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Sitio muy bonito y decoración espléndido
Bienvenida caliente y amable
Comida deliciosa - carne y pescado barbacoa una especialidad - selección excelente de vino
Mira el mundo pasando del patio al frente o disfruta las vistas estupendas de las montañas del balcón detrás.
Abierto Todos Los Dias Menciona Entresierra.blogspot.com y recibiras una bebida gratis

Beautiful setting and superb decor
Warm and friendly welcome
Delicious cuisine charcol grilled meat and fish a speciality
Excellent selection of wines
Bright and relaxing bar area
Watch the world go by from the front patio or savour the magnificent mountain views from the balcony at the back.
Open Every Day exept Monday

BOOKINGS PHONE 952869848

Telefono 952869848


Sunday 13 December 2009

Frankie Weber in prison on the Costa del Sol last night accused of three attempted murders.

Frankie Weber was in prison on the Costa del Sol last night accused of three attempted murders.Frankie Weber, 25, from London, is alleged to have fled to Gibraltar after stabbing three Spaniards in a street fight in Marbella.
He was returned to Spain where he now faces trial. Spanish police said the wounded were only saved by swift action by medics.25 year old Martial Arts expert is wanted in connection with the stabbing of three people in a street fight in Marbella
A British man has been extradited from Gibraltar to Spain to face charges of three attempted homicides.The 25 year old is accused of trying to carry out the homicides in Marbella, and the extradition comes as a result of a request made by Instruction Court Two in the town. The court has now ordered the suspect to be held in prison on remand.The case dates back to the early hours of January 24 this year when Spanish National Police were called to a fight in the Plaza de los Olivos in Marbella, which resulted in one very serious stabbing and two more suffering serious stab wounds. The most seriously hurt has had to undergo several surgeries. Police found many large knives at the suspect’s home and established that he had fled to Gibraltar. The agents from the UDEV Specialist Violent Crime Unit describe the suspect, who is an expert in martial arts, as ‘very dangerous’. They say a 30cm long machete was found in a nearby rubbish bin shortly after the aggression, which they believe he dumped during his escape.

Wednesday 9 December 2009

new wave of illegal immigrants in Almería

new wave of illegal immigrants in Almería, where 48 migrants were arrested in less than 24 hours. The first five were arrested after reaching shore near the marina in Aguadulce at around 9.30 on Tuesday morning, and a boat with another six passengers on board was intercepted by the Civil Guard 10 miles south of Cabo de Gata less than two hours later. Europa Press said one of the occupants was a woman.The third patera was detected by the SIVE electronic surveillance system off Los Baños beach, in Almerimar, on Tuesday afternoon. There were 36 men from Sub Saharan Africa on board the vessel.In western Andalucía, three juvenile migrants, with ages ranging from 11 to 14, were discovered hiding beneath a lorry at the port in Algeciras early on Wednesday. They are reported to be in good health despite their experience.

Monday 30 November 2009

Marbella is to receive a 11.5 million euro incentive from the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Sports.

Marbella is to receive a 11.5 million euro incentive from the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Sports. The cash is aimed at supporting the city’s efforts to increase tourism, as the Ministry believes that Marbella is the centre of Costa del Sol tourism and any benefits felt there will also be felt in surrounding towns.
The Marbella Tourism Plan will receive the biggest cash injection of around 9 million euros; this is in addition to 4 million already in place from a 2006 agreement.
Only six cities in the country are to receive the tourism boosting incentive money, the others being Jaen, Jerez, Granada, Malaga and Sevilla.

Madrid Lions rugby club

Email: info@madridlionsrfc.com
Tel: 91 373 56 13
This social rugby group was formed in 1997 and accepts players on all levels from all nationalities. Since founded they have had over 400 members/guests, young and old(er), from a nationality base of 23 countries. Sign-up fee is EUR 65 for fees and jerseys. Training is at training at 1:30 pm on Saturdays at Complejo Deportivo Almudena, Calle Ramiro de Maeztu, Ciudad Universitaria ( Metro: Metropolitano). Visit for more details.

Cricket (Madrid)

Email: david.leonida@cricketinmadrid.com
Tel: 659 630 327
Cricket is a favourite in England and the Madrid Cricket Club has been bringing cricket to Spain since 1975. They practise at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Alcorcón. Contact President David Leonida at david.leonida@cricketinmadrid.com for more information about joining.

Famous Faces of the Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War might be something that the Spanish have only recently begun to debate openly, but for foreign writers it has evolved as nothing less than a thriving cottage industry; nevertheless the appeal of any fraternal conflict, particular one with the international ramifications of the Spanish Civil War, is always compelling.

I have just read the most recent one, 'Famous Faces of the Spanish Civil War'
(Pen&Sword, UK,2009) by Steve Hurst. The book has an engaging style and is well illustrated with all the usual suspects, George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway, Dalí, Federico Lorca, Arthur Koestler, Picasso, John Cornford, Martha Gellhorn et al. But what makes this book stand out is that Steve Hurst is not just another desk-bound writer, he is an artist-historian and, just like the artist-soldiers of the war itself, he has walked the walk; from the killing beaches of Málaga to the Republic's last breaths in the snows of the Pyrenees, researching, interviewing survivors and drafting the maps that richly illustrate the book. 5 stars

Gumbo

Gumbo
Calle Pez 15
Tel: 91-532-6361
Metro: Noviciado
Opening times: 14.00-15.30 and 20.00 to 02.30. Closed on Sunday night and Mondays all day.
Menu at EUR 10.50

Forget the chain burger and rib joints, this is the real American meal deal with N’Awlins native Matthew Scott sporting his trademark bandana do-rag and turning out Big Easy eats like seafood gumbo, shrimp and grouper creole, and spicy, free-range chicken.

A recommended evening meal here might begin with one of the classic cocktails on offer, then fried green tomatoes, a stuffed pork chop with caramelised onions and bodelaise sauce as the main course and a big slice of pecan or peanut butter pie for dessert.

As they say in those parts: “Laissez les bon temps roulez!”


BASQUE
La Alacena de Serrano
Calle Infanta Maria Teresa 19
Tel: 912207009
www.laalacenadeserrano.com
Metro: Concha Espina or Colombia
Opening times: 13.30-16.00 and 20.30 to 24.00. Closed on Sunday night and Mondays all day.
Menu - Menu degustación at EUR 25
A nice elegant venue that has an air of distinction. It is highly-recommended for business meals due to its relaxed and quiet atmosphere. The eye for detail is what sets the décor of the restaurant apart from all others.

The high quality of food is also shown in presentation of the dishes and the food itself. Specialities are basque cuisine and Spanish alike, where you can try delicious callos, rabo de toro or cochinillo.

À la carte dishes are offered in full or half versions, medias raciones, allowing you to enjoy the same great taste for half the price.


CATALAN
Can Punyetes
Calle San Agustin 9
Tel: 91-429-94-83
www.canpunyetes.com
Metro: Anton Martin
Opening times: 13.00-16.00 and 20.00 to 24.00. Fridays and Saturdays opened till 01.00. Closed on Sundays.
Menu at EUR 11.50

Cheap and cheerful, this bistro boasts a barbeque pit in the main dining room where butifarra sausages, rabbit, chops and other prime meats are done to a turn over the open fire. It is also where they grill the chewy country bread for the extensive range of tostadas topped with pisto con ventresca, jamón serrano, patés and other goodies. There are seasonal specialities such as escudella (Catalonia’s version of minestrone soup) in the winter, grilled baby asparagus in the spring and grilled vegetables in the summer served with romescu and alioli (garlic) sauce. A crema catalana (a sweet creamy pudding) is the perfect finish.

US actors Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz

US actors Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz have arrived in Cadiz, southern Spain to film scenes for their latest movie "Knight and Day", Spanish media reported on Sunday.

Two hurt as bulls flee Tom Cruise film set
Cadiz - US actors Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz have arrived in Cadiz, southern Spain to film scenes for their latest movie "Knight and Day", Spanish media reported on Sunday.

The two Hollywood stars have started shooting scenes that imitate the famous bull run held each year in Pamplona, northern Spain for the James Mangold-directed action comedy.

The Pamplona bull run is held in the city each July and was made famous by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises".

During the run, crowds race ahead of a herd of thundering bulls, which can weigh up to 700 kilogrammes (1,500 pounds) each, along an 825 metre (900 yard) course over cobbled streets.

Seven bulls escaped during the film's rehearsals earlier this month, slightly injuring two women.

"Knight and Day" is set to be released in the US in July 2010.

