Arrest in Málaga, Sevilla and Madrid of 9 members of a drugs network which smuggled cocaine into the country from South America

investigation launched by the Organised Crime and Drugs Squad on the Costa del Sol has resulted in the arrest in Málaga, Sevilla and Madrid of 9 members of a drugs network which smuggled cocaine into the country from South America. National Police said 20 kilos of cocaine were seized in the police operation.Led by two people from Nigeria, the network used couriers to bring the drugs in through Spanish airports hidden inside pictures and other items in their luggage. It’s understood the couriers were recruited by Spanish members of the network and were paid between 4,000 and 6,000 €.Officers also recovered 3,400 € in cash.

José Luis Blanca Lorca has been awarded a posthumous decoration, after he died while attending the scene of an accident

A Civil Guard officer called out to an accident at Las Pedrizas this April, then killed by another vehicle which skidded in the heavy rain, was remembered by his colleagues this Sunday, when his father was awarded a posthumous decoration on his behalf of his son.José Luis Blanca Lorca, who was based in Casabermeja, was 37 years old when he died and received a standing ovation in his memory at celebrations held at Civil Guard command in Málaga ahead of the Día del Pilar, the patron saint of the armed forces and of the Civil Guard.Diario Sur reports there were also some words at the ceremony for Juan Jesús Bueno Ortigoso, another Civil Guard officer who was injured while attending an accident on the roads of Málaga. He went into a coma after he was hit by a drunk driver on the road to Campillos last month, also while attending the scene of a previous accident.

20 people were involved in the fight early on Wednesday

Two men are in hospital after a massive street fight on the Antonio Machado paseo marítimo in Málaga early on Wednesday involving an estimated 20 people, many of them from Eastern European countries.Both men were seriously hurt in the brawl and it’s understood that one suffered head injuries, while the other was stabbed.
EFE reports that six people are in custody.

lynched to death on the Avenida del Pacífico in Málaga on Wednesday night.

man who police believe had moments before attempted to rob a games arcade in the city was lynched to death on the Avenida del Pacífico in Málaga on Wednesday night. It happened a hundred metres from the arcade on Calle La Hoz, El Mundo reports, where witnesses say they saw a mob savagely attacking the man at around 11 pm that night.The weapons used are believed to be a hammer and broken paving stones. The victim was already dead when police arrived at the scene, and is identified by El País as M.B.R., a 37 year old Spaniard.Latest reports indicate that police have arrested two men in connection with the attack.

un-named 54 year old British woman has been arrested in Málaga on charges of fraud after making false credit card claims

un-named 54 year old British woman has been arrested in Málaga on charges of fraud after making false credit card claims through a funeral and medical assistance business.The provincial police say that their investigation started a month ago when a bank informed them that they had detected strange operations at the funeral business alerted by the real owners of credit cards who saw unexpected charges. It’s understood the business used a dataphone to make the credit card payments using a code number.

Discotheque and bars doormen on the Costa del Sol sold stolen luxury cars to clubbers

Networks of stolen luxury vehicles has been broken up by the authorities in Málaga. EFE news agency reports that there are 15 people arrested and five more indicted in the case so far.It seems that the gang were supported by a group of discotheque and bars doormen on the Costa del Sol, who offered clubbers the vehicles.The gang removed chassis numbers and faked documents to go with the vehicles and the total amount of assets now embargoed by the police has been estimated at 26 million €.
Some of the vehicles were allegedly set on fire or lost so that money was also claimed on insurance, when in fact they continued on the road under a new identity.Four homes were searched in Málaga province as part of the operation, and ten cars have been embargoed. The case is being organised by the Instruction Court Four in Torremolinos.There is no detail as yet on the nationalities of those detained.

Shot two Moroccans in Calle Carretería in Málaga

Police in Málaga have arrested another person in connection with the shooting of two Moroccans in Calle Carretería in Málaga on Tuesday night. Both the victims also face charges. One of the two victims remains in a serious condition in hospital after being shot , while the other has been allowed home. The third arrest is also Moroccan with all three of the men being aged between 26 and 42. Police investigations in the case are ongoing.

Not guilty.two Romanians and a Moroccan, accused of torturing and killing a German couple in their home in Chilches, Málaga,

Provincial Court in Málaga has found the three men, two Romanians and a Moroccan, accused of torturing and killing a German couple in their home in Chilches, Málaga, not guilty.Inconsistencies in witness statements and the lack of DNA evidence were deciding factors in the verdict.The attack which also saw the theft of 60,000 € and jewellery took place on January 22 2007, and the three accused have been held in prison since then. The group was however found guilty of the theft of a Volkwagan Polo in Granada, and sentenced to 23 months in prison on that charge. Conflicting witness statements as to the presence of that car at the scene of the crime was key to the verdict.

Málaga police have arrested a man who is accused of trying to strangle a woman in a lift

Málaga police have arrested a man who is accused of trying to strangle a woman in a lift in a building in the central Calle Larios in the city. The victim was on her way to work in a lawyer’s office when the attack took place and told police that she had never seen the alleged attacker before. Her screams alerted people in another lawyer’s office at 10am yesterday morning, and they managed to catch the attacker who was handed over to the local police.

Costa del Sol drug gang arrested

National Police have broken up a gang of medium-scale drug traffickers whose modus operandi was to rob other drug gangs. Nine arrests, most of them Spaniards, have been made with the group acting mainly in Madrid, although also in Málaga, Torremolinos and Marbella.The specialist and violent crime UDYCO police unit took part in the operation which also saw the search of five premises resulting in the recovery of some firearms and drug related equipment.The group sold the drugs they stole in Málaga, Marbella and in Morocco.

Málaga bank manager has been sentenced to ten years in prison for investing client’s money for his own benefit.

