Marbella

 

Illegally siphoned funds from Russia's crippled oil company Yukos

41 arrests of nationals from six countries who allegedly have "numerous connections between groups of organised international crimes and a number of suspects implicated in Spain or abroad in serious criminal activities".

Illegally siphoned funds from Russia's crippled oil company Yukos had been discovered as part of the investigation, something the oil company has denied.

One of the key suspects is the head of the law firm, 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.

A 34-year-old businessman was shot to death

A 34-year-old businessman was shot to death in Castalla in Alicante Province on Thursday night. The man, who apparently owned a construction business, was shot in his home in what police believe was a settling of accounts between drug barons. Following the shooting, police discovered two kilos of cocaine in the home, along with machinery for preparing small doses of the drug as well as 200 ecstasy tablets.

A 63-year-old Dutchman was detained

A 63-year-old Dutchman was detained yesterday in Alfas del Pi following an international arrest warrant issued by France for drug trafficking and organising criminal gangs. He is also considered to be the head of the organization two of whose members were discovered driving a truck and a car loaded with drugs at a motorway toll station in France last year. In that operation, two tons of cannabis resin was confiscated. Sources have stated that following his arrest, the Dutchman now faces up to 30 years inside a French jail

arrested Francisco Javier Martinez Sanmillan

arrested Francisco Javier Martinez Sanmillan the most wanted man in Spain, after a close examination of a series of fingerprints. He had been ‘on the lam’ for twelve years. He had also managed to elude capture in ‘Operation Necora’ against the Galician drug Cartels, and also ‘Operation Temple’ which was carried out against the Columbian cartels operating in Spain. He is expected to appear in court today, and his arrest was a considerable triumph for the police as he had undertaken a complete facial transformation.

detained the head of the Municipal police

The Guardia Civil of Torrevieja yesterday detained the head of the Municipal police force along with his deputy and two officers, after receiving orders to do so from a local judge. More arrests are expected today, and all are accused of creating a series of false documents and of failing to investigate crimes. A local judge has undertaken the current case during the last few months, and yesterday’s arrests were carried out very discreetly according to local sources. Following their arrest, the four were taken to a local court and allowed to go free on condition that they not leave Torrevieja.

two people in Morocco alleged to be behind the Zotob virus

Microsoft's cyber-crime unit has had some notable successes to date, having taken action against 150 spammers, tracked down the Sasser virus author, caught the two people in Morocco alleged to be behind the Zotob virus that hit some major US corporations including American Express, and nabbed a Bulgarian phishing gang.

The 32 year old man from Marbella

The father of a fourteen-month girl found dead in a wooded area near Istán (Málaga) shortly after midnight yesterday was arrested on a charge of imprudent homicide and will remain in custody for a further 48 hours following a preliminary court ruling earlier today.

The 32 year old man from Marbella turned up in Istán, at around 8.30pm last Saturday night; drunk, hysterical and covered in blood and bruises, claiming that he had lost his daughter as they were out for a stroll.

A number of local volunteers joined the Guardia Civil in the ensuing search, and the girl was found - still alive - four hours later floating in the river Molinos. However, attempts to revive her failed, and she died soon after. The autopsy revealed that she drowned.

forced to throw overboard the bodies of eleven others

One of the survivors from the immigrant boat that sank 80 miles south of Fuerteventura has told reporters that, apart from the dead body found when they were rescued, they had been forced to throw overboard the bodies of eleven others - nine adult males and two minors - during their treacherous six or seven-day journey from north Africa.

This means that a total of thirteen immigrants died as one of the mostly seriously injured survivors, who was being treated for severe sunburn at a hospital on Gran Canaria, died yesterday.

47 year old British man

, who is thought to be suffering from some kind of mental problems, has been arrested in Los Cristianos in the south of Tenerife accused of murdering his wife.

The man was arrested on Saturday evening when he walked into a bar in a row of shops below where he and his wife had been living for the last eight months, and asked the bar owner if he knew where he lived.

The bar owner explained that he lived in one of the apartments above, but when he saw blood stains on the man's clothes, called in the police.

The woman, who was the same age as her husband, was later found dead at the couple's home with multiple stab wounds.

Federico Trillo, was arrested at his office yesterday afternoon accused of internet fraud.

José Mariano Trillo-Figueroa, who, apart from being the lawyer employed by Jaime Giménez Arbe, the armed bank robber better known as 'The Loner, is also the brother of former PP Defence minister, Federico Trillo, was arrested at his office yesterday afternoon accused of internet fraud.

According to Javier Barroso, writing in today's El Pais, Trillo, who was released from custody by police this morning, is accused of trying to sell a four metre high bronze statue not belonging to him on the internet.

The scam allegedly started several months ago when Trillo took photos of the statue, that was in storage on an industrial estate in Madrid, then posted them on an on-line auction site.

It was the statue's owner, who is one of Trillo's female business partners, who reported the matter to the police after paying the €8,000 euros demanded by Trillo and not receiving the item.

