why are so many criminals still attempting to hide in Spain?

Operation Captura targets UK crime suspects in Spain: "why are so many criminals still attempting to hide in Spain?
Dave Cording thinks many of the fugitives choose Spain because although foreign, it is familiar.
'I suspect having looked at some of the names it's all to do with family,' he explains.
'A lot have settled there and these are now the offspring of the villains.'
Among those being sought this time is Anthony Fraser - grandson of the former South London gangster Frankie Fraser.
He is wanted for questioning in connection with a plot in 2009 to smuggle cannabis hidden inside a lorry consignment of frozen chickens into the UK.
The other nine names will be issue later at the official launch event.
They include a man wanted to complete a 25-year jail senten"

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Police in Scotland have provided information to Crimestoppers’ top 10 most wanted list for the first time –with Scots now appearing on the latest bulletin.

The names of 10 known criminals thought to be on the run overseas will be released today as part of a joint operation between Crimestoppers, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and British police forces.

Detectives say the Operation Captura initiative has recorded a good success rate so far, with 38 arrests from 50 previous subjects and intelligence that a number of criminals are leaving Spain and fleeing to other countries including Holland.

European Arrest Warrants came into effect in 2004, making it easier to bring British criminals back into the UK’s criminal justice system. Police are hoping to trace fugitives from the Strathclyde and Edinburgh areas and said it was the first time Scottish suspects had formed such a major part of an operation.

Operation Captura V1 will be launched in Alicante in northern Spain and in Glasgow city centre when full details of the suspects will be released.

One of those on the most wanted list is Anthony Fraser, the grandson of notorious London gangster “Mad” Frankie Fraser, who is wanted in connection with a £60 million drug smuggling operation.

Frankie Fraser spent 42 of his 87 years in prison, mainly for armed robbery, after mixing with 1960s gangland figures Ronnie and Reggie Kray and Charlie and Eddie Richardson.

His grandson Anthony is thought to have been among a gang, including three pensioners, involved in flooding the UK with two tonnes of cannabis from Holland on March 17, 2009.

Five men were convicted and sentenced to almost 40 years in October 2009 for conspiracy to import controlled drugs. Up to 12 consignments, disguised as frozen chicken imports, were ferried from Holland to a bonded meat warehouse in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Fraser is alleged to have hired a lorry to collect the class B drug concealed within a consignment of frozen chicken produce.

Police kept watch as the last £5.25m shipment was unloaded and then driven to a haulage and storage company in Grays, Essex. The drug had been divided into piles with either a green or yellow Post It note indicating which customer they should go to so a quick distribution could be carried out.

Haulage company boss Derek Mercer, 72, from London was jailed for eight years, and driver John Rowe, 71, whose convictions stretch back more than half a century, was jailed for seven years.

A third pensioner, Wattie Soutter, 69, pleaded guilty to the charge and received nine-and-a-half years.

Two others, both distributors, admitted drug smuggling.

Patrick Maloney, 56, of Southwark, South-East London, was jailed for seven years, while Russ O’Cuneff, 51, of Poplar, East London, was jailed for six years.

Anthony Fraser and a second man Neil Mulligan, were implicated in the crime from evidence found at the Essex warehouse.

Mulligan, 39, was charged on January 21 this year after being arrested in Spain in December 2010 and extradited to the UK and is now awaiting trial.

Dave Cording, Crimestoppers’ Director of Operations, said: “We started this project to tackle the growing level of criminality from British criminals, living and hiding primarily on the Costa del Sol.

“We particularly want to promote this campaign to the law-abiding British ex-pat community in Spain, who may unknowingly be living next door to a wanted criminal.”DISCLAIMER Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder

Belfast nightclub Mono seized in ‘fraud’ probe extradited to Spain to face drugs charges

Belfast nightclub Mono seized in ‘fraud’ probe - Northern Ireland, Local & National - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk: "A Belfast nightclub has been seized along with 10 other properties under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) made a property freezing order in the High Court on Tuesday in relation to the 11 properties.

Club Mono in Ann Street, Belfast, owned by father and son Gerald Anthony McCann and Gerald Robert McCann, both from Holywood, was one of the 11 frozen properties. Gerald Robert McCann (40), of Seapark Lane in Holywood, was extradited to Spain to face drugs charges on December 30 last year. He remains in a Spanish prison.

The charges relate to a seizure of 600kg of cannabis by Spanish police in August on the border between Spain and France."

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Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand among the stars caught up in a wealth of legal wrangling

Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand among the stars caught up in a wealth of legal wrangling "A who’s who of sports stars are now involved in a massive legal battle over property investments in London, Spain and the United States that will come to a head next week.


