her body finally appeared floating in the Ria de Huelva on March 7.Reporting restrictions remain in force in the case, but the child’s father, Juan José Cortés, told the Huelva Infomación newspaper that the man is called Santiago, lived locally and has a criminal record for child and sexual abuse. He said that the family had suspected him from the very first moment in the case.
‘We know that it is him, we are sure, and this is no surprise to me’, said the father this morning.Police say that they are sure that the man is responsible for the death of the child, and they believe that the motive was sexual. He is also reported to have a distancing order in place against his own children. The analysis from the police forensic department indicates however that the man could not manage to sexually force himself on the child.

Mari Luz Cortés man has been arrested in Huelva

man has been arrested in Huelva in connection with the disappearance and death of the five year old Mari Luz Cortés, whose body was found floating in the Ria de Huelva last March 7. She had vanished when going to buy some crisps on the previous January 13 in the Torrejón district of Huelva.The Government Sub-delegation offices in Huelva have confirmed that an arrest was made yesterday, and that this person is now in police custody answering questions.The identity of the arrested man has not been given, and a reminder was given that reporting restrictions are in force in the case.

Spanish T.V. reporting the Mari Luz Cortés case say she was suffocated to death, and then thrown into the water afterwards.

Reports from Spanish T.V.Telecinco has revealed what it calls the definitive results of the autopsy carried out on the body of the five year old
There has been new information in the Mari Luz Cortés case, the five year old girl from Huelva whose body was found in Ria de Huelva a week ago.Telecinco is reporting that the definitive results of the autopsy carried out on the child, which they say has proved that she was suffocated to death, and then thrown into the water afterwards. The autopsy concludes that the child died in the following 24 hours of her disappearance, and that the injuries to her head and ribs were also carried out before she died.The child’s father, Juan José Cortés, has called for time to ‘cry in silence’ andsays that he will fight to find who is responsible and to see them pay for what they have done.Police say they think a local person may have seen Mari Luz with her killer, but is too frightened to come forward.

Reports that a body found in the river close to Huelva is that of Mari Luz

The Guardia Civil have confirmed that Five year old Mari Luz, missing from Huelva since she left her home in the El Torrejón area of the city on 13th January for a short trip to the local sweets kiosk, has been found dead. El Mundo said her body was found on Friday evening in Huelva province in the Torrearenilla marshland, in a river close to the Cepsa refinery installations, by an employee of the petroleum company. It’s understood that Mari Luz’s body was found with the clothes she was wearing when she disappeared , and that her body was badly decomposed.
There was news just last week that the family of the five year old had received a ransom demand for two million euros, via an anonymous caller who demanded the money to release the child.While it was thought to be a hoax, the family said they were prepared to negotiate in the case of serious calls. Mari Luz’s uncle, Diego Cortés, said at the time that the family would personally go to rescue his niece if necessary, but said they would only be able to raise around 300,000 €.
El Mundo said Mari Luz’s parents, Juan José Cortés and Irene Suárez, had arrived at the scene to identify their daughter’s body, and that Juan José López Garzón, the central government delegate for Andalucía, was also en route to the site where Mari Luz’s body was found.

Mari Luz’s family are considering legal measures because of the posters showing their daughter and Madeleine

"Mari Luz’s family are considering legal measures because of the posters showing their daughter and MadeleineHUELVA, 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Mari Luz Cortés’s family today requested the immediate halting of the distribution of posters in Portugal that show their daughter next to Madeleine McCann, they will also study possible legal measures with regard to this.
In statements made to journalists after a meeting with Manuel Chaves, Mari’s father, Juan José Cortés, confirmed that the family “had not given their permission” because “it is not the appropriate strategy to mix both cases nor that Mari Luz should have to be related to the case of Madeleine”.“They are two totally different cases with two lines of inquiry that are completely different” according to Juan José Cortés, who announced his intention of making a complaint before the British Embassy “so that a reprimand is made to the person responsible for this”.The family is planning to travel to Rumania, Portugal, France and Morocco to distribute posters of Mari Luz."

Mari Luz Cortesa :Police have detained a man who attempted to take a seven year old close to Mari Luz family home.

Spanish press are announcing that a man has been detained in El Torrejón close to the disappearance of Mari Luz on suspicion of attempting to take a young girl from the street. The seven year old was leaving her grandmother house when the attempt was made an aunt rushed to help the child. The police were called and a man was detained.large crowds have gathered outside the National police station

Punta Umbría six Bulgarians arrested Seized 2370 kg of hashish

Bulgaria’s Chief Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (CDCOC) in co-operation with police in Spain seized 2370 kg of hashish and arrested six Bulgarians in a police operation at the Spanish coast near Punta Umbría in the province of Huelva on January 7 2008.
The detained were aged between 25 and 34, CDCOC director Kiril Georgiev said at a news conference. Of the six, three did not have previous criminal record in Bulgaria, while one had been sentenced 11 years ago for illegally crossing the border. Police was still to identify the other two detained.

