377 stolen beehives valued at more than €60,000

Two people have been arrested and warrants have been issued against two others after 377 stolen beehives valued at more than €60,000 were discovered at an illegal honey farm near Cúllar (Granada) on the 17th October.

The hives had been stolen from seven bee farms in Villacastín (Segovia), Navas de San Antonio (Segovia), Honrubia (Cuenca), Puerto Lumbreras (Murcia) and Orihuela (Alicante).

Only six farmers reported the theft of their hives and as police suspected that the seventh may have been involved, they placed him under surveillance, eventually catching him and a second man at the illegal farm just before midnight last Monday.

Six containers each filled with 350 litres of honey were seized from a building near to where the stolen hives had been set up, and it later came to light that at least 21,000 litres of product had been sold to an establishment in Valencia without any kind of health certification. Following the search, arrest warrants for two other individuals were issued that are still pending execution.

Analysis of the plastic showed that it consisted mainly of polymethyl methacrylate (better known as plexiglas or perspex) laced with cocaine hydrochlo

THEY'VE tried airbags, printer cartridges and every conceivable body cavity. Now cocaine smugglers have another trick up their sleeves. Evidence from a clandestine lab in eastern Europe suggests that gangs are trying to hide cocaine by incorporating it into a host of innocent-looking transparent plastic consumer products, such as fish tanks, DVD cases or light fittings for cars. These could be imported en masse with no customs officer giving them a second look.

The trick came to light after police searched an abandoned tenement building in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where they suspected cocaine was being produced. There they found a makeshift lab complete with mixers, drying systems and containers filled with various solvents, plus translucent lumps of plastic littering the floor.

British colony of Gibraltar off Spain's southern tip. Upon entering Spanish waters, the boat was ordered to the nearby Spanish port of Algeciras for

Spain's Civil Guard said officers approached the vessel, the Odyssey Explorer, as it left the British colony of Gibraltar off Spain's southern tip. Upon entering Spanish waters, the boat was ordered to the nearby Spanish port of Algeciras for inspection, police said.

The Civil Guard said it was acting on an order from a Spanish judge who in June instructed authorities to seize two vessels belonging to Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. if the boats left Gibraltar.

Another Odyssey vessel, Ocean Alert, was seized in July and released after a week.

"At this point, we are awaiting word from the Spanish judge about the inspection," Odyssey co-chairman Greg Stemm said in Florida. "We had again invited Spanish officials to inspect the Explorer in advance of our departure and they chose not to take us up on it."

The dispute began when Odyssey, a Tampa, Florida-based company that specializes in deep-sea explorations, announced the discovery in May of a colonial-era shipwreck in the Atlantic.


The find yielded more than 500,000 silver coins — weighing more than 17 tons — and gold coins, worked gold and other artifacts, a haul worth hundreds of millions that Odyssey said it flew to the U.S. from Gibraltar..
Spain filed claims in a U.S. federal court over the find, arguing that if the shipwrecked vessel was Spanish — or removed from its waters — the treasure belongs to Spain.

Odyssey insists the shipwreck, codenamed "Black Swan," was outside any country's territorial waters — but has not given its exact location or the name of the ship.

"We are sure that the Spanish government is now well aware that the (shipwreck) was not in Spanish waters and that the disposition of the coins is now subject to U.S. federal court jurisdiction, so we're not sure what the inspection of the Explorer is meant to accomplish," Stemm said.

arrested 30 people in an operation against child pornography on the internet

Spain's Civilian Police have arrested 30 people in an operation against child pornography on the internet, an official source said Wednesday.

"It is the largest operation against child pornography in Spain's history," said Fernando Herrero-Tejedor, the prosecutor designated by the Criminality Information Service (SCI).

"Operation Santiago" ended on Tuesday with the confiscation of 81 computers which had "explicit sex" archives, including "very dense child pornography," in their hard discs, Herrero said.

Most of the cases depicted minors below 13-years of age, for which Penal Code allows prison sentences of between four and eight years if convicted.

Some 350 agents participated in the Civilian Police's action, which was also allowed to trace 1,200 sites in other countries that collaborate with the Spanish

stealing hundreds of electricity-generating solar panels worth $2.14 million

Spanish investigators arrested 20 Moroccans suspected of stealing hundreds of electricity-generating solar panels worth $2.14 million and sending them to be sold in North Africa, police said Thursday.