A source close to the investigation said yesterday that "the weight of bronze alone in the statue is worth at least €24,000."

three Guardia Civil officers based in El Ejido (Almería) were arrested

It has emerged that three Guardia Civil officers based in El Ejido (Almería) were arrested last Saturday after small quantities of drugs, seemingly ready for distribution, were found during searches of the officers' homes.

The names of the three officers, as well as all other details concerning the arrests, have been withheld on the orders of the judge investigating the case.

It seems that the officers were dealing cannabis resin and marihuana on a small scale locally.

These arrests follow the detentions of two other Guardia Civil officers from Huércal de Almería and Roquetas de Mar on the 3rd September for providing tip-offs to different gangs of drug dealers to help them avoid police controls set up along the Almería coast.

Spanish-based Mickey "Pimpernel" Greene, a millionaire criminal wanted across Europe and north Africa.
Mr Loraine-Smith said of Greene: "He was and continues to be involved in importing large amounts of drugs into this country."

26-year-old British dealer

26-year-old British dealer was recently arrested near Marbella with false passports, eight mobile phones and a British-registered Mitsubishi 4x4. Another British gang tried to smuggle 50 kilos of cocaine in a liquid paste inside shampoo bottles using couriers throughout Britain and in Ibiza.

Mickey Green, 62, known as the Pimpernel

is one of the most senior figures in Britain's underworld, and has been on the run for 20 years. Green was recently linked to a £150m cocaine-smuggling syndicate and has close connections with the Adams family, the London gangsters. Pat Adams, the eldest of the brothers, is understood to be in hiding in Andalucia, while the body of one dealer known to have links to the notorious north London family has been discovered butchered and stuffed into two trunks near Torremolinos.

Mickey Green wanted in Britain and Ireland as the mastermind behind a drugs racket worth £130million.

Londoner Green, 62, is said to have £10 million in cash buried in hills above Spain's Costa Del Sol. He is nicknamed The Pimpernel for dodging arrest and is currently still on the run.

Ecstasy cost €10 (£6.81) a pill, and about seven grams (a quarter of an ounce) of hashish was double that. Cocaine was €50 per gram,

Ecstasy cost €10 (£6.81) a pill, and about seven grams (a quarter of an ounce) of hashish was double that. Cocaine was €50 per gram,

Brian Wright, who is alleged to have smuggled £300m of cocaine into Britain

Soca officers confirmed last week that they have intensified their scrutiny of the links between Ibiza and the Costa del Sol, from where some of Britain's most wanted drug barons run their empires. Co-operation with Spain's Special Central Unit for Locating Fugitives (UCLF) has recently been stepped up. At least six suspected major British criminals have been arrested in the province of Malaga, including Brian Wright, who is alleged to have smuggled £300m of cocaine into Britain.

settling of accounts or grudges between gangs

Londoner William Moy, 43,who was shot five times as he sat in a busy cafe with his family. Other men just disappeared on the dusty roads that wind through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The body of at least one other drug dealer is believed to have been buried under cement in a Spanish villa's foundations.

Moy's death, which characterises the so-called settling of accounts or grudges between gangs, proved the final straw for the Spanish authorities. Extra British officers were drafted to what the locals call the Costa Nostra as the foreign drug syndicates began increasing orders to satisfy the huge market in the Balearics.

Shane Coates, 31, and Stephen Sugg, 26

Spanish police had noted a bloody month among the competing British drug barons who had settled on the Costa del Sol. At least four British and Irish drug dealers were murdered during July. The corpses of Shane Coates, 31, and Stephen Sugg, 26, both from Dublin, were hauled from a concrete grave near Malaga. Each had been shot twice in the mouth from point-blank range. Within days the body of the eccentric British playboy and drug runner Colin Nobes, 47, was discovered under a motorway bridge near Denia.

Tutti Frutti Square

an incident in the late-night bar area of Tutti Frutti Square left two young men, two Guardia Civil officers and a local police officer injured. Local police advised bar owners in the area last week that they must now observe more closely their licensed opening hours, shutting down outside terraces at 2.00 and indoor bars at 3.00, with both closing times extended by an hour on Fridays, Saturdays and any night preceding a public holiday.
Officers say they have received complaints of late-night noise from residents in the area and as a result, the enforcement of legislation dating from March 2002 is being tightened up. The news, however, was not welcomed by many businesses owners in the area, who chose to close on Monday night of last week in an act of protest. The following day, a delegation of proprietors from Plaza Tutti Frutti and neighbouring Calle Antonio Millón attended a meeting at the Town Hall to address the pro

Thousands of people who own houses, many recently constructed along the coast, are in danger of losing their homes to bulldozers because they were bui

Thousands of people who own houses, many recently constructed along the coast, are in danger of losing their homes to bulldozers because they were built illegally.

Under the controversial "Land Grab" law in Valencia, dozens of expats - after buying their homes - have been forced to pay thousands of euros in fees to local developers for improvements in local infrastructure.

Swathes of coastline around Alicante and Marbella are dominated by ugly, half-built developments. And there seems to be no end to this building.