Sunday 25 October 2009

Ronald Priestley, who was one of Britain's most wanted men, fled to Spain's "Costa del Crime"

Ronald Priestley, who was one of Britain's most wanted men, fled to Spain's "Costa del Crime" in 2005 after masterminding the £4.25million fake banknote fraud.The 69-year-old was sentenced to eight years in jail in his absence but was eventually arrested by Spanish police in Marbella.At Leeds Crown Court on Friday, Judge Peter Collier told Priestley: "Your sentence commences today." In 2006 a jury heard that after a surveillance operation on Priestley and his associates, a sophisticated printing operation which could turn out counterfeit £20 notes was uncovered in Birmingham.Priestley, of Leeds, West Yorks, will also face the judge of his original trial, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC, over charges relating to breach of bail.Michael Smith, representing him, asked for the case to be adjourned.Priestley had been previously jailed in April 2002 for conspiring to sell counterfeit perfume and champagne.

Málaga province forced Chinese women into prostitution

Three people who forced Chinese women into prostitution, holding them for 24 hours a day in a property in Santa Pola which was used as the brothel, have been taken into custody by National Police. One woman who was found in the flat was freed by the officers who raided the property, which had been under surveillance for some time before police decided to make their move.The Interior Ministry said in a statement this week that the victims were ‘recruited’ through job offers on a web page, but then found themselves kept captive by their bosses, who also withheld their passports. The money they earned was paid into bank accounts opened in the women’s names – between 120 and 600 € a day - half of which was then transferred the following morning to a bank in China.Bank documents, computers and bank notes were seized during the search.The investigation began in March in Málaga province, leading detectives to the leaders of the organisation based in Santa Pola.

British man, wanted in connection with causing the death of another driver

British man, wanted in connection with causing the death of another driver when he was drunk and driving against the traffic last June, has been arrested by the National Police in Alicante Airport. The arrest came as part of a joint operation with the SOCA, British Serious Organised Crime Agency. Named as P.L. he was born in Glasgow in 1981 and had been driving a van against the traffic on the motorway at Larkhall in Scotland when the accident happened, despite him being banned from driving at the time.

Arrested two Britons and Irishman in connection with the theft of top of the range cars in the U.K.

National Police in Orihuela Costa, Alicante have arrested two Britons and Irishman in connection with the theft of top of the range cars in the U.K. which were then brought to Spain to be sold illegally, or to be used in the carrying out of other crimes.The first arrest came when one of those detained was driving a Mercedes ML 270 on false British plates, and checks established it had been stolen in the U.K. After he was arrested the other members of the group were identified and also detained when driving a stolen Audi A4 on false British plates.Two vehicles with false number plates were recovered in the operation, along with fake driving licences and I.D.Those arrested have been named as 28 year old L.S., 33 year old E.D.D. and 28year old A.L.S.

77 year old Sheila Peterkin, originally from Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, and her husband, Jorge Pérez, a former philosophy professor, were found stabbed t

The couple's bodies being removed from the scene of the murder - EFE
Sheila Peterkin and her husband, Jorge Pérez, were stabbed to death by their mentally ill sonThe Glasgow Sunday Mail has revealed that the woman who, with her husband, was killed by her schizophrenic son at her Madrid home last weekend, was a Scottish woman who had moved to Spain in the 1950s.77 year old Sheila Peterkin, originally from Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, and her husband, Jorge Pérez, a former philosophy professor, were found stabbed to death at their home on Calle Fermín Caballero, in the Fuencarral district of the city, on Sunday 11th October. Their 47 year old son, Andrés Pérez Peterkin, still holding the murder weapon, admitted his guilt when officers arrived at the scene, and was taken to hospital after trying to take his life with the same knife he had used on his parents.His brother Miguel criticised in a letter published last week that the closure of psychiatric institutions has left many of the mentally ill out on the streets without the care and treatment that they need. ‘Schizophrenia’, he said, has caused my dear brother to commit an act that has filled his conscience with pain, remorse and guilt.’The newspaper said Andrés was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 16.

Whiskeria murder in Marbella

fatal stabbing of a young Romanian woman in Marbella on Friday night is under investigation by police as a domestic violence murder, following the arrest of the victim’s ex boyfriend in connection with her death. Also from Romania, the 30 year old is reported by Diario Sur to have been in a relationship with the victim for a number of years.The 26 year old woman died outside a well-known alternative nightclub on the N-340 road between Puerto Banús and Puente Romano at around 11.30 on Friday night, where her suspected assailant was waiting for her as she arrived. She is understood to have been stabbed at least 10 times, despite efforts by staff at the club to stop the fatal attack after the victim’s friend, who had arrived there with her, ran inside for help.Police found the murder weapon lying on the ground beside her body when they arrived at the scene, and her assailant crouching down beside her. Emergency services were unable to do anything to save her life.
The man was refused bail by the duty judge in Marbella.

Would-be bank robber who waited patiently in line for more than 10 minutes for his turn at the cash desk

Would-be bank robber who waited patiently in line for more than 10 minutes for his turn at the cash desk last Friday was overpowered by other customers queuing up at the branch in Málaga City, Diario Sur reports.His attire in the recent warm weather had already given some cause for suspicion: a cap with a visor pulled down to cover the upper part of his face, and a high-necked pullover covering part of his chin. Suspicions were confirmed when he responded to the cashier’s question of ‘How may I help you?’ with the reply, ‘I’ve come to rob the bank’, pulling out a large knife from his pocket.Customers in the queue managed to force him to the ground and hold him there until police arrived on the scene. He turned out to be a regular client of the branch and is noted by Sur to be under treatment for psychiatric problems.

Friday 16 October 2009

“Malaya” case which revolved around corruption in the building developments ,mainly in Marbella on the Costa del Sol

“Malaya” case which revolved around corruption in the building developments ,mainly in Marbella on the Costa del Sol is now estimated to have involved the enormous figure of 670 million euros in money laundering deals.Most of this involves money received in exchange for “favours”in relation to building development in the city of Marbella. The money laundering is thought to have involved up to 27 people.These people it appears were under the control of a single ringleader.This was the former town planning assessor Juan Antonio Roca.The suspects are spread right across Spain and include six lawyers from a firm in Madrid.As well as the property corruption scandal on the Costa del Sol,particularly in and around Marbella ,it is also thought that the area known as Los Alcazares in Murcia is also involved .

300 million pounds that police estimate boiler rooms will steal from U.K. investors this year

300 million pounds that police estimate boiler rooms will steal from U.K. investors this year compared with 100 million pounds in 2007. They say cold- calling share sellers are finding it easier to lure victims as people look for quicker returns in the wake of the financial crisis.Spain is the friendliest locale for boiler rooms that target U.K. investors, investigators say. Its major cities are only a two-hour flight from London, and the country is home to 761,000 expatriate Britons, according to the U.K. Foreign Office, making it an ideal place to set up a stock-selling operation aimed at English speakers. About one-third of all known boiler rooms are located in Spain, according to data from the U.K. Financial Services Authority.
That’s why British tabloid newspapers refer to the 1,000- mile stretch of Mediterranean coastline -- which runs from Barcelona in the northeast to the resort of Marbella in the south -- as the “Costa del Crime.”

Spain’s beach communities gained notoriety as a safe haven for British criminals in the early 1980s, when convicted robber Ronnie Knight spent a decade there on the run. A century-old extradition agreement between the U.K. and Spain lapsed in 1978 amid tensions over the status of Gibraltar, the self-governing British territory that Spain claims as its own. While the agreement was re-established in 1985 just before Spain joined the European Community, the predecessor to the European Union, the country didn’t shake off its image as a gangster refuge.