The suspects are accused of taking about 2,000 solar panels and shipping them to Morocco aboard ferries.

An investigation began in April when 238 panels were stolen from two solar power parks in the northern province of Palencia, a police statement said. Many Spanish cities, especially in the country's south, boost electricity generation through the use of solar parks

Police said the suspects were believed to have used violence during some of their heists.

Several more gang members were thought to be on the run, and international warrants have been issued for their arrest, the statement said.

seven dead migrants and one survivor on board

Fishermen said they discovered a boat off West Africa with seven dead migrants and one survivor on board. Spanish authorities said Thursday about 50 others were missing.
The Spanish fishing vessel found the boat off West Africa on Wednesday night, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said at a news conference.
He said at least six migrants were dead, and that a survivor said 50 people were missing.
However, skipper Jose Maria Abreu earlier told Cadena Ser radio that he counted seven dead, with the lone survivor in deplorable physical condition.

“The stench was unbearable. They must have been dead six or seven days,” Abreu told the radio station.

The boat was trying to reach Spain from Cape Verde, Perez Rubalcaba said.

He said the number of would-be migrants caught this year trying to sail from Africa to Spain, either to the mainland or the Canary Islands, is down sharp

30 bundles of marihuana weighing, in total, around 1,000kg,

28 year old Dutch man was arrested on Saturday evening after 30 bundles of marihuana weighing, in total, around 1,000kg, were found in the back of the stolen car he was driving.

The man was stopped at 8pm on the AP-7 toll motorway near Orihuela in Alicante rovince after a police traffic patrol realised that the BMW X5 he was driving, had been reported stolen from Guadalajara last February.

Following a short chase during which several other vehicles were superficially damaged, the driver stopped and was arrested soon afterwards once the drugs had been found.

56th domestic violence murder in Spain so far this year and the 8th in the Andalucía region.

33 year old woman was found dead at her home on the calle Enamorados in Sevilla's Bellavista district yesterday morning.

The woman, who had spent the night with a former lover, appears to have been strangled to death.

Her ex-boyfriend, who is an Argentinian of around the same age, took the dead woman's car and remains at large.

A spokeswoman from the Andalucía Women's Institute (IAM) said that the couple had separated some time ago.

If confirmed, this would be the 56th domestic violence murder in Spain so far this year and the 8th in the Andalucía region.

Fernando del Valle, 57, a Chilean citizen, who is said to have set up a network of property and front companies whose traces disappear into offshore a

Fernando del Valle, 57, a Chilean citizen, who is said to have set up a network of property and front companies whose traces disappear into offshore accounts in the nearby British territory of Gibraltar, press reports said.

Some of the welter of documents seized by police since the weekend are understood to implicate an array of companies who have their fiscal base in Gibraltar. The tiny territory has just 30,000 residents but 80,000 companies.

Police said they suspect his law firm of having connections with various groups allegedly involved in narcotics, prostitution and other organized criminal activities.

Fernando del Valle

Fernando del Valle arrived on the Marbella real estate scene in the late 1970s - early 1980s, after a brief stint practicing law in Madrid. In the coming years Del Valle, an aficionado of fine food and classical music, would become a key player in the booming real estate market in the southern coast of Spain.

According to Per Stangeland, head of criminology at the University of Málaga, in a recent Financial Times article said there is a direct link between the construction sector and real estate with organized crime. Around half of all Spanish real estate promotions are said to be on Spain's Mediterranean coastal areas.

"It is a driving force, perhaps the most important driving force, behind the construction industry ... How else is there to explain that (Málaga), with one of the highest unemployment and lowest incomes in Spain, can sustain a 1,600 per cent growth in the construction of private housing in five years, " said Per Stangeland, according to Financial Times.

Spanish authorities claim that much of Del Valle´s real estate operations were a means to launder cash for up to nine international organized crime groups. In particular, the authorities allege that the Del Valle law firm set up anonymous trusts - possibly hundreds of shell companies - in nearby Gibraltar, but also in other places likes the Netherlands and the Isle of Man

Since news of the operation hit the press, Spanish authorities have increasingly sought to place some of the blame on Gibraltar, which "is not cooperating in the fight against money laundering," according to Conde Pumpido.