Locals say the unfinished development at La Marina in the province of Alicante is the biggest in Europe. Expats and Spaniards are fed up.


Fernando Gadea is a Spanish former policeman who leads another new party: Progress and Order.

Judah Eleazar Binstock

Judah Eleazar Binstock, is a 78 year old British businessman and financier and is now believed to have been the person who financed trips taken by Marbella councillors the week before the motion of no confidence was placed against Julián Muñoz. He is now thought to have been hidden in the background and pulling the strings behind much of the corruption in Marbella. This information has been given to Judge Miguel Angel Torres in the declaration from the ex councillor Carmen Revilla.

“The difference between the two is that the British criminals use murder and threats only as a last resort. The Colombians are more ready to settle sc

In the last month, three men were murdered in their car when it was riddled with bullets by waiting assassins. And in August an Estonian man was shot in the head in a Marbella bar called The Point.


Another man was found in a burnt-out car with spent rounds littering the ground. Last year in The Point, William Moy, 43, from London, was gunned down.


Dublin gangsters Shane Coates, 31, and Stephen Sugg, 27, and British playboy drug baron Colin Nobes, 47, were also murdered. Coates and Sugg were found in a cement pit. Nobes was dumped under a bridge.


But an insider at the Spanish Serious and Organised Crime Agency said: “The difference between the two is that the British criminals use murder and threats only as a last resort. The Colombians are more ready to settle scores.”

It’s very heavy duty down here – they are all fighting for turf. People are savagely tortured to death, it’s totally gruesome.

number of gangland hits over the last month.the Spanish police are struggling to cope with the new crime epidemic.


“It’s very heavy duty down here – they are all fighting for turf. People are savagely tortured to death, it’s totally gruesome.


“These gangs want to send a message to everyone, that if you screw with them you’ll die in an unpleasant fashion.


“The Spanish police are very good but they are totally outnumbered. Every few days they round up another gang.


“But when they catch one, another 10 spring up in their place. It’s big money because a massive percentage of drugs in Europe come in through southern Spain.


“You can see these guys everywhere, driving about like Premiership footballers in their baby Bentleys. A lot of the problems we have here are with eastern European criminals – they are very violent.


“You get people from the former Yugoslavia here who used to work in death squads. They are ethnic cleansers.


“You can be out with the wife and kids and suddenly the bloke at the next table has his head blown off. There are armed gangs of brigands roaming. You have to be a bit careful who you are mixing with.”

Portuguese police seized three tonnes of cocaine worth EUR 150 million bound for Spain

Portuguese police seized three tonnes of cocaine worth EUR 150 million bound for Spain. From there, police believe, the drugs were headed for the Netherlands or other European countries.

this was just the cash the police could trace.

Spain's elite Organised Crime and Drugs Unit blocked EUR 1.5 million in bank accounts run by the gangs. And this was just the cash the police could trace.

Spain’s criminal future lies with gangs from Eastern Europe.

These are the Albanians, Slovenians, Bulgarians and Romanians who have already played havoc in other parts of the Europe.

The gangs' main business is drugs, money-laundering, fire-arms and stolen vehicles.

‘The peculiarly Colombian way of “settling scores” means the number of drug-related murders is thought to have risen in Galicia’
Last week, a gang, mostly made up of Bulgarians, was arrested for stealing luxury Porsches, BMWs, Range Rovers and Mercedes, owned by celebrities and sporting personalities. The cars were being shipped to the UK and Eastern Europe.

a man was shot in the face while sitting in a cafe

These are the latest in a long-line of mob killings in this part of the Costa del Sol.

Two died after a hairdresser's was peppered with gunfire
On 18 October this year, an Eastern European man was shot dead in Marbella.

In May, a policeman and a known French criminal were injured in a shooting in the same city while the officer was involved in trying to track down members of a gang.

So as more and more Britons, Germans and other foreigners look for their dream homes in the sun here, how many realise the scale of organiwed crime around them?

In 2003 alone, Spanish police smashed 53 separate gangs in the Costa del Sol.

A seven-year-old boy, shot dead by masked killers in Marbella, was the latest victim of organised crime in the Costa del Sol.

A seven-year-old boy, shot dead by masked killers in Marbella, was the latest victim of organised crime in the Costa del Sol.
Unwelcome visitors
A seven-year-old boy, shot dead by masked killers in Marbella, was the latest victim of organised crime in the Costa del Sol. Graham Keeley examines how criminal gangs are changing in one of Spain's most popular regions.


Marbella is one of the Costa del Sol's most upmarket resorts

Caught in the cross-fire, as three hooded gangsters peppered the hairdresser's with machine guns, he didn't stand a chance.

The seven-year-old boy and a 36-year-old Italian haridresser were killed. Three others, including the boy's aunt and another man - thought to be the real target - were also injured.

The gunmen at first pursued a car, firing at it as it sped through the streets, before stopping outside the hairdresser's.

Police found 50 bullet shells, apparently from a machine-gun, lying on the ground outside. They have yet to establish a motive.