“What do boiler rooms want?” asks Michael Levi, a professor of criminology at the University of Cardiff in Wales, who has written books on corporate crime. “They want a nice environment, and that means good telecoms and a local police and judiciary that aren’t too bothered about them. That has been true for Spain.”
Small investors aren’t the only victims of the con artists. ValiRx, which is listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market, says its legitimate business and good name have been damaged by the Damak scam. “Cases like this have a very negative impact,” says ValiRx Finance Director George Morris. He traces problems back to Pacific Continental Securities (U.K.) Ltd., a legal London- based brokerage that the FSA liquidated in 2008, after the regulator found that Pacific Continental had shared client information with boiler rooms. The gang that targeted Reay was behind several share scam operations, including Blackwell Advisory Group, run from one of Barcelona’s most exclusive neighborhoods. Blackwell’s office was on the first floor of an apartment block with ceramic mosaics and wrought-iron balconies along the city’s Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, near boutiques for Gucci Group NV and Giorgio Armani SpA. The firm was run by Danish-born Henrik Botcher, now 37. Fraser Jenkins, a 28-year-old Welshman, assisted Botcher by supervising the Blackwell Web site, showcasing information and live share prices about the companies being flogged by its salesmen. “He’s been to university; he’s a bright lad, and polite,” says Martin Hall, detective constable at the City of London police, about Jenkins. “I’m sure you wouldn’t mind taking him home to meet your mum.” The portrait of the Blackwell operation conveyed by court documents, police investigations and witness accounts shows a competitive, male-dominated world reminiscent of a David Mamet play. A team of 15 young men, who had answered advertisements in London newspapers seeking “telesales terrorists,” made several hundred calls each day. None of the workers knew the surnames of their two bosses, according to witness statements gathered by police. Henrik and Fraser paid salaries in cash and billeted the cold-callers in an apartment above a shuttered hairdresser’s shop. Such communal living is typical of boiler room operations because it increases competition among employees. Callers pulled down 4,000 pounds a month plus commissions-operating in a cutthroat world where a Rolex watch would be dangled off a hook on the office wall as a sales incentive. At night, the boiler room boys enjoyed a culture of heavy drinking and drug use, according to witness statements. The men frequently could be spotted outside, smoking furiously to relieve stress, says Juan Carlos Miguel, a barman at the cafe next door to Blackwell’s offices. “Then, from one day to the next, they were gone.” Spain’s national stock market regulator, the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores, had jurisdiction over only licensed brokerage firms until 2007. By the time it was granted legal powers to go after share fraud, a culture of crime had taken root, says Maria Gracia Rubio, a Madrid-based securities lawyer at Baker & McKenzie. “The law takes some time to permeate through society,” Gracia Rubio says. A spokeswoman for the CNMV declined repeated requests to comment.
The Damak scam that stole Reay’s nest egg was masterminded by Claude Clifford Greaves, 52, a London-based tax adviser partial to wearing silk handkerchiefs in his suit pockets. Police say Greaves is a serial trickster responsible for at least 10 million pounds worth of fraud over five years. His financial web was spun from the U.K. and Spain to the Caribbean, Paraguay and Hong Kong. Greaves has traded in his bespoke clothes for the maroon sweater and green pants inmates are required to wear at a minimum-security prison on England’s southern coast, where he’s serving a sentence of five and a half years. He was found guilty by a London jury in March on charges of money laundering and selling financial products without authorization. Three other defendants were sentenced to a total of eight years and three months after pleading guilty to their part in the scheme that relieved the Reay family of its money. Boiler room criminals use technology and creativity to obscure their true locations. Overseas-based salesmen route calls through London dialing codes and direct investors to send checks to fancy addresses in the U.K. capital-where the companies maintain post office boxes. The men who make the calls are typically well-spoken: Police say recruitment is being stepped up on university campuses in England to attract students hungry for jobs. The callers often mesh two first names as a pseudonym, as Robert Samuel did. His real identity was never discovered.
British investors are particularly vulnerable to cold calls because names of shareholders in each publicly traded company must be listed in registers. Addresses and the number of shares they own are also included. Those registries make it easy for smooth-talking sales agents to broaden their base of victims, says Bob Wishart, a detective superintendent at the City of London Police who heads Operation Archway, a task force dedicated to shutting down boiler rooms.

“We had the Cambridge University professor, a member of the House of Lords -- we’ve had them all,” Wishart says. So-called suckers’ lists of investor telephone numbers are passed around boiler rooms, authorities say. Britain’s FSA last November wrote to warn 11,500 people that they were on a list obtained by regulatory counterparts in Canada. “Because we recognize that getting the funds back is so difficult, we focus our resources on trying to warn off members of the public from dealing with the share fraudsters in the first place,” says Jason Burt, an official at the U.K. regulator’s unauthorized business division. Before her first foray in the stock market, Reay had already dabbled, unsuccessfully, in other investments. She had lost money in land bank deals, where companies bundle undeveloped plots, organize development permission for the properties and flip them for a higher price. She believes those investments first put her name into play.

Reay became suspicious about the fate of her money around Christmas 2006, when she still hadn’t received ValiRx share certificates. She looked up Damak Group on an Internet search and found a police notice urging people to come forward if they believed they had been scammed. She was just one of thousands of victims targeted by various scams run by Greaves, who at the time was serving a three-year jail sentence in London at Her Majesty’s Prison, Wandsworth, for an unrelated 7.5 million pound fraud. He had been convicted of avoiding value-added tax payable on computer parts across the European Union in what’s known as a carousel fraud. By the end of 2006, Greaves was managing a network of about 30 people in three different countries while on day release from his first jail sentence. “Claude could talk and talk and talk,” says Hall, who led Operation Storm, the effort that brought down Damak. “He’s quite funny in a way. He’s nice enough to talk to. You wouldn’t want to invest your money with him but … .” Born in Grenada in 1957, Greaves grew up in Peckham, a gritty part of south London. By the time of his arrest in 2008, Greaves was living in London’s exclusive Mayfair district, a short walk from Buckingham Palace. He qualified as a tax adviser with the U.K. Chartered Institute of Taxation in 1980, records show, and set up an accounting firm soon after. He eventually established a Mayfair tax advisory business, ROK International Ltd., in March 2004. It’s one of at least 60 companies in which Greaves has been listed as a director, according to U.K. corporate records. ROK International was located in a whitewashed Bruton Street townhouse that faces The Square, a Michelin-starred restaurant, and is around the corner from the jewelry stores and boutiques of Bond Street. His son and daughter, Leigh and Phillipa, both in their 20s, managed ROK during their father’s first stay at Her Majesty’s pleasure.