Interpol report notes

an Interpol report notes: "There is an exceptionally large number of Estonian and Russian professional criminals carrying out, besides a large scale hashish and cocaine trafficking, remarkable sex business in the numerous hotels and restaurants of Costa del Sol." Meanwhile, according to Online Security, "Italian crime groups' longtime investments in real estate and entertainment enterprises--particularly gambling casinos--in Germany, France, Monaco, Spain's Costa del Sol, and the Caribbean are conduits for money laundering."

an associate of Stephen Sugg had contacted his family to say he was safe.

ONE doubting detective has called it The Spanish Job. The rumoured abduction of the notorious Westies in Alicante could be a con job.That’s the fear among a number of gardaí who have had long dealings with Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg, the two leaders of the Westies crime gang.

“It could be an elaborate hoax, something set up by a couple of them to take pressure off Coates, who, if he comes back here, will be arrested. If he disappears, he doesn’t exist,” said one senior garda source.

Last night, an unconfirmed report suggested that an associate of Stephen Sugg had contacted his family to say he was safe.

Irishman Tony Armstrong

The Guardia Civil yesterday arrested 36 year old Irishman Tony Armstrong, implying that he was involved with the deaths of two fellow Irishmen whose bodies were uncovered in Catral

Sources stated that Armstrong had rented the warehouse where the bodies of Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg were discovered In Spain they hooked up with other Irish and British criminals on the run and became involved with Moroccan thugs in drug running operations from North Africa via Spain to Ireland.

They started to throw their weight around, as they had in Dublin, but there were soon mutterings that instead of being an asset to their new cronies they were becoming a liability.

Other expatriate criminals feared the high-profile swaggering duo were threatening to upset their low-key but lucrative lifestyle.

According to well-informed expat sources on the Costa Blanca the pair had written their own death warrants.

They vanished suddenly in January 2004. Initially, there were suspicions they had staged their own disappearance because they had been threatened by rival gangsters.

But whispers started reaching the ears of detectives back home that they had been murdered

discovered two tons of hashish on board

The Spanish Customs Service yesterday stopped and searched a yacht some 60 nautical miles off Torrevieja and discovered two tons of hashish on board. Consequently, they demanded that the craft follow them to the nearest port, when it was deliberately set on fire by the four people on board, with two of them jumping overboard, but were rescued by a Zodiac from the Customs service, who also managed to extinguish the blaze. The partially burned yacht is now under police guard in Alicante Port, whilst the four men on board – two Spaniards and two Moroccans – are being interrogated by police

drug traffickers to get away

Police sources yesterday were said to be ‘furious’ that due to a lack of coordination between two Ministries – Interior that controls the Guardia Civil and Finance that controls the Customs Police – enabled drug traffickers to get away. It was last Tuesday when a group was discovered unloading more than a ton of Hashish on Bonmati beach between Santa Pola and Elche, and placing the cargo inside a powerful BMW car. The customs service had already raised its suspicions as the launch carrying the drug was traveling without any lights, and advised the specialised department of the Guardia Civil. However, the Customs patrol did not wait for the Guardia Civil to attend the scene, but instead, not only revealed their position to the traffickers, but also gave chase, which resulted in the gang abandoning their cargo on the beach and easily avoiding detention by the customs service as their launch was considerably more powerful than their pursuers. Meanwhile, the Anti Drugs division of the Alicante branch of the Guardia Civil apparently decided to send a patrol down to the area without previously advising their colleagues in Santa Pola, which resulted in the patrol turning up at the wrong beach as they did not have sufficient knowledge of the local terrain. The Finance Ministry yesterday issued a statement to the effect that it was ‘highly pleased’ over the confiscation of the drug shipment, but made no mention of the traffickers’ escape.

bodies are of Stephen Sugg and Shane Coates

Members of the National Police and the Guardia Civil have revealed that they have come across two bodies in Catral in Alicante Province. Members of the Gardai – the Irish Police Force – who are in Spain and collaborating with the security forces have expressed the belief that the bodies are of Stephen Sugg and Shane Coates, two members of the notorious Westies Drug Gaming that went missing from their homes in Torrevieja more than two years ago. The pair were last seen alive at the end of January 2004, when they told their respective girlfriends that they were ‘going out for a while’ and left in Mr. Sugg’s car. Insiders have expressed the view that the pair tried to establish a cocaine smuggling operation based in Alicante and in the process crossed an international gang of drugs dealers, who could have abducted the two men and had them killed.

petty theft, such as bag snatching is commonplace

petty theft, such as bag snatching is commonplace, particularly in tourist resorts and big cities. Most of this can be avoided with a little forethought - carry valuables under your clothes if possible and watch for people who get unnecessarily close to you at airports, at stations, on trains or buses or on the street. Never leave baggage unattended and avoid crushes. Also be cautious with people who come up to offer or ask you something for no good reason. This could be a ploy to distract you, especially as many petty thieves work in gangs.