Mari Luz Cortes anger at the lack of progress

Juan José Cortés spoke of his anger at the lack of progress which has been made, and confirmed that the family will be contracting the services of a private detective agency to help in the investigation. He said two have contacted him, and a third, outside Spain, is ‘interested in the case.’ The family has opened a bank account in the BBVA bank for any donations.
He also mentioned new police information that his daughter crossed the road after the leaving the kiosk where she had gone to buy a bag of crisps, and said she would not have done so alone, as she knew it was totally forbidden.
In Andalucía, hundreds supported a protest outside Málaga City Hall on Tuesday morning, with others also taking place in Granada and Cádiz. The demonstration in Huelva set off from Mari Luz’s home in El Torrejón, and three doves were released into the air when the protestors arrived at City Hall.
The search for Mari Luz meanwhile goes on, and on Tuesday, apart from Huelva itself, extended to Gibraleón and Trigueros. They will move later to the woods of Moguer and Palos de la Frontera if nothing is found, and as far as Mazagón, El Mundo said.

Mari Luz Cortes vanished massive search by the local towns people and a new website

Mari Luz Cortes vanished on January 13, as she went to buy sweets from a local kiosk in the Spanish town of Huelva, near the border with Portugal. A massive search for the five-year-old is ongoing.

A website has been set up by the parents and a full scale search of Spain and Portugal has been set up.


The disappearance has been linked to that of Madeleine McCann from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, although police said they did not think the two cases were connected.

Mari Luz’s Grandfather, Juan José Cortés, speaking outside his home in the Torrejón district of Huelva

El Mundo newspaper said Mari Luz’s grandfather, Juan José Cortés, spoke of ‘Romanian’ immigrants, who he thought may have kidnapped his grand-daughter out of ‘revenge’ for the family’s refusal to allow them stalls at the Sunday market they run in El Portil.
police are in contact with an un-named person who could be connected with the disappearance of Mari Luz Cortés, the five year old girl who went missing after leaving her home in Huelva City on Sunday to buy a bag of crisps. Juan José López Garzón told journalists that the person is not a suspect at this stage, nor has been arrested.
He also noted that there is no known connection with any other case of missing children, just as there is not, he said, between any of the other cases reported in Andalucía in recent months
Mari Luz’s father, Juan José Cortés, speaking outside his home in the Torrejón district of Huelva, meanwhile told the press that police are working on a lead, and said he himself had a suspect in mind, although it had nothing to do with the police investigation, he said. He confirmed that Kate McCann, whose daughter Madeleine, went missing on the Portuguese Algarve in May last year, had been in contact to show her support.

Mari Luz Cortes (update)

Mari Luz’s parents, construction firm boss Juan Jose Cortes and his wife Irena Suarez Fernandez, both 39, said: “We are heartbroken, all we ask is that you return our daughter.”
Mari Luz’s heartbroken parents yesterday launched publicity campaign to help the search for their daughter. They released a video of Mari Luz dancing and opening her Christmas presents.
As thousands joined a march through Mari Luz’s home city of Huelva, the McCanns’ detectives were scouring the tough gypsy-dominated neighbourhood of El Torrejon.
It was from there the lively young girl disappeared at 4.30pm on Sunday after walking alone to a kerbside kiosk 100 yards from her tenement home to buy a packet of crisps.
The McCanns’ private investigators from the Barcelona-based Metodo 3 agency were with the Cortes family in the slum suburb to examine links between the two disappearances. Portuguese police were also liaising with Spanish detectives and the Guardia Civil to find any connection.
The McCanns and their investigators, two of whom spent the evening with the Cortes family, believe Huelva is on the route Madeleine’s abductor took to spirit the four-year-old away to North Africa.
Her father Gerry McCann, 39, offered Mari Luz’s family support through the nightmare ordeal.
He said: “Hearing of the probable abduction of Mari Luz Cortes has brought many awful emotions flooding back. We hope and pray she is quickly found and returned safely.”
No ransom demand has been made but Mr Cortes said: “If anyone has got my daughter and wants something, then they should ask – we will just get it from wherever.”
Local parents and their children are terrified a kidnapper may be at large.
Around the city, police were engaged in exhaustive searches, including scuba divers at two areas of remote marshland. A dozen divers were in launches off the port city searching for any signs.

Massive Drugs Haul on the Costa del Contraband

Columbians working out of Morroco with high speed motor launchs have been caught landing 100 kilos of hashish on the Huelva coastline, A favorite destination with contrabanistas and narcotraficos with large teenage gangs of unemployed spanish youth helping to quickly disburse the illegal cargoes. Theres more gold on the teenagers, more Mercs, wide screen T.Vs less work, we have very high unemployment but just look around you, said one local of Ayamonte. More than 2.100 kilos of highgrade hashish, a 12 metros launch of 500 horse power and a large van were siezed making this the second large seizure this month.

Police in Huelva said the local girl, from a gypsy family, vanished .

Gangs of child sex abusers based in Valencia and Alicante on the south east coast of Spain.these two areas are said to have links with paedophiles in other countries including Belgium, Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias reported.
A detective from the agency told the paper: "We cannot discount anything."
The news came on the same day police launched a manhunt for a missing five-year-old girl named Marilux abducted in Parque Moret Huelva,a Spanish town .
Police in Huelva said the local girl, from a gypsy family, vanished at about 10.40pm last night while playing in a park with friends.
Officers are investigating a travelling circus in the area at the time.