Leigh Greaves, a technology support analyst, was never charged by police. His sister was found not guilty of conspiracy to defraud and of money laundering in the March trial that saw her father convicted. She’s still a tax adviser. Neither responded to e-mails seeking comment. Greaves, who’s appealing his conviction and sentence, declined to comment through his London-based lawyer, James Nicholls at Bark & Co.
Money from ROK’s accounts was funneled in 2004 to New Haven Trust Co., a Liechtenstein-based investment firm, police evidence shows. New Haven has its own colorful history. The firm’s director, Mario Staggl, helped set up accounts for billionaire Igor Olenicoff to evade U.S. tax liabilities. U.S. prosecutors separately indicted Staggl in court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in April 2008 for allegedly helping wealthy Americans evade taxes. He has since been declared a fugitive. Staggl’s Vaduz, Liechtenstein-based lawyer, Andreas Schurti, declined to comment. Greaves’s clients have also attracted the attention of prosecutors. His first firm, Allen & Greaves Ltd., audited the accounts of two companies investigated in 2002 by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office. No charges were brought in the case, which centered on share-selling scams and pushing overpriced claret to wine investors. Rolston Allen, Greaves’s former partner at the firm, said in an e-mail that he considered himself a victim of Greaves and had cut off contact with him seven years ago. Damak falsely asserted that it held a stockbroker license from the St. Lucian regulator, investigators say. It bought blocks of shares-both publicly and in private, over-the-counter sales-in companies like ValiRx, which callers like Samuel would try to flog to Britons. Back in London, ROK handled Damak’s paperwork and shifted the money to an HSBC Holdings Plc bank account in Hong Kong. Share certificates, when they existed, were also mailed by ROK. Today, Botcher and Jenkins, the men who ran Blackwell, are serving prison sentences after pleading guilty in a London court in February to breaching two financial regulations and to money laundering. Botcher’s lawyer, John Milner at London-based Irwin Mitchell LLP, says his client is appealing the 45-month sentence and believed that Blackwell investors were high-net-worth individuals. Jenkins, who is appealing his 21-month sentence, was an administrator at a firm that fell afoul of the U.K. financial regulator, says his Manchester, England-based lawyer, Mike Brunskill at Pannone LLP. Botcher had been recruited to the Greaves operation by Roozbeh Yazdanian, a fourth defendant, who also pleaded guilty to regulatory offenses. Yazdanian, 38, is appealing his sentence and declined to comment through his law firm, Russell Jones & Walker. The downfall of Greaves’s empire can be traced partly to a deal made with Ulrik Debo, another Dane. Debo was the majority investor in London-based Pantera Oil and Gas Plc, which was drilling in the Chaco Basin in Paraguay. He wanted to pull his money out to reinvest but couldn’t find a buyer.
“Ulrik has this problem: He’s got a quarter of a million pounds’ worth of stock stuck in this company,” explains Hall of the City of London Police. “Henrik turns around and says, ‘We might be able to do something about that.’” Botcher brokered a meeting in May 2006 with Greaves, who said Damak Group would buy the stock.
Filings show that Pantera sold Debo’s 1,256,367 shares at 2.67 pence each to Damak in August 2006. Damak resold them to investors through Blackwell for 12 pence each. Blackwell’s salesmen promised that the company would soon list on London’s AIM. It never did. “I lost every penny I put into that company,” says Debo, who’s now the chief executive officer of London-based DeBondo Capital. He gave testimony in court and didn’t face any allegations of wrongdoing. He declined to comment further.
Pantera changed its name to Artemis Energy Plc in December 2007. The brand has been tainted through association with Damak, says Mahesh Patel, Artemis’s company secretary. “We’ve not been able to raise a dime,” he says. Operation Storm, which triggered the end of Greaves’s adventure, was sparked when a victim contacted police in November 2006 and complained about losing money on Pantera stock after investing through Blackwell Advisors. The investor passed the police Damak’s share invoices, which had ROK’s address printed on them. Officers raided the Bruton Street offices and froze ROK’s bank account. Hong Kong police then froze about 400,000 pounds in the HSBC account where cash had been routed.
As police closed in, Jenkins, the Blackwell Web guru, booked a day-return flight from Barcelona to the U.K. and tried to withdraw about 50,000 pounds from his account. The bank tipped off the police, who arrested him. The game was up. Such successful prosecutions are rare, because resources are stretched and responsibility for fighting boiler rooms is shared between the police and the FSA. London’s Operation Archway, set up two years ago, has fewer than 10 full-time police officers. The FSA can freeze assets believed to belong to boiler rooms and can prosecute only U.K.-based operations or individuals. “I found out that, overall, the FSA were useless, the police were understaffed and weren’t given enough resources,” says Nigel Evans, a lawmaker in Britain’s Conservative Party who argues that the police need more manpower. His party, which is ahead of the ruling Labour Party in most U.K. polls, has pledged to abolish the FSA if it wins the next election and hand regulatory power back to the Bank of England. Even if the authorities do succeed in taking down a boiler room, British jail sentences for company-related fraud tend to be just a fraction of penalties handed to their U.S. counterparts, whose terms increase in proportion to the size of thefts. “Criminals who defraud people of hundreds of millions of pounds and who ruin thousands of lives should face the threat of significant prison sentences,” says Margaret Cole, enforcement director for the FSA. “Prosecuting individuals for conducting unauthorized business, which carries a two-year maximum term, simply does not do justice to the offense and certainly not to the victims.” Back in Carlisle, Reay is still paying the price for her mistake. She’s on suckers’ lists being passed around illegal companies. “I’ve had 150 phone calls over three years -- sometimes it’s twice a week,” she says. “Someone could call me up now and offer me the best thing in the world and I wouldn’t believe them.” The police say there’s a simple way to fight boiler room fraud: When a stranger calls and starts talking about your investments, hang up the phone -- no matter how posh the caller sounds.

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Civil Guard Colonel?

60 year old man, named by Europa Press as A.L.L., has been arrested by the Murcia Civil Guard after posing as a Colonel in the force for the past nine years. He always carried with him a Civil Guard badge and is understood to have often quoted details of the career history of high-ranking members of the force to give added credence to his claim.Even his former partner, who he was with for five years, believed he was a Civil Guard colonel during the time they lived together.The man used his supposed position to force backhanders out of businesses in Los Alcázares, San Javier, los Narejos and Murcia City with the threat of closing them down if they failed to accede to his demands.The investigation began two months ago after a man whose car was intentionally set alight refused to present an official complaint for fear of reprisals from the arsonist, presumably the false Civil Guard who is now in custody.

Four Civil Guards from Almuñecar, arrested for drug trafficking, on Friday and found with 2,000 kilos of hashish, have been denied bail

Four Civil Guards from Almuñecar, arrested for drug trafficking, on Friday and found with 2,000 kilos of hashish, have been denied bail and sent to prison by Duty Court Number Two in Torrox. One of the four is now known to have been previously based in Nerja.Five other people were also detained on Friday, which saw a large number of police vehicles arriving and leaving from both the Civil Guard barracks in Nerja and in Almuñecar as members of the Internal Affairs division arrived from Madrid. The five others arrested are now reported to include a man from Málaga and two from Cueta.Two of the Civil Guards were caught ‘in fraganti’ when they were moving the drugs in the Güi river in Torrox Costa.More arrests have not been ruled out in the case, which is the third of this type in the past decade.

Madrid, police shoot and wound armed man.

José Luis AT, was shot by police after waving and firing a weapon at them in the Madrid district of Hortaleza, reported a spokesman for Police Headquarters. The man, who had previous convictions for theft and violence, poor was admitted to the Clinical Hospital in Madrid after receiving at least four bullet wounds in the lower limbs of his body, including the buttocks and abdomen. The event occurred from 1700 hours today at number 6 Calle Manizales, when an anonymous caller alerted police to the presence in the way of a man who brandished a gun in his hand.
A National Police patrol moved in and asked this man to take out his hands from his pockets and to raise his arms, the man responded with several bursts of gunfire.
In this situation, the officers then had to use force to subdue the man. At the scene police found a bag in which he had several guns and knives

Friday 18 September 2009

Jose Munoz, 55, head of the Malaga brotherhood of Gitanos, was shot twice inside his car by a fellow gypsy.

Jose Munoz, 55, head of the Malaga brotherhood of Gitanos, was shot twice inside his car by a fellow gypsy.The suspect, D.R.F, 18, from Almeria, was later arrested by police at a roadblock in Algodonales, Cadiz province, as he tried making his getaway in a taxi. Police now fear that the shooting may spark gypsy warfare and retribution crimes within the city.A police spokesman said: “He was immediately taken to Malaga police station and not to Ronda for fear of reprisals.”The incident took place at 14:30 in an area known as La Indiana – just metres away from the back entrance to the local army barracks. Munoz – a furniture salesman – had been seen earlier with the suspect in Almeria and was driving back to his farm before the shooting took place.The two men reportedly began arguing over a business matter while heading to a livestock fair held in the area. The youth immediately fled the scene and called for a taxi at a nearby hotel – where he reportedly waited calmly for it to arrive.
“He was immediately taken to Malaga police station and not to Ronda for fear of reprisals.”However, an onlooker – already aware of the shooting – alerted the police.
Just over an hour later, the vehicle was intercepted in the gaditana district of Algodonales.The taxi driver was intially arrested but, after proving his identity, was subsequently released.The murder of the popular Munoz has shocked Ronda and even prompted mayor Antonio Marin Lara to send his condolences to the victim’s family. Meanwhile, police are searching for a motive behind the fatal attack. Malaga province has now been the setting for 18 homicides this year, four more than the whole of 2008.

Thursday 3 September 2009

Parking for the Fellowship

Parking for the Fellowship is on entering Istan take the left fork up the hill and park by the swimming pool

Frasers Party 5th September


Parking for the Fellowship is after entering Istan take the turning right up the hill turn left and Park walk down into the town Entre Sierras is the only Argentian Restaurant and very easy to find.Its in the main st with the bank shops and restaurants.

Sunday 30 August 2009

For one night only Flamenco in Istan on fifth of September


For one night only Flamenco in Istan on fifth of September.Artists from Jerez de la Frontera.Flamenco, with folkloric origins centuries ago, is flourishing and evolving as a performing art with diverse regional genres and styles uniquely characteristic of each of Andalucia's eight provinces: Almeria, Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaen, Malaga and Sevilla. This is a unique opportunity to sample Spanish Blues in a fabulous mountain setting.

Entre Sierras - Restaurant in Istan

Entre Sierras - Restaurant in Istan
A couple of weeks ago we had family here and they love to go up to Istan. We went to our favourite restaurant Entre Sierras.
My daughter had the chicken & chips, me too, the others had beef spare ribs and a mixture of fish and salads. For pudding we had choc brownie and cheese cake. Every single bit of food was absolutely delicious. I think the bill for 4 of us was just over 50€uros.
We then take our usual walk around the town out to the playground where I normally always get talking to the old locals that sit around. I love chatting to them, but do find it very hard to understand them - their accents are really strong.

Frasers leaving party a night of Flamenco and Tears






Frasers leaving party a night of Flamenco and Tears will be taking place at Entre Sierras in Istan on 5 September at 9.30 pm onwards.All Friends of Bill Wilson are invited .

