LOCAL POLICE prevented an armed bank robbery in Avenida de la Estacion in Almeria.

LOCAL POLICE prevented an armed bank robbery in Avenida de la Estacion in Almeria. A middle-aged man entered the bank and claiming to feel ill, asked the staff to call an ambulance. He then went to a restricted area, and when one of the staff told him he couldn’t be there, the man allegedly took out a knife and demanded all the money they had.

The employee was able to get away from him and grab him from behind and hold him until the police arrived and arrested him. Some of the staff had to be treated for anxiety attacks, but no-one was injured.

TWO men were arrested in Agost on suspicion of burglary, vehicle theft and conspiracy

TWO men were arrested in Agost on suspicion of burglary, vehicle theft and conspiracy. One was a French national, the other Algerian; both aged 27 and residents of Dolores.

During the raid at the Agost warehouse, several vehicles, tools for cutting vehicles, license plates and documents pertaining to stolen vehicles were seized. Officers searched their homes in Dolores and found more tools and effects from burglaries as well as a pistol and ammunition.

It is believed that they carried out at least 17 burglaries at private properties in the southern Alicante Province. Investigations are continuing and further arrests are imminent

Gang held over Murcia cash machine muggings

THREE people were arrested in Murcia accused of robbing unsuspecting bank customers as they withdrew money from cash machines. So far they have been charged with nine violent robberies of this nature carried out in Murcia City in the past 12 months.

The victims of cash machine muggings of this type tend to target elderly people. Two of the three are Spanish while the third is of Venezuelan nationality. The alleged muggers would follow their victims once they identified they fit the profile and had withdrawn cash, to an isolated location where they would assault them and steal the cash.

Police seized clothes and some items believed to have been stolen from victims during raids at the homes of the three suspects. Investigators have not ruled out this gang being behind more robberies elsewhere in Spain. Among the suspects is a Spanish man known as ‘Sabonis’ a known criminal who served a prison sentence for killing a police officer in Madrid in 1996, according to Spanish daily El Mundo.

 

Illegally kept birds in Elche

THE Guardia Civil’s Nature Protection unit SEPRONA has denounced a farmer in Torrellano Alto in Elche for keeping wild birds in captivity without authorization or the necessary documentation.

They found several cages on his property containing a blackbird, a European Greenfinch, two Carduelis finches, and eight European Serins (the smallest of the finches). Illegal hunting gear was also found on the property.

 

GUARDIA CIVIL are investigating a bank robbery which took place in Moraira on Monday morning

GUARDIA CIVIL are investigating a bank robbery which took place in Moraira on Monday morning. When staff opened the doors to the bank, they found the three robbers, wearing masks, and armed with knives.

Three masked robbers tied up staff at the Caixa Teulada bank before escaping on foot with €10,000, Guardia Civil told Europa Press. Police believe the suspects gained entry to the bank by a hole in the wall. A female customer was withdrawing money from the bank’s cash machine at the time of the robbery, and she witnessed the suspects running away.

No staff were injured during the robbery.

35 arrested in town planning irregularities case in El Puerto de Santa María

The Guardia Civil has carried out an operation in El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, has ended with a total of 35 people being charged with town planning crimes. The group faces charges of perversion of the course of justice, falsification of documents, and crimes against town planning ordinances.

The irregularities date back to the time that the town was government by independents and among those arrested is the ex IP Mayor, Hernán Díaz, and Town Planning Councillor, Juan Carlos Rodríguez.

‘Operación Suministro’ is being controlled by the judge Miguel Ángel López Marchena in Instruction Court 3 in the town.
Promoters and at least one industrial technical engineer are implicated.

The Guardia Civil arrested five people last March, including the ex councillor, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, after which reporting restrictions were introduced.

 

Burgler stabbed to death in A Coruña

17 year old youth who broke into a flat in Pondedueme, A Coruña, died in the early hours of Sunday after being surprised and stabbed by the owner of the property. The owners of the flat arrived home while the thief was inside.

The owner of the flat stabbed the youth with the knife, and then the youth jumped out of the window to make his escape. He died some streets away after collapsing.

The owner has been arrested by the Guardia Civil and remains in custody.

The Mayor of Pondedueme, Gabriel Torrente, lamented what had happened. He told Europa Press that ‘years ago these things did not happen’.

 

Sentencing announced for Cádiz social security scam

Sentencing has been announced in the Operation Karlos social security scam in Cádiz, with a nine and a half year prison term for Francisco Casto, the medical inspector accused of falsifying the reports which were needed to obtain fraudulent disability pensions from the state.

The man considered to be the leader of the network, the ex local police chief in Ubrique, Carlos Carretero, has been sentenced to four years in prison in an agreement which was previously reached with the prosecutor.