Watch out for burglars

A friend of mine had a really bad experience recently. He has a villa in the Mijas area and in the early hours of the morning whilst he was sleeping, some young foreigners broke through the bars of one of his windows and got in the house.

The really scary thing was that they jumped on his bed, put a knife to his throat and then tied him up. They were really after money and after spotting a safe in the house demanded that he open it. The problem was that the safe had come with the house when he bought it and he didn't have the key!

Anyway, he managed to convince them that he really didn't have the key so they took his cash, an expensive watch and then drove off in his car (which was recovered the next day).

This is a truly frightening experience. Imagine if it had been a woman on her own? My friend is no small man himself, he's about 6 foot 5 and built like a brick....you get the idea.

Crime Scene

 

unidentified British man aged 29 and a woman aged 21

unidentified British man aged 29 and a woman aged 21 died when they tried to cross the A-7 highway near Puerto Banús around 6 am last Saturday. They were trying to cross near the Tigermarket petrol station and the Hotel Rui when they were hit by a car. They were only 300 metres away from an underground pedestrian tunnel.

The Guardia Civil de Trafico have reported that nearly 400 drivers failed the breathalyser test

The Guardia Civil de Trafico have reported that nearly 400 drivers failed the breathalyser test in Andalucia from midnight on Friday, August 10th to midnight on Sunday, August 12th. In the provinces of Seville, Huelva, Cadiz and Cordoba, 186 drivers tested positive, and another 189 in Granada, Jaen, Malaga and Almeria. Malaga drivers were the second largest group of losers in the points system in Andalucia. Since it was implemented last July, they lost 61,836 points in a total of 18,647 traffic offences. Only Seville has a worse record - 185,038 points lost in 51,222 traffic offences.

half the robberies in the summer involve credit cards

According to a recent study, Andalucia is the second worst area in Spain for robberies and lost credit cards involving tourists and Malaga province has the worst record for handbag snatchers. These prefer foreign tourists of either sex, especially at airports, while their Spanish victims tend to be men aged between 45 and 54. More than half the robberies in the summer involve credit cards.

40-year-old Briton was arrested at his home in Manilva

40-year-old Briton was arrested at his home in Manilva last week accused of running over a Guardia Civil officer at the border with Gibraltar. The man allegedly drove off in his convertible Porsche Carrera after being asked to pull over at the vehicle checkpoint. The officer jumped onto the rear bumper of the Porsche in an attempt to stop him and clung on for almost a kilometre but jumped off when her realised the car was not going to slow down. He was taken to hospital with several injuries. The incident happened several days before the man was tracked down to Manilva. A Guardia Civil spokesman said the man is known to Spanish authorities, having been involved in tobacco smuggling from Gibraltar to Spain in the past.

“sons of Spain”.

Al Qaeda’s Number Two, Al Zawahiri, once again referred to the terrorist movement’s intention of recovering “Al-Andalus”, a name that is generally considered to mean Andalucia, although it was the name for original Moorish invaders gave to the the whole of Spain. In an 80-minute video broadcast over the Internet, Al Zawahiri also called for Morocco and Algeria to be cleansed of the “sons of Spain”. The regional government of Ceuta, one of the two Spanish enclaves in Morocco, warned that the Spanish government should consider the threat as being made against the whole country. Osama Bin Laden first referred to Al-Andalus in October 2001 when he said it was imperative to avoid the tragedy of Al-Andalus - the expulsion of the Moors in 1492 - from being repeated in Palestine.

Spanish Bank thieving? Caution

One Friday lunch time in April 2006 I left the Notary in Torrox Costa with a cheque for €18,000 after selling my flat. This was to be the deposit for my new permanent home in Spain.

I placed the cheque, which was made out in my name, into my handbag and left it there till the following Monday when I was to put it into my bank account.