Flamenco in Istan on fifth of September

For one night only Flamenco in Istan on fifth of September.Artists from Jerez de la Frontera.Flamenco, with folkloric origins centuries ago, is flourishing and evolving as a performing art with diverse regional genres and styles uniquely characteristic of each of Andalucia's eight provinces: Almeria, Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaen, Malaga and Sevilla. This is a unique opportunity to sample Spanish Blues in a fabulous mountain setting.

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Addictions International offers a range of services to expats with addiction problems.

Addictions International offers a range of services to expats with addiction problems. Because of the unique delivery of our programme we are able to support people wherever they may be. Our programme is exceptional in that we can reach people with problems even when they cannot access help in the usual ways.
» People living in rural areas with inadequate public transport or with issues surrounding confidentiality within that setting;
» The need to continue in employment for personal or family reasons;
» Individuals who are housebound - or have mobility issues caused by disability or age;
» People engaged in sensitive employment e.g. key public sector employment status, senior executives in the private sector, professionals- including medics and lawyers etc., entrepreneurs, and people in the public-eye.
contact:copsandbloggers@gmail.com

Thursday 30 July 2009

Restaurante

New owners Sally and Jane Donovan
welcome you to their delightful restaurant

Restaurante
EntreSierras

Avda. Juan Carlos 18, Istan, Malaga
Tel. 0034 952 869 848

Entre Sierras


Occasionally we need to take a break from the Costa, slow down, spend a few hours in a quiet place, maybe go for a meal in a peaceful cool white village a few kilometres from the coast.Why not take a short trip up the road to Istan just 15 minutes from Puerto Banus.Situated in breathtaking scenery.
Istan a typical Spanish white village nestling in the high sierras brings you close to nature with a wide variety of wildlife including sights of eagles in their mountain environment.Passing the man made lake on the left handside we climb up to the village.The village dates back to pre-roman times and is famous for its free clear drinking water which spouts from fountians by the side of the road.
Life is lived at a different and less hectic pace than the crowded costas. In the main street to the left is a bar/restaurant called "Entre Sierras"

Tuesday 28 July 2009

Throat cut outside Barraca disco in Sueca, Valencia.

24 year old woman has died after having her throat cut in a fight with another woman in her 30’s outside a discotheque in Sueca, Valencia.The owners of the Barraca disco where it happened have given their condolences to the family of the victim, and issued a statement expressing their ‘tremendous consternation’ at what had happened, and underlining that the disco staff are collaborating fully with the police to try and establish exactly what took place.It happened around 7am on Sunday morning and reports say both women were local residents in the La Ribera area. The SAMU health team called to the scene could do no more than confirm the death.

Saturday 11 July 2009

Diamond robbery was masterminded by a trio of British youths

Diamond robbery was masterminded by a trio of British youths, it can be revealed.The gang – who have been charged with more than 30 robberies – regularly took ‘a civilised’ full English breakfast at 4pm each afternoon, near their Coin home.The dangerous gang – who had weapons in the garage of their rented Sierra Gorda property – were however, always impeccably polite at their regular meeting spot Leslie’s Bar.“They were always very well-mannered,” a waitress told the Olive Press. “I liked them, so I was surprised when they were arrested for these crimes.”
The group – which includes one woman – have been arrested over an incredible 30 or more robberies and burglaries, amassing a booty of luxury items over the last few years.The group – who kept a series of dangerous Staffordshire bull terrier dogs at their home – came from England, Wales and Ireland.According to sources they had lived in the area for up to two years, renting luxury detached villas in the Coin and Alhaurin el Grande area.They lived a ‘low key’ lifestyle, but wore designer clothes, expensive watches and other top accessories. mijas diamond robbery but police became suspicious of their extravagant way of life following a 30,000 euro robbery at the Mijas Diamond and Jewellery Centre.They had previously visited the jewellers and carefully sketched plans of the layout of the shop, before raiding a few weeks later.After police obtained a search warrant for their rented home they found designer furniture and other items, including a 9,000 euro Bang & Olufsen TV, and a stolen Volvo in the garage. They also recovered a selection of weapons.
According to a police spokesman the robberies and burglaries were well planned and executed.He said: “In the Mijas robbery the gang posed as tourists on an excursion. The day of the robbery they dressed up as building workers and erected barriers in the street, before smashing the shop window.”They are also alleged to have raided private homes in the area, while the Volvo was stolen from a Chinese resident in Coin at gunpoint.The downfall of the gang was keeping the best of what they stole and only selling on the rest.Police believe the gang may have had three more accomplices.

e-mail on the Costa del Sol,can seriously damage your wealth

If you can’t wait to surf the Web or check your e-mail on the Costa del Sol, a few words of advice: Think twice about it. Or maybe three or four times.Roaming with your BlackBerry or iPhone abroad to simply make voice calls will cost you an arm and a leg. Using it to surf the Web or send e-mail could cost you your whole body, with bills running into the hundreds of dollars. Early iPhone users learned this the hard way; AT&T forgave some of the most outrageous bills and cautioned users to turn off the automatic e-mail checking that was eating up data usage.But even if you use your smartphone to check e-mail and send photos manually, you could be headed for trouble. And the problem is made worse by the skimpy information provided on the Web sites of the two main GSM wireless providers in the United States: AT&T and T-Mobile. (GSM is the predominant system used in Europe. Sprint and Verizon use CDMA, and most of their phones will not work in Europe.)Both companies’ Web sites state the cost to use data when roaming. But it’s priced in megabytes, a measurement that means nothing to most people. (Can you imagine if your wireless plan told you how many MB of data you could use, rather than how many minutes you had?)How much data you use to send a text or visit a Web site depends on whom you’re asking. T-Mobile’s site says that a text message uses about 3KB, and visiting a Web site will eat up between 250 to 500 KB a page, depending on how many images are on the site.AT&T’s site does not state an equivalency between Web-page access and the amount of data used, although a spokesman said that the company would add that information soon. According to AT&T, visiting a Web site could use 50 to 75 KB a page and checking three e-mail messages could eat up 60 KB

Saturday 13 June 2009

Stephen Mallon surrounded by a gang of 30 men and hurled off a 25ft balcony.

Stephen Mallon, 49, was pelted with bottles, glasses and other missiles after going to the aid of his two teenage sons outside a village bar.He was then surrounded by the mob and hurled off a 25ft balcony.Mr Mallon, from Bournemouth, was yesterday in a coma at a hospital in Malaga, with his distraught wife Teresa at his bedside.
The attack happened in Competa, an hour from the Costa del Sol, where the family has had a holiday home for six years.One of the sons had his nose broken in the violence, while the other suffered a broken arm.A family member said: "They were set upon by a gang of 30 men because they were English."

Saturday 23 May 2009

Voodoo curses human trafficking gang charged on Saturday at a court in the southwestern city of Huelva

Spanish police say they have arrested the ringleaders of a human trafficking ring that allegedly brought Nigerian women to Spain and forced them into prostitution by threatening them with voodoo curses.Many of the 23 suspects arrested in nationwide raids were being charged on Saturday at a court in the southwestern city of Huelva.
Police say the arrests were triggered by a woman who in February told police of the gang's intimidation tactics.The victims, aged 25 to 35, were forced to pay large sums of money to the gang members, who told the women they would go mad or have their souls destroyed if they disobeyed orders given during voodoo rituals held in Nigeria involving pieces of their fingernails or hair.

Thursday 21 May 2009

La Costa Nostra, or Our Coast.