The ruling from the Cádiz provincial court made public this Monday considers that the wife of the bullfighter Jesulín de Ubrique, María José Campanario, , and her mother, Remedios Torres, were both accessories in falsifying official documents. They were also found guilty of attempted fraud, but escape serving time in prison as neither has a previous criminal record and both were given sentences just one month below the two-year threshold.

Campanario was also fined 1,800 €, and her mother 720 €.

 

Stephen Alexander Mallon was hit over the head with a bottle in a fight outside a bar in June 2009

17 youths face charges for the death of a British man, 49 year old Stephen Alexander Mallon, after a street fight in Cómpeta in June 2009.

First instance and instruction court number 1 in Torrox has opened the process against the 17 youths who are all aged between 18 and 25. They come from Cómpeta and other local villages such as Canillas de Albaida and Árchez.

Judge Silvia Coll Carreño, is processing five of the accused on the charge of homicide as in article 138 in the Penal Code, and the others will face charges of causing injury and causing a brawl.
Bail has been set at 100,000 € for those facing the homicide charge, and at 10,000 € for the rest.

The victim and his family were on holiday in the village, and had gone out for a drink. Unwittingly they got involved in the brawl in the La Estrella pub in the early hours of June 5 2009. The case documents say that the first conflict happened between the British group and the ex boyfriend of one of the local girls they were talking to inside the pub, and the conflicts extended to the local man’s friends outside the pub after the owner kicked everyone out. It notes that the pub owner did suggest that the British group stay inside, fearing a fight could occur, but the British declined his offer and a massive fight broke out outside with bottles and belts being used.

Stephen Alexander Mallon was hit, it’s thought by a bottle, on his head by the ex boyfriend of the girl and then pushed by another off the terrace of a pizzeria, falling over four metres when pushed over the veranda. He was admitted to the Carlos Haya Hospital in Málaga in a coma, but he lost his battle for life 12 days later.

The victims two children were also injured in the fight, with a broken nose and hand, and their other friends were also hurt, but less seriously.

The case will be heard in the Provincial Court in Málaga, although no date has been fixed as yet.

 

Spanish priest says 'Measure my anus' following gay allegation

Spanish priest, Andrés García Torres, who has a parish in the Madrid dormitory town of Fuenlabrada has said he will go to Rome to show that he is being expelled from his parish unfairly.

It comes after the Bishop of Getafe has demanded that he goes under psychiatric therapy to ‘cure’ his homosexuality, and has an HIV test, following claims made that he has had a relationship with a 28 year old Cuban seminarian, claims which are based on a photo of him hugging the man on a trip to Fátima. Both men are shirtless in the photo.

‘Let them measure my anus and see if it is dilated’, said the priest who insists that they are only friends. He complains that his mother has not stopped crying at what has happened.

Since the story has broken the priest has said he is very happy to see his church full of people and those who attend the modest parish say that they will demonstrate against the Bishop’s plans to have their local priest transferred.

The locals say that the priest is a very human person, dedicated to helping others. More than 1,000 local signatures have been gathered in his support.

 

Serbian gangster on the run left behind Eva Peron's stolen jewellery

Rings, earrings and the tiara, given to Eva Peron by the Dutch Royal family, were found in a hotel room in Milan. They were left behind by a member of the Serbian gang, which was identified and partially arrested by police months ago.

The gang stole the jewellery in December 2009 from a shop in Valencia, Spain, simulating purchase intentions. It is believed that the value of the collection exceeds 6 million euros.

The investigation was conducted by Spanish and Italian police. They identified the robbers as a gang of Serbs, situated in the area of Milan. Ten of them were collared in Spain in May 2010, another was arrested in Milan.

The latest development occurred this week, when policemen broke in a hotel room in the northern Italian city. Its occupant fled, leaving behind three quarters of the stolen collection of Eva Peron.
The former first lady of Argentina was known for her fascination with jewellery and her treasure is nearly mythical. Its theft was one of the biggest in recent history.

 

Police smash pirating network in Granada and arrest 14 people

A National Police operation in Granada has seized 65,000 pirated CDs and DVDs after searching five addresses in the city where the illegal copies were stored and distributed to street pedlars or dispatched by courier to other Spanish provinces.

The Interior Ministry said in a press release on Monday that police have also located the premises where the pirated copies were produced, where dozens of copiers worked continually throughout the day. It was also here that the group produced fake brand name goods, ranging from copies of Ray Ban and Prada sunglasses, to replica watches and fake Adidas and Nike sports shoes.

The Ministry put the loss of profits to the manufacturers affected at close to 1 million €.