An ever-growing list of famous names are caught up in this escalating controversy over alleged conflict of interests in the wealth management advice given over funding multi-storey mixed-use complexes in Aldgate and Whitechapel as well as holiday apartments in Marbella and Charlotte Harbor in Florida."

They include from football Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Danny Murphy, Robbie Savage, Andy Cole, Martin O’Neill, Craig Short, Jason Wilcox, Brian Deane, Brian Kidd, Marcus Gayle, Howard Wilkinson, Dave Bassett, John Rudge, John Barnwell and David O’Leary; cricketers Kevin Pietersen, Freddie Flintoff, Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick; golfers Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke and David Howell and swimmer Mark Foster.

Almost all of them provided five and six-figure loans in 2007 to help build the two London developments, which are due to be repaid with interest on Whitechapel next Monday and Aldgate in July. But Guernsey-based trustees Legis have warned there might be insufficient funds to return the money on time and are due to explain the murky situation at a Manchester meeting next Wednesday to an angry set of investors also upset at the lack of communication.

Rooney put money into all four locations through his former management agency Formation, whose wealth advisers at the time, David McKee and Kevin McMenamin, are at the centre of the storm.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1360023/Wayne-Rooney-Rio-Ferdinand-stars-caught-wealth-legal-wrangling--Charles-Sale.html#ixzz1ErbPdyzO
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WANTED ON THE COSTA

A new Crimestoppers' campaign targeting UK criminals thought to be hiding in Spain, is being launched in Alicante.

Tip-offs after past Operation Captura announcements have led to 38 out of 50 fugitives being returned to the UK to face trial or complete jail terms.
Anthony Fraser, grandson of ex-London gangster "Mad" Frankie Fraser, is wanted over cannabis smuggling claims.
The Serious Organised Crime Agency will also name nine others including alleged murderers, robbers and a paedophile.
The majority of the 38 caught and returned to the UK in the past to face trial or resume jail sentences - a 76% success rate - were tracked down to the Spanish costas, where the launch later is taking place.
Tip-off strategy
Operation Captura was first launched in 2006 and is widely considered to be the UK's, if not the world's, most successful campaign to target fugitives abroad.
Crimestoppers' Operations director Dave Cording: "I think a lot of the ex-pats living out in Spain see these people, don't like the way they behave, and want to help."
"We've probably had 600 pieces of information. And of all the calls we've had, not once has anyone tried to claim a reward."
At their call centre in the UK, Crimestoppers' phones are staffed 24 hours a day, and interpreters are on hand to assist with any Spanish callers.

: Jamie Dempsey - wanted for allegedly conspiring to supply 299kg of cocaine, with an estimated UK street value in excess of £80million.
:: Derek McGraw Ferguson - aka William Murdoch Henderson - wanted in connection with the murder of Thomas Cameron on 28 June 2007 at the Auchinairn Tavern, Bishopbriggs near Glasgow.
:: Patrick Pious Hancox - wanted for child sex offences.
:: Eriberto Jimenez Melo - convicted in absence to serve 25 years for conspiracy to supply cocaine.
:: Jonathon Lejman/Lehman - wanted for aggravated burglary, during which a man had his face slashed by a knife from ear to mouth and his cheekbone broken.
:: Darren Kevin O’Flaherty - wanted for allegedly kidnapping an HGV driver, holding him at kniefpoint, stealing the cargo and settinng the vehicle on fire.
:: William Thomas Robert Paterson/Patterson - nicknamed Buff or Billy - wanted in connection with the murder of Kevin Carroll, aka McCabe, who was repeatedly shot in the car park of ASDA supermarket, Robroyston, Glasgow.
:: Andrew Mark Spooner - wanted for prosecution following failure to appear at Glasgow High Court for drugs offences.
:: Everardus Wijtvliet - accused of organising the importation of 100kg of a powder containing heroin and 6kg of a powder containing cocaine through Dover docks.DISCLAIMER Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder

Drug money couriers jailed for role in international gang

Drug money couriers jailed for role in international gang  "Two Manchester men helped run an international money laundering racket moving drugs worth more than £1m every month.

The gang travelled around the country collecting up to £160,000 in plastic carrier bags from criminal associates.

They used a method of money laundering called ‘cuckoo smurfing’ to hide it.

The scam centres on corrupt money bureau staff in foreign countries. When the parents of a foreign student make a money transfer to a relative in the UK the clean money is siphoned off to a bank account the criminals can access.

The bureau staff then send a text to the criminals tipping them off about the size of payment and to who it has been made. The criminals then go into a bank and pay dirty drugs money, which they have collected in Britain, into that account.