Neapolitan gangsters, including the alleged fugitive boss captured Saturday night in the city of Marbella, have a name for Spain: La Costa Nostra, or Our Coast.
The term plays off Cosa Nostra, or Our Thing, as the mafia is called, and underscores what authorities say: that Spain has become a top foreign base for the Naples underworld, the Camorra, in the last decade. Spanish police have arrested half a dozen suspected Neapolitan crime figures this year alone.
"They use that name Costa Nostra because it's like a second homeland for them," said Alessandro Pennasilico, an Italian prosecutor in Naples, in an interview. "They like Spain -- the climate, the coast, the beaches, because it's close to their culture. And the Camorra goes where there is business. Spain is an important country regarding the trafficking of drugs."The nickname of purported boss Raffaele Amato is "the Spaniard." He partied in Marbella, a beachfront refuge of high-rolling international desperadoes and dubious fortunes. Investigators say he set up multinational cocaine deals in Barcelona. Moving among Spanish hide-outs, he allegedly waged a long-distance war for the housing projects in Naples that are the heart of his empire. And he speaks Spanish like a native.Amato's capture Saturday was a major victory for Italian investigators. The balding 44-year-old gained notoriety for allegedly setting off a turf war with a rival clan between 2004 and 2007 that littered the high-rise slums of Naples with 70 bodies. The battle was retold in "Gomorra," a book by journalist Roberto Saviano, and in the recent film of the same name.The Camorra's intense activity in Spain reveals evolving alliances and shifting global crime networks, investigators say. Starting about seven years ago, Amato was a key player in a number of decisive underworld sit-downs in Spain, the gateway for Latin American cocaine smuggled into Europe, said Antonio Laudati, a top official in Italy's Justice Ministry and former chief prosecutor in Naples.Europe became an increasingly hot market for cocaine because of rising demand, a strong currency and the hardening of U.S. borders after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Laudati said in a telephone interview. The Neapolitans met with Latin American and Spanish gangsters to build new partnerships and develop the European market, he said.
"They reorganized the routes," Laudati said. "One important route for cocaine into Spain went through North Africa. Another crossed the Balkans into Italy. And Barcelona became a hub for a land route for cocaine to Italy through France, where the Marseilles underworld has always had close ties to the Camorra. So you had a mixed operational group of bosses base itself in Spain."The Camorra enlisted Spanish seagoing smugglers and front companies that concealed loads in shipments of products such as marble and seafood, Laudati said. Italian gangs also took advantage of the booms in real estate and construction in Spain to launder millions, according to authorities.Although the Neapolitan crime clans are flashy and murderous at home, they avoided violence in Spain because it was seen as a place to do high-level business and lie low.Nonetheless, the numerous arrests in Spain show that Spanish and Italian law enforcement have developed good cooperation. Amato was arrested in 2005 in Barcelona but was later released because of a judicial error in which the deadline for his prosecution passed by a day.Police began tracking him again in 2006. He lived in southern Spain and used fake Spanish documents to travel to see his family at upscale hotels in London, Tokyo and Turkey, according to Italian authorities and media reports.Last weekend, surveillance and wiretaps paid off when Italian and Spanish police trailed Amato on a 30-mile drive along the Mediterranean from Malaga. They arrested him on his way to a Saturday night date in Marbella, the glitzy capital of "his coast."

Thursday 14 May 2009

Estepona breakwater 50 year old British tourist who was assaulted by a group of youths on a beach

50 year old British tourist who was assaulted by a group of youths on a beach .
He was hit over the head with a bottle and stabbed twice in the back in the area near the Estepona breakwater, where numerous young people go to drink alcohol at weekends.It appears that the victim was having a drink with a woman, also British, when, just before four o’clock in the morning, he was attacked by a group of five youths of North African origin who had been sitting on the sand just a few metres away from the couple.After the youths had fled the scene the victim’s companion helped him onto the Avenida de España where they were picked up by a Local Police patrol. The tourist was taken to the nearest health centre and then transferred to the Costa del Sol Hospital, where he was admitted for treatment for the two stab wounds, one in the kidney area and the other near the left shoulder blade.

Monday 27 April 2009

Danish citizen who was wanted by Great Britain for alleged crimes of robbery, fraud and money laundering has been arrested in Fuengirola.

Danish citizen who was wanted by Great Britain for alleged crimes of robbery, fraud and money laundering has been arrested in Fuengirola. A European warrant had been issued by the British courts for the arrest of T.G.G.K. (30), who has allegedly done dozens of people out of more than three million pounds sterling (almost five million euros). The victims of the swindle had bought shares in different companies that were worth nothing. T.G.G.K. was wanted for a total of fourteen alleged crimes related to fraud and money laundering committed between 2003 and 2006.
The Spanish police unit dedicated to finding fugitives has also arrested British I.S.J. (24) in Formentera del Segura in Alicante and German E.K. (59) in Els Poblets - also in Alicante. The British man was wanted in his country for robbery, misappropriation and damages committed in 2006 in Chorley, England. The German courts were looking for E.K. for crimes of fraud and document forgery committed between 2003 and 2005 when he worked as a financial assessor.

Wednesday 22 April 2009

Christopher Wiggins, 42, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine from South America believed to be worth more than 650 million euro


Christopher Wiggins, 42, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine from South America believed to be worth more than 650 million euro (£580 million).
Wiggins, based in the Costa del Sol in Spain, pleaded guilty at a brief hearing in Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
Wiggins, was detained after Irish navy, gardai and customs swooped on the 60ft ocean-going boat, Dances With Waves, 170 miles off the west Cork coast last November. Intelligence agencies had tracked the boat for two months across the Atlantic.

Monday 20 April 2009

Wanted for alleged document forgery, fraud and identity theft.

Arrested a 64-year-old man from Potenza (Italy) who was living in Marbella. Wanted for alleged document forgery, fraud and identity theft.

Sunday 19 April 2009

‘Robin de los Bancos’, was arrested in Barcelona University

‘Robin de los Bancos’, was arrested in Barcelona University after reappearing yesterday saying the money he had obtained had gone to produce a new free newspaper which proposes his own ‘post-capitalist’ plan to overcome the crisis, and includes a guide on how not to pay your mortgage. He said he had spent the previous six months in exile outside Spain but had come back as ‘our future is at stake’. The police claimed last October that 18 banks had presented denuncias against him, while he claimed that only four had done so and those cases had been archived. Despite that claim he was arrested yesterday.

Wednesday 15 April 2009

The new ‘Costa del Crime’.Russel Ruble has just been returned to America by the FBI to stand trial for a theft of over $320,000 from his relatives.

In the last few months there has been much written about foreign fugitives who have sometimes lived here for many years without detection. We have had an Englishman John Darwin who faked his own death at sea in a canoe while his wife Anne collected thousands of pounds in life insurance and moved here.
The only reason he got caught was because he was stupid enough to pose for a picture for a real estate company.
In the last couple of weeks The Panama Star reported the case of David Matusiewicz and his mother abducting his three children and living happily in Cerro Azul in a $175,000 property. He also forged his ex-wife’s name to obtain a home equity loan; he even had the audacity to sell an optometry business.
All this netted him in excess of a million dollars. Another fugitive Russel Ruble has just been returned to America by the FBI to stand trial for a theft of over $320,000 from his relatives.
So why do they choose Panama? I know the North Americans treat Panama as their playground where they can do things here they could never do in their home countries. Some of them maybe were ex-military and remembered the good old times and wanted to revisit with some nostalgia.
But, I do not understand why Europeans choose to come here. When during my rare visit to England, I have told locals in pubs that I live in Panama, the educated ones might know that is where the canal is. Others do not even know what part of the world we are in.
Most of the criminals who are up to no good in the U.K. tend to go to ‘Costa del Sol’ (nicknamed ‘Costa del Crime’) in the south of Spain. Mainly due to the climate and cheaper way of life but probably more importantly only a two hour flight from their homeland, unlike Panama which is eleven hours flying time--not including the wait at the airports.
Now we live in an electronic global age where anybody can sit at a keyboard and find out information about anywhere in the world. Is it possible that all the promotion from the tourist sector is actually partly responsible for the influx of criminality? Cruise ships now come here, and the tourist industry is thriving generating over $2.2 billion.
Are we sure we can control this new thriving business?
Dare I say that immigration is not doing their job. When I applied for my cedula I had a barrage of paperwork to fill out and I quite clearly remember one of those documents was a crime report stating that I did not have a criminal record from my homeland.
Why were these individuals not flagged when this document was completed?
Panama is a country with an abundance of laws. The main problem is these laws are never implemented. It could be the lack of resources or is it that the government does not have the will or skill to enforce the laws of the land?
Alternatively were all of these aforementioned individuals here illegally by overstaying their tourist visas? I somehow doubt it.
Unless someone in authority gets a grip on the crime wave, which includes trafficking narcotics and gang wars which now envelop this beautiful country, it is going to turn into another ‘Costa del Crime’.

Saturday 11 April 2009

37 year old man to be given 6 years , after being arrested in his vehicle transporting nearly 300 grams of cocaine.

37 year old man to be given 6 years , after being arrested in his vehicle transporting nearly 300 grams of cocaine.According to the indictment, which has had access Efe, they have been watching him since March 21st, 2007 when the police set up a device to monitor the vehicle of the defendant, after learning that he was planning to travel to Almería to acquire a “significant amount of drugs. ”
After being observed during the outward journey to the border of the province of Almeria, the officers stopped the man around the town of Guadix and after registration of the car they found a bag containing 282.99 grams of cocaine on the illicit market which would have reached a value of 12,552 euros.The prosecution asked for the accused, who has been more than two months in custody for this reason, in addition to imprisonment, a fine of 38,000 euros. It is anticipated that the trial for these acts will be held on April 16th in the First Section of the Audiencia Provincial de Granada

family clan responsible for dozens of burglaries in Elche have been arrested

Eight members of a gang responsible for dozens of burglaries in Elche have been arrested in an operation by National Police.The Interior Ministry described them as a family clan and said in a press release that one was also wanted for attempted rape. Seven of the suspects are Spanish, while the eighth person in custody, a Moroccan man, was responsible for selling on the stolen items. More than 60 robberies are noted, many of them in outlying areas.
The operation was carried out in two phases and seized a number of firearms and two vehicles.