On arriving at the bank I discovered I had lost the cheque. After a thorough search I phoned my solicitor who immediately contacted the bank to put a stop on it. I then went to the local police and filled in the appropriate form to record the loss.

I expected to pay a small fee to the issuing bank to write me out a new cheque.The bank confirmed that the money had not been drawn out of the bank and remained in their account.

It was at this stage that I learnt a very hard lesson in Spanish life.

The bank did not have to give me my money back and the only way I could attempt to get it back was to hire the services of a solicitor who would then have to take it to court and ask the court if I could have it my money back.

As I said at the beginning of this tale, all this happened 18 months ago. Since then I have tried every way possible to get my money back. I have contacted British MP’s EMP’s and 2 other solicitors. No one is interested in helping. The case as been to court twice with mounting costs to me and there is still no signs of my dwindling money.

No one can believe me when I tell them what is happening.

The money is mine, the cheque was made out to me, it has never been cashed, the bank are happy to confirm that MY money is still in their bank gathering interest which I am not entitled to, but I still can not have it.

Now in good old English law, and quite a few other countries, to permanently deprive someone of their property and assume ownership is THEFT.

We are supposed to be in Europe now and yet still we are coming up against really out dated laws that have no place in today’s society.

€18,000 is a lot of money and I have suffered great hardship and more financial loss trying to get it back. I know it was a really stupid thing to loose it, and as someone who is usually very careful with money I really do not know how I lost it.

I don’t know if I will ever get my money back, and if I do, how much I will actually get after everyone takes their cut. I just want to warn everyone out there that the loss of a cheque can be a very costly mistake

rapist of Valle de Hebron

The so-called “rapist of Valle de Hebron” who was released from jail in Barcelona on September 22nd has left the town of Iznalloz in Granada province where he was reported to be staying with relatives because of pressure from the town’s residents. José Rodriguez Salvador had served 16 years of a 20-year sentence for raping 16 women and had resisted all attempts to rehabilitate him. More than 500 people gathered outside his uncle’s house in Iznalloz late last week protesting his presence there but apparently Salvador had already left town.

mayor Julian Muñoz’s

Marbella judge, óscar Pérez ordered ex-Marbella mayor Julian Muñoz’s release from Jaén prison on the condition that he put up jail of 50,000 euros. The ruling was made in connection with a case separate from the ‘Caso Malaya’ urban planning crimes he is accused of. The bail was set in relation to money laundering crimes in which his current partner, Isabel Pantoja, and ex wife, Maite Zaldívar, are also involved. The judge also said that if released he would have to report to the authorities every two weeks and would have his passport removed from his possession as the suspicion that Muñoz has siphoned off funds to Switzerland is high and therefore so is the possibility that he would flee the country.
At the time of going to press on Thursday Muñoz’s lawyers announced that they would be paying the bail in the afternoon. However sources at the Prisons Authority insisted that the ex-Mayor would not be let out of jail yet even if the bail is paid as he still has time to serve on previous sentences for planning crimes.

Villa Libertad

has been created in order for you to be able to forget the daily stress of life’s problems for as long as you would like to. We are offering some of the best service available. In order to do so, we have created our own webpage to be in closer contact with you and benefit from your feed back to make our services better all the time. Villa Libertad has six air conditioned rooms, swimming pool, jacuzzi, bar and gardens. The house is in an area, private and discreetly away from the crowd yet near enough to every convenience. It is a place where intimacy is our essential concern. You will discover a surprising sense of ease and confident charm in our establishment.

Space disco in Tarifa

security guard who was serious injured at the Space disco in Tarifa continues in intensive care at the Puerta del Mar hospital in Cádiz but is said to be making satisfactory progress. On August 24 the guard, a local Tarifa man, was found by one of the owners of the disco brutally beaten and stabbed. He was semi-conscious, bound hand and foot, and covered in a blanket. He has been hospitalised with serious breathing problems and a chest infection whilst the unknown assailants remain at large.

Two wanted criminals were arrested in a Torremolinos

Two wanted criminals were arrested in a Torremolinos drug bust last week. The National Police initially picked up the two men, aged 23 and 24, for drug dealing after officers found 17 packets of cocaine and 80 grams of hash. When a check was run on their names, officers discovered that both men had extensive police records and both had outstanding arrest warrants.