It’s understood that 14 suspects have been taken into custody.

 

Swedish student stabbed to death in Fuengiorla Hotel

19 year old Swedish woman has died and another has been injured after a stabbing attack in a hotel in Fuengirola. The alleged aggressor, a 30 year old Moroccan who has been arrested, appears to have tried to rape the two women.

A struggle is reported with the aggressor using a kitchen knife and cutting the neck of one of the women leading to her death. The second woman suffered cuts to her hands and neck, but managed to get out of the room and call for help.

It happened at 4am on Saturday morning in the El Cid Hotel in Calle Conde de San Isidro. A statement from the hotel said that the two Swedish women had registered at the hotel on the 16th of the month with the idea of celebrating their end of course, and Saturday was to be their last night. The alleged attacked had paid for just the one night and is reported to have met the two earlier in a discotheque.

 

British man arrested for drug trafficking in Santander

National Police in Santander have arrested a 50 year old British man, named with the initials A.K., who was found to have 171 kilos of hashish in his car before he could board the Santander to Plymouth ferry.

Police said the arrest came as a result of investigations which started in Madrid by their specialist UDYCO drug and organised crime unit.

Their intelligence told them that a Briton driving a Vauxhall Astra could be carrying drugs onto the ferry, and on June 14th the police found the car parked in the street in Santander. Checks at local hotels found the owner of vehicle who was arrested at 2am on June 15th when he returned to his hotel in a taxi.

He was carrying 815 €, 270 pounds, and a mobile phone, and a later search of his car found 681 packages, 171 kilos of hashish hidden in a false floor and the door panels of the vehicle.

Police estimate the value of the drugs on the market at some 250,000 €.

 

Juan Antonio Roca refused plea bargain in Malaya case

It has emerged that the ex Municipal Real Estate Assessor from Marbella Town Hall, and the man at the centre of the Malaya corruption allegations, Juan Antonio Roca, has rejected a plea bargain with the Málaga Anti-Corruption Prosecutor in the case.
El País reports that he refused to declare himself guilty in exchange to being allowed to keep his family estate in Marbella. The rest of his assets, valued at over 200 million €, have been automatically seized by the State.

Roca acquired the family home in Calle Estéban Calderón through a Gibraltar company in 1989 before he started work at Marbella Town Hall. Therefore it can be considered that the property is not part of the assets which have been blocked in the case. However the property is likely to have to be used to pay a fine facing Roca for money laundering, which experts expect to be placed at around 100 million €.

Roca however rejected the plea bargain, and is now in the middle of the court case which is expected to last two years and where he faces as much as 30 years in prison, and fines totalling 810 million €. He is accused of perversion of the course of justice, misuse of public funds, fraud and bribery.

On Monday the court in Málaga will hear from the people who allegedly helped Roca to launder his proceeds allegedly obtained by demanding money from businessmen in Marbella

 

Spain's National Police board yacht carrying 600 kilos of cocaine

Six hundred kilos of cocaine have been recovered after a yacht was boarded by the GEO Special Operations Unit of the Spanish National Police in international waters, 180 miles off Cape San Vicente, Portugal, early on Tuesday.

A man from Holland, who was the only person on board the yacht, the ‘Dalí’, was taken into custody.

The operation was supported by the Spanish Navy and the Portuguese Air Force and came after joint investigations by the National Police Central Drugs Brigade and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency, which EFE reports revealed that the cargo was bound for Spain.

The Spanish Navy escorted the yacht into port in Cádiz later on Tuesday, where Chief Inspector José Antonio Rodríguez of the Udyco central organised crime and drugs squad told the press that the cocaine haul is one of the largest made in Spain so far this year. La Voz de Cádiz said the cocaine found on board the Dalí is thought to be 80% pure and gives its street value as some 20 million €.

The Dalí is believed to have set sail from a Spanish port at the beginning of January to pick up its cargo in an as yet unidentified Caribbean country before setting sail for the return journey to Spain around a month ago.

 

Major drugs haul off the coast of Cartagena

The Agencia Tributaria Tax Authority released details on Monday of an operation off the Murcia coast last December which seized more than four tons of cannabis when a suspicious fishing boat was intercepted by Customs officers 24 miles south of Cartagena.

The Tax Authority said the 4.32 tons of cannabis found on board would have had a street value of more than 6 million €.

Five people, including the boat’s captain, were taken into custody. It’s understood from La Verdad newspaper that some of the suspects had been investigated for drug smuggling previously by the Customs section of the Tax Authority.

Details of the operation have only just been released as investigations were still ongoing until recently.

 

CORONER has admitted that the family of a Liverpool man may never know how he came to plunge five storeys from a flat in Spain.