Thursday 26 March 2009

Benidorm bank robbery opposite the Trafico Guardia Civil barracks

Two French Citizens, both aged 39, have been arrested in connection with an attempted bank robbery. The bank branch is directly opposite the Trafico Guardia Civil barracks in Benidorm, and one of the bank employees managed to attract the attention of Civil Guards who were at the door of their barracks at the time of the robbery.
It happened just before 2pm in Avenida Beniardà, when the two now in custody entered the bank armed with a pistol and demanding the safe be opened. When the Guardia Civil crossed the street the two men tried to run off and a car chase ensued with the arrest of one of the robbers and the second was detained later in El Campello as he was packing to leave his home.The two, who had fake beards and moustaches, had also planned another robbery in Valencia.

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Four people aged 23 to 28 years have been detained in Torrevieja for the suspected distribution and sale of explosives

Four people aged 23 to 28 years have been detained in Torrevieja for the suspected distribution and sale of explosives, during a high profile investigation known as ‘Operation Palmera’. Agents of the National Police intercepted almost 20 kilos of goma- 2, thought to have been stolen from a quarry in the Vega Baja area sometime ago. Goma-2 is a gelatinous, Nitroglycol-based explosive manufactured within Spain for industrial use. The substance was favoured for terrorist attacks carried out by ETA during the 1980’s and 1990’s and is also the explosive allegedly used in the Madrid train bombings of 11th March 2004. Investigations were opened when the Department received information that an organized crime ring, comprising mainly of Eastern European nationals, intended to purchase explosives for use during robberies. The first series of enquiries resulted in the arrest of two Spaniards, aged 24 and 28 years, who were accosted on the day that the exchange was scheduled to take place, carrying a rucksack containing half a kilo of explosives. A second pair of Spaniards, aged 23 and 27 years, was subsequently arrested under suspicion of collaborating with the other two, as “runners” in the transfer of the explosives.
During the investigation, Agents executed two house searches in Torrevieja, where an additional 9.5 kilos of goma-2 and a detonator were also uncovered. The band had hidden a further 7.5 kilos in a hole beneath a palm plantation at the ‘Granja de Rocamora’ farm, divided into several small packages surrounded by plastic bags. The stash was eventually uncovered with the help of the specialist Police Dog Unit from the National Police Headquarters
The defendants were initially presented before the Custody Officer of ‘Juzgado nº1 de Torrevieja’, who ruled that the four suspects be detained in prison without granting bail, and will be tried later by the ‘Juzgado de Primera Instancia Número 5 de Torrevieja’. The Sub-Delegate of the Valencian Government, Encarna Llinares, and the Provincial Commissioner for Alicante, Enrique Durán, appeared before the court to explain the details of the case, presenting a selection of the packages that the Agents had confiscated as evidence. Finally, the Councillor for Police and Security of Torrevieja City Council, Tomás Arenas Buenas, assured citizens that there was no great cause for concern and gave his word that the matter would be addressed promptly and accurately. He also dismissed reports that the explosives have been used in previous attacks carried out in the area.

DOLORES VASQUEZ, who was wrongly imprisoned for 17 months in the much-publicised ‘Wanninkhof’ case

DOLORES VASQUEZ, who was wrongly imprisoned for 17 months in the much-publicised ‘Wanninkhof’ case for the murder of her lesbian lover’s daughter, Rocio, has finally managed to clear her criminal record, although she is yet to receive any compensation.Now that her name has been deleted from police records, her lawyers are demanding the sum of four million euros in compensation for false imprisonment and emotional damage although, so far, the government has only agreed to 120,000 euros .On October 9, 1999 the 19-year-old daughter of Alicia Hornos, Rocio Wanninkhof, left her home to visit her boyfriend in Mijas. At about 9:30pm, she left his house to go home and get ready to meet him later at the Fuengirola fair. She was never seen alive again.When she failed to return home, Alicia asked her other daughter, Rosa, to contact Rocio’s boyfriend, Antonio, to find out where she was. He said he had not made it to the fair but that Rocio had been seen there by other friends, so she had probably spent the night at one of their houses.The restless mother went for a walk and found Rocio’s blood-stained clothes. Rocio’s badly-burnt body was found three weeks later, on November 2, at La Cala de Mijas, although forensic evidence indicated that this was not where she had been murdered. An autopsy revealed that she had been stabbed once in the chest and eight times in the back, although, on account of the poor condition of the corpse, it could not be determined if she had been sexually assaulted.Police initially suspected Antonio of involvement but, after he was cleared, their attention switched to Alicia’s former lover, Dolores Vasquez. The media frenzy that followed the brutal murder secured a guilty verdict against Dolores, who has always maintained her innocence.In August 2003, whilst Dolores was waiting for an appeal hearing date, 17-year-old Sonia Carabantes from Coin disappeared and was found murdered in very similar circumstances, five days later, in Monda. Forensic specialists found human flesh under Sonia’s finger-nails from which they were able to recover DNA that matched DNA recovered from a cigarette butt found at the scene of the Wanninkhof murder. Celia Pantoja, the ex-wife of English expatriate, 41-year-old Tony Alexander King, told police she thought her ex-husband may have been the culprit in the Carabantes murder after he returned home on the morning of Carabantes’ disappearance with blood on his clothes and scratch marks on his face. Londoner, King, was arrested in Alhaurin el Grande in September 2003 and convicted of the Carabantes murder in October 2006, when he was sentenced to 36 years in prison.

Wednesday 18 March 2009

Flight from Spain 53-year-old man has been arrested at Prestwick Airport

53-year-old man has been arrested at Prestwick Airport on suspicion of trying to smuggle a quantity of cocaine into the country. The man was stopped by officers from the UK Border Agency on Tuesday night after he got off a flight from Spain. Police were called after he was found to be in possession of drugs, believed to be cocaine, with an estimated street value of £60,000. The man was expected to appear at Ayr Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

24 people, all Spaniards, have been arrested so far in a civil guard operation, codenamed Mansion, against organised crime in Madrid


24 people, all Spaniards, have been arrested so far in a civil guard operation, codenamed Mansion, against organised crime in Madrid. The burglary of a house in Griñon led to the Guardia Civil identifying the group which operated in three different groups, assaulting private homes in the Madrid region and even stealing from lorries when in roadside rest areas.Investigations also link the group to theft from industrial estates, and new charges against them have not been ruled out.

Mármoles Ballester Man, from the Almanzora district of Almería has been arrested for allegedly shooting dead two members of a gypsy clan, Los Pertolos

Businessman from the marble company, Mármoles Ballester, from the Almanzora district of Almería has been arrested for allegedly shooting dead two members of a gypsy clan, Los Pertolos, who were allegedly extorting local businesses including his own.
The shooting happened in Olula del Río at just after 9am on Wednesday morning inside the marble factory close to the municipal boundary with Purchena.There is some confusion as to the identity of the shooter as the company is apparently being run currently by a manager.A man and a woman from the same Los Pertolos clan were sent to prison for four years in July last year for demanding money in 2004 from a British businessman who lives in nearby Arboleas. They also had obliged the Briton to employ three workers.