Undercover Serious Organised Crime Agency officers watched every move of such a racket run by a gang out of a house in Birmingham. The gang received texts from Dubai, Afghanistan and Iran with instructions on which student accounts money should be paid into.

The investigation led to the seizure of £600,000 and 20 kilos of heroin.

A coded ledger of the gang’s financial transactions was found at a house they used to store the money before it was banked."

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Spain arrests 11 in raids on brothels with webcams - World news - Europe - msnbc.com

Spain arrests 11 in raids on brothels with webcams - World news - Europe - msnbc.com: "Spanish police say they have arrested 11 people suspected of forcing young immigrant women to work as prostitutes and using webcams to monitor brothels where they received clients.
An Interior Ministry statement released Sunday says the gang used four apartments in Madrid for sexual rendezvous and had a separate operations center where the brothels were under surveillance on computers and three large-screen TVs.
The statement did not say when the arrests were made or give the nationalities of the detainees. It said they are suspected of people-trafficking, criminal association and other offenses.
Prostitution is not a crime in Spain, but recruiting or forcing people into it is."

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Two Swype employees victims of theft in Barcelona | Seattle Times Newspaper

Microsoft Pri0 | Mobile World: Two Swype employees victims of theft in Barcelona | Seattle Times Newspaper: "Two of the four Swype employees in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress were victims of theft in separate incidents during their stay in the Spanish city. Swype, which develops touchscreen keyboard technology, is based in Seattle.

Brian Lysak, director of business development, was pickpocketed at 12:30 a.m. Thursday outside a restaurant.

'He came up from behind and started saying, 'Barcelona, blah, blah, blah.' He grabbed my shoulders and bumped my hip and as soon as he did that, I checked my pockets and I realized my wallet was gone,' Lysak said.

The man took off running and Lysak chased him down, caught him and held him until police arrested him, Lysak said. 'I trail run a lot near my house on Cougar Mountain,' he said."

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Tourism scammers under investigation

Tourism scammers under investigation - Caribbean360: "Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says a full scale police investigation is underway to find the person or persons trying to swindle job seekers of money by promising to secure them jobs in local and overseas hotels.

Minister Bartlett explained that he was informed about the scam following his recent return from Spain where he had discussions with current Spanish investors to explore the prospects of expansion.

“It has been brought to my knowledge that there are individuals or an individual constantly calling around to some hotels, to some institutions and organizations in the country purporting to be from the Ministry of Tourism and even suggesting to be the Minister of Tourism, soliciting support and or attempting to recruit people for overseas and other hotel work experiences,” he said."

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Man pleads guilty in connection with Chili international arms smuggling also accused two English citizens — Gary Hyde and Paul Restorick."

Man pleads guilty in connection with Chili international arms smuggling - Fairport, NY - Fairport-E.Rochester Post: "One of three European men accused of international arms smuggling in Chili has accepted a plea deal.

Investigators say the men illegally imported Chinese-made weapons parts selling them to a firearms wholesaler in Chili. For two years, European authorities have been on the trail of the three men, under investigation for possible weapons trafficking.

On Wednesday, Karl Kleber — a German national — accepted a plea deal. Under the agreement, Kleber pleaded guilty to smuggling goods into the United States. When he's sentenced, he could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

In January, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Rochester announced an indictment that accuses the men of conspiracy to smuggle 5,700 AK-47 Chinese-made drum magazines into the United States.

The drums hold the ammunition and U.S. law prohibits the importation of weapons and weapons parts made in China.

Besides Kleber, the indictment also accused two English citizens — Gary Hyde and Paul Restorick."

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Mubarak to address nation amid reports he will cede power

Mubarak to address nation amid reports he will cede power: "President Hosni Mubarak appears poised to cede power after 17 days of massive citizen demonstrations, with the Egyptian military saying Mubarak would 'meet' protesters' demands and the top U.S. intelligence official saying the longtime leader could step aside as soon as Thursday night."

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Spain vows to temporarily close restaurant whose owner is defying new smoking ban

The Canadian Press: Spain vows to temporarily close restaurant whose owner is defying new smoking ban: "A Spanish official says a restaurant that is defying a new law banning smoking in bars and eateries will be shut down.
Andalusian regional Health Minister Maria Jesus Montero told reporters that officials will visit the restaurant Thursday in the southern resort town Marbella and tell it to obey the law or force it to close for two months.
But manager Javier Milla told The Associated Press that the Asador Guadalmina restaurant will not comply and wants to keep letting customers smoke.
The law imposing tighter restrictions on smoking in public places took effect Jan 2 to much grumbling from the hospitality industry."