Marcel Ogungboro, 33, suffered fatal head injuries after falling from a balcony in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol in December 2009.

The British inquest into his death was heard yesterday, 18 months later, after the coroner said he was unlikely to hear better evidence if he waited for Spanish inquiries to finish.

Liverpool coroner Andre Rebello said: “We know there was head injury, we know it was a consequence of falling from a height.


“But what we don’t know is what caused the fall. I don’t think we can get beyond that. It may have been an accident or it may be something more.”

The court was read witness statements from Christopher Longhurst, 29, and David Patrick Ormsby, 31, who had been drinking with Mr Ogungboro before his fall.

They said they had been in a bar until 3am before going back to Mr Ormsby’s flat for more drinks.

At some point, they said, Mr Ogungboro went out on to the balcony and tried to climb over. They said they talked to him for 15 minutes and persuaded him to come back inside but he later ran to the balcony.

They said they “heard something hit the floor” and looked over to see him lying in the courtyard below and the caretaker looking up and seeing them.

SPANISH Police have broken up a huge prostitution ring in the Campo de Gibraltar.

A total of 15 men – all Romanians – were arrested for allegedly forcing young women to work in brothels.
In a series of raids – dubbed ‘Operation Damas’ – officers interviewed dozens of women apparently abused in this way.
Most of the young women had been enticed to Spain from Romania with the promise of well paid jobs.
However when they arrived in Spain they were quickly coerced into selling sex in a series of brothels and even on the streets.
Police in La Linea had been trailing the gang since December 2010 piecing together their modus operandi and trying to identify their victims.
The arrests come after one female victim filed a formal complaint before entering into a witness protection program.
The gang mainly operated in the Campo area – mainly San Roque and Sabanillas – as well as in Malaga province and Asturias in the north of Spain.


“Thanks to monitoring operations set up in and around the brothels, there is enough evidence to suggest that the gang was committing offences ranging from human trafficking to participation in a criminal organisation,” explained a police spokesman.

Holiday homes bosses accused of huge swindle,The Costa del Sol property empire has all but vanished. An investigation traced MRI companies to an empty office in Madrid.

The founder and top executives behind former holiday home giant MRI face legal action in Spain after hundreds of Britons allegedly lost money estimated to amount to £13million.

Dubliner Darragh MacAnthony, who owns Peterborough Football Club, which has just won promotion to the Championship, set up MacAnthony Realty International (MRI) in Marbella as the Millennium began.

Hugely popular on the British market, MRI boasted a £100 million annual turnover before the credit crunch. As well as property development in Spain, MRI marketed villas and apartments in Morocco, Bulgaria and Cape Verde, where the company also arranged furniture supplies.

But now MacAnthony, 35, and his former joint chief executives, Michael Liggan and Dominic Pickering, have been accused of ‘theft by swindle and misappropriation of funds’ in a claim filed in Madrid by 60 British and Irish claimants who say they lost more than half a million pounds in undelivered furniture five years ago.

Lawyer Antonio Flores of Marbella- based property solicitors Lawbird, accused MacAnthony of failing in an obligation to file for insolvency for his Spanish companies.

MacAnthony and his former chief executives have consistently denied any wrongdoing. In relation to the forthcoming claim, MacAnthony, speaking from the US, said: ‘There are no foundations behind these allegations. I certainly didn’t do anything wrong and neither did anyone with MRI when I was there.’
The allegations made in Spain follow what Northern Ireland MP Sammy Wilson described in the House of Commons last year as a property fraud where MRI, or related companies such as MRI Overseas Property, acted as the developer.
The company used programmes on the Property TV Channel hosted by MacAnthony’s younger sister, Wendy, to market holiday homes.

In 2008, as a result of complaints against MRI, a tribunal held by the National Federation of Property Professionals said it was ‘appalled to hear of the company’s misleading business practices’. It issued fines of £5,000 and MacAnthony resigned his membership of the Federation.
Prompted by complaints from British customers, the Serious Fraud Office looked into MRI but took no action. However, it sent alleged victims a letter which said that although it did not intend to prosecute anyone, this did not mean that an offence had not been committed elsewhere.
The Costa del Sol property empire has all but vanished. An investigation traced MRI companies to an empty office in Madrid.

Documents show that last October MacAnthony and Pickering, as directors, handed MRI Overseas Property Group to a Peruvian company, under the directorship of octogenarian Fernando Arespacochaga, which appears to have never traded.

John and Muriel Andrews from Ballycarry, Co Antrim, paid £26,000 for a furniture pack in 2006, but Mr Andrews said: ‘We as yet have received no furniture, no offer of a refund, no apology.’