The Provincial Court in the city heard that the man had carried out high risk investment operations in the name of dead people, and had changed currencies without clients knowledge, with none of the movements being reflected in the branch’s official accounting. He also set up three companies in Gibraltar which he used to channel his investments and to avoid detection by Hacienda. The fraud occurred between the years 1988 and 1997.The man was also fined 10,800 € and ordered to compensate several clients to the total of nearly 260,000 €.
The owner of a financial advice firm was also found guilty of collaborating with the bank manager who has not been named in reports.

Arrested the alleged boss of the mafia operation, 'Petrov', who was arrested at a luxury mansion in Calviá on Mallorca.

Twenty Russian citizens arrested in Spain today are accused of leading the Tambovskaya-Malyshevskaya Russian mafia gang, and face charges ranging from ordering assassinations, and drugs, arms and influence trafficking.
The arrests were made at a number of addresses in Mallorca, Málaga, Alicante and Madrid as part of a nationwide operation ordered by High Court investigating judge, Baltasar Garzón, involving around 400 National Police and Guardia Civil officers.
Among the detained is the alleged boss of the mafia operation, 'Petrov', who was arrested at a luxury mansion in Calviá on Mallorca.
He and the rest of the gang are accused of using Spain to launder millions of euros annually obtained from criminal activities elsewhere before chanelling it to secret bank accounts in Panama and Switzerland. Police forces from Germany, Switzerland and the USA have been collaborating in the investigation that led to today's arrests, which started back in 2006.

Drug driver hits pedestrian

36 year old man who hit a 20 year old pedestrian from Ecuador on a zebra crossing in Málaga at 8am on Monday morning has been arrested after being found to have tested positive for four different drugs.The victim has suffered serious head injuries as well as a broken arm and leg and is now in the Carlos Haya hospital.Police noted that the driver of the van was having trouble standing and carried out an immediate blood test, which detected four different drugs including cocaine and cannabis. The driver will appear in court shortly after police have assembled witness statements.

Woman shot dead in the street in Málaga

A woman has died after being shot in the street in Málaga. It happened on Friday afternoon at 1,30pm in the conflictive ‘La Palma’ district of the city.
It’s thought that the woman in her 30’s was just passing when she was hit by a gun shot coming from elsewhere where it seems a violent argument was taking place.
Police had been called to Calle Deva with reports of a disturbance between two people, one armed with a knife and another with a gun.Police say a full investigation has been opened and no possibilities have as yet been ruled out, but for now they consider that the victim had nothing to do with the fight.

Police say they are investigating the sale of fake work contracts

Diario Sur, published in Málaga this morning says that local immigrant workers are paying for fake work contracts so that they can keep their Spanish residency. As the economic slowdown begins to bite locally, especially in the construction industry, it is immigrant workers who are in the front line, and non-EU workers are obliged to have a current work contract when they need to renew their residency permits.Police say they are investigating the sale of fake work contracts in the city for prices which range from 1,000 € to 9,500 €. Most of the contracts are for companies which are registering no activity.

National Policemen in Málaga have each been sentenced to two years in prison for carrying out thefts from 19 industrial warehouses in the city.

Two National Policemen in Málaga have each been sentenced to two years in prison for carrying out thefts from 19 industrial warehouses in the city.A cage with three parakeets, 41 boxes of olive oil, a lingerie display, electrical and other items all made up the booty for the policemen who were found guilty of the thefts carried out between 1999 and May 2000. Total value of the products taken has been estimated at 33,000, according to La Opinión de Málaga. The policemen always acted with four security guards who have already been served similar sentences.

Chief Inspector of the UDYCO specialist anti-drug and organised crime unit of the police in Málaga has been arrested.

Chief Inspector, named only in reports with the initials V.I.T. was arrested in the Málaga main police station by members of the Civil Guard on Saturday as part of an on-going operation based in Melilla against drug trafficking from North Africa.member of the UDYCO specialist anti-drug and organised crime unit of the police in Málaga has been arrested.Reports indicate that this latest arrest is not linked in any way to other arrests made of four UDYCO officers on the Costa del Sol last month.It’s understood the latest officer to be arrested faces charges of revealing confidential information and failing to report a crime.

Six specialist prosecutors to fight against drug trafficking on the Costa del Sol

Málaga province is to get six specialist prosecutors to fight against drug trafficking on the Costa del Sol. It will make the Málaga anti-drug unit the most important one in the country when it comes into operation next month. Diario Sur reports that the prosecutors to run the service are expected to be named later today, in what is a pilot program which will focus attention on Marbella, Torremolinos and possibly Vélez-Málaga.

Amusement arcade punter is said to have faked a robbery at gunpoint

Amusement arcade punter is said to have faked a robbery at gunpoint, according Málaga police. If found guilty, he could face a fine of nearly three times the amount he lost gambling on the fruit machines.
The provincial prosecution service has just announced that an individual who claimed to have been mugged by an armed robber and relieved of 1,200 euros back in July 2007 could have invented the incident to hide a massive gambling loss.
After lengthy investigations into the robbery by the anti-violent crime squad, officers concluded that the story was false. Prosecutors have called for a fine up 3,240 euros for wasting police time.
Police say cases like this are not uncommon and are usually an attempt by the ‘victims’ to hide the fact that they have gambled away large sums of money, or to make a false claim on their household insurance.

Seville drug mule was detained when about to board a plane for Dublin

The Provincial Court in Málaga has sentenced a 34 year old Sevilla man who was found at Málaga Airport with 250 grams of cocaine in his body, to three years and six months in prison. The court heard how he had ingested 87 balls of the drug and was detained when about to board a plane for Dublin in August last year. There were a further 69 balls of the drug hidden among his clothing, weighing an additional 198 grams.