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Costa del Sol timeshare scam case to reach court in May

Costa del Sol timeshare scam case to reach court in May: "Málaga Provincial Court will from the month of May, hear the case against an organised group which is thought to have defrauded some 300 people, most of them British, in a time sharing scam on the Costa del Sol, mostly in Fuengirola.

According to the provisional conclusions of the prosecutor in the case, the accused had created ‘a business structure which renewed itself periodically, to break links from the companies previously created in order to avoid detection, and for the illicit creation of wealth’.
The accused face charges of fraud and illicit association.

The public accusation in the case has determined the existence of several groups of accused, and says since the start of the scam it was directed by as many as a dozen people, the first of them a British man and his wife, and later by a South African. The group advertised internationally from the year 2000."

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CAPTURED:39-year-old Paul Merle Eischeid is wanted in the 2001 murder of a Phoenix woman. The Hells Angels member is also accused of drug trafficking and violating the RICO statutes.

Argentinean police apprehended one of the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted Fugitives.

39-year-old Paul Merle Eischeid is wanted in the 2001 murder of a Phoenix woman. The Hells Angels member is also accused of drug trafficking and violating the RICO statutes.

Cynthia Garcia was attacked and severely beaten while attending a party at the Hells Angels clubhouse in Mesa, Ariz. She was thrown in the trunk of a car, taken to the desert, stabbed and left for dead.

Eischeid was indicted on drug trafficking, RICO violations, kidnapping, and murder charges, along with several additional Hells Angels members.

He was arrested in 2003, and due to his career as a Charles Schwab stockbroker and relatively clean criminal record, he was released on his own recognizance and put on house arrest.

But Eischeid removed his monitoring device and fled Arizona.

In 2007, U.S. Marshals added him to the 15 Most Wanted List.

"Eischeid's crimes were horrendous and his potential for continued violence made his arrest a priority for the U.S. Marshals," said Stacia A. Hylton, Director of the U.S. Marshal Service. "His capture is both significant and rewarding, and we thank our domestic and international partners for their tireless persistence in bringing this fugitive to justice."

The arrest was made possible through efforts by U.S. Marshals, INTERPOL, Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs, ATF, Diplomatic Security Service, Maricopa County Sherriff's Office, Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Argentine Federal Police.

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28 arrested in money laundering swoops in Madrid

28 arrested in money laundering swoops in Madrid: "Twenty eight members of a money laundering network have been arrested in Madrid, in a National Police operation which has searched 14 properties and recovered half a million € in cash.

The network is believed to have laundered up to 100 million € of illegal money through ‘locutorios’ and through a bona fide money transfer company which was specifically set up by the organisation to send the funds out of the country.

Two addresses, the company’s offices, and 10 of the locutorios which were used by the gang were raided on Monday in simultaneous swoops by police. Officers confiscated 3,000 photocopies of forged or altered passports, identity documents, and lists of the recipients of the transferred money and the senders."

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Marbella money laundering hearings will then start in March, and are expected to last at least six months.

The lawyers in the Malaya case now underway at the Provincial Court in Málaga, investigating Spain’s largest ever municipal corruption scandal based in Marbella Town Hall, consider that the court case will last ‘far more than two years’.

The lawyers consider that a final date cannot be set, because doing so will limit the rights of the defendants.

The case started on September 27 last year with defence questions, and finally got into the real evidence on December 13. However since then it has got no further than hearing evidence from one small section of the proceedings, the real estate deal known as ‘Crucero Banús’, which is now expected to continue until the end of this month.

The money laundering hearings will then start in March, and are expected to last at least six months.

The case is drawing out because of long questioning sessions of some of the witnesses and accused. Most consider the extra time being taken is simply the price to be paid for good justice."

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17 year old youth arrested for the killing of María Esther in Arriate

17 year old youth arrested for the killing of María Esther in Arriate: "17 year old youth has been arrested by the Guardia Civil in connection with the killing of the 13 year old girl, María Esther Jiménez Villegas, in the Málaga village of Arriate. Her body was found on the outskirts of the village on January 20.

It’s understood that the Guardia Civil has taken the arrested 17 year old man to their barracks in Ronda for questioning, and that a search of his home is now underway.

It follows reports that DNA had been found under the nails of the victim. Speaking to Tele5, her mother, Carmen Villegas, said that the arrest was ‘a relief’ for the family, and the best gift possible for her child who would have turned 14 on Tuesday this week.

There were reports earlier that police considered a gang of María Esther’s friends had been responsible for her death, but as yet, only one arrest has been made."

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