Saturday 14 March 2009

Jose Luis Romeu Galvan arrested by the Guardia Civil for misappropriation of public funds

Jose Luis Romeu Galvan, was sacked on March 4 by his employers, the Spanish airport authority, Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA). Earlier that day, he had been arrested by the Guardia Civil for misappropriation of public funds, faking documents, embezzlement and obtaining money under false pretences.An employee in charge of keeping the accounts for Seguridad Integral Canaria, the private company which provides security guards for Reina Sofia Airport, was taken into custody at the same time. Romeu was held for several hours for questioning before being charged and released on bail.Romeu’s arrest was the culmination of an under- cover investigation codenamed Operation Fly which began in June 2008. The enquiry was launched after the Guardia Civil learnt that the security firm’s accountant at the airport was allegedly altering records to show more employees than actually existed and, in turn, Jose Luis Romeu was said to be signing off the monthly invoices presented to AENA. In order to conceal the scam, the fictitious security guards were assigned to areas in the airport where there was generally little in the way of control or surveillance.
On the day of Romeu’s arrest, officers from the Guardia Civil’s organised crime unit searched the offices of AENA’s security department at the airport as well as those of Seguridad Integral Canaria. The same company’s offices in Candelaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife were examined at the same time as well as the homes of both the men involved. Guardia Civil investigators removed computer records and what onlookers described as copious amounts of paperwork. Some sources also claimed that during an earlier investigation last October, computers and paperwork were taken from Seguridad Integral Canaria’s offices in Las Palmas.
Seguridad Integral Canaria said the following day that none of their employees at the airport had been arrested with Jose Luis Romeu but confirmed that one of their office workers was implicated in the case. In a statement to the press, the company announced that an employee had explained to the Guardia Civil the accounting system that the firm used at Reina Sofia Airport and was able to demonstrate that the amounts claimed on invoices presented to AENA matched the number of hours worked by employees.The Alternativa Sindical union in Tenerife maintains that security guards at the airport had noticed irregularities which they reported to the Ministry of Public Works in November 2007, although their warnings prompted no response from the ministry. It was evident, they said, that neither the number of security guards on duty nor the number of hours supposedly put in by personnel tallied with the amounts that AENA was being charged for. The union also claimed that this shortfall in staff led to situations where private aircraft sometimes entered and left the airport without their documentation being checked.
The case against Jose Luis Romeu Galvan will be heard at the court in Granadilla de Abona. There is a ban on reporting while the case is at the instruction stage where the examining judge questions all parties before deciding whether there is a case against the accused. Meanwhile, AENA announced that it was working closely with the court and the police to shed light on the background to the case, and said it would be taking disciplinary action against its former employee. An AENA spokesman also emphasised that despite the incident, security at the airport had not been compromised at any time.

Paul Logan Donnelly fled after abandoning a six-inch knife

Two Britons have been arrested after apparently trying to fire a gun at police who confronted them for urinating in a Spanish street.
The officers were not injured because the 9mm pistol reportedly used by one of the men jammed twice. The arrests following a stand-off in Alhaurin el Grande, a hillside village 30 miles from Marbella on the Costa del Sol, a Guardia Civil spokesman said. One of the arrested men has been named as Paul Logan Donnelly from Newcastle. Officers allege he fled the scene after abandoning a six-inch knife, but was later arrested. The name of the second man in custody has not been released.
Two civil guards, armed with pistols, had stopped the pair after spotting one of them urinating outside a video shop on Monday evening, Spanish police claim.
A spokesman for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the unnamed man pulled the trigger twice during the incident but that it jammed. He said: "The men were arrested for urinating in the street and possession of a gun. "A consular team is now working with the relevant authorities in Spain. The investigation is at a very early stage."

23 people have been arrested across nine provinces (including Malaga and Almeria) accused of several offences ranging from tax fraud

23 people have been arrested across nine provinces (including Malaga and Almeria) accused of several offences ranging from tax fraud, falsifying documents and illegal association. Those arrested were part of an organisation that converted industrial-use diesel (‘gasoleo bonificado’, types B and C, used for farm machinery and heating) into regular diesel (‘gasoleo ordinario’, type A) used in vehicles. During the operation called ‘Toelum II’ police seized: 25 properties, four investment funds, 18 lorries, 21 vehicles, three motorbikes and three trailers. The total value of the items seized is estimated at four million euros. During the early part of the investigation, police found installations in Toledo and Madrid used to ‘clean’ and adulterate the cheaper industrial- use diesel. The gang then sold it on as the more expensive type ‘A’ diesel to petrol stations and other organisations (some of which knew about the scam). Following further enquiries, tax evasion fraud was uncovered, valued at 6.7 million euros, calculated between 2004 and 2008. It was also found that around 4.5 million litres of diesel type ‘B’ was mixed with 13 million litres of oil and other unknown substances with the aim of increasing the total volume of product that could be sold.

Thursday 12 March 2009

14 year old girlfriend of Miguel Carcaño,now says that he confessed his crime to her on the night he carried it out, January 24.

14 year old girlfriend of Miguel Carcaño, the man who has confessed to killing the 17 year old girl from Sevilla, Marta del Castillo, now says that he confessed his crime to her on the night he carried it out, January 24.Sources close to the investigation also say that he told her that he had thrown Marta’s body into the Guadalquivir River with the help of his friends 15 year old El Cuco, and Samuel B.P.
The 14 year old changed her story to the police last Monday, when her family was called in to reconstruct what had happened on the night that Marta vanished.The National Police have now confirmed that fibres from the blanket used to carry the body, and DNA from Marta was found in the back seat of the car belonging to Cuco’s mother.El Cuco however changed his story to the judge on Tuesday, saying that he was not involved in the crime, and he had not been in the flat where the crime occurred that night.

Pensioner opened fire with a 32 caliber revolver at an ambulance driver and the doctor with whom he had had an appointment at 7pm that afternoon.

34 year old doctor was shot just after midnight in the early hours of Wednesday, but did not die until 1530 in the afternoonThe judge in Instruction Court One in Caravaca de la Cruz, has ordered preventative prison for the 74 year old retired taxi driver, Pedro N.S. who opened fire at 25 minutes past midnight on Tuesday night after he had gone to the health centre in Moratalla, Murcia.The pensioner opened fire with a 32 caliber revolver at an ambulance driver and the doctor with whom he had had an appointment at 7pm that afternoon. One report says he had gone for oxygen at 4pm but was told to return at 7, but did not do so until just after midnight.
Maria Eugenia Moreno Martínez, the 34 year old doctor who received several shots died from her injuries to the head and chest in the Virgen de la Arrixaca Hospital at 3,30pm on Wednesday afternoon. The 40 year old Ambulance driver, Juan Miguel Moya, is in a stable condition in the Caravaca de la Cruz District Hospital. He was shot when he tried to take the gun off the pensioner.
Local doctors stopped work in demand for better security measures in health centres.
On leaving the court the pensioner told the press that he was very sorry for what he had done.He has also said that the treatment he received in the ambulatorio was not good.‘The attended to me very badly, very badly’ he said.
Reports indicate that the pensioner had found the gun he used in the back of his taxi in Barcelona twenty years ago.

Tuesday 3 March 2009

Philip Doo and David Mufford, and Christopher Wiggins, from Spain's Costa del Sol, are charged with attempting to import 1.7 ton of cocaine

Philip Doo and David Mufford, from Devon, and Christopher Wiggins, from Spain's Costa del Sol, are charged with attempting to import 1.7 tonnes of cocaine - believed to be valued at more than 650 million euro.Three Britons accused of being involved in an international drugs smuggling ring intercepted off the coast of Ireland have appeared briefly at Cork Circuit Criminal Court as the start of their trial was adjourned.Barristers asked for the case to be put back to the next session so defence teams could continue discussions with State prosecutors. The three men were detained last November after the Irish Navy, gardai and Customs swooped on the 60ft ocean-going boat Dances With Waves, 170 miles off the west Cork coast. Seventy-five bales of cocaine were discovered on the vessel which had set sail from the Caribbean a month earlier.

Barcelona airport,Cocaine disguised as 52 bars of chocolate


National Police have arrested an Ecuadorian man at El Prat airport in Barcelona after he was found to be carrying four kilos of cocaine in his luggage on arrival on a flight from Colombia.The drug was disguised as 52 bars of chocolate, perfectly individually wrapped as the Jumbo brand, one of the best known in Colombia. The drug was hidden below a thin layer of chocolate in each bar.51 year old Edgar N.N. was questioned by police and customs after they considered him to be acting nervously.

Friday 27 February 2009

Socialist Mayor of the village of Alcaucín in Málaga is among 13 people arrested in Spain’s latest corruption scandal.

Socialist Mayor of the village of Alcaucín in Málaga is among 13 people arrested in Spain’s latest corruption scandal.José Manuel Martín Alba, a labourer by trade, has been detained as investigations continue into the building and sale of homes on non-buildableland. Searches were carried out on Friday in the homes of the Mayor and members of his family.The PSOE Socialist party says they will expel all those indicted from the party.The 13 arrests occurred in Málaga and Huelva and also include the Mayor’s two daughters, and José Mora, chief of municipal architecture in the Dipitación de Málaga, the provincial government.Also detained are two architects and other constructors and alleged intermediaries.El Mundo says that the investigation could move to neighbouring La Viñuela, where the Socialist Mayor already faces different investigations on town planning irregularities.Many of the properties sold in the area, have been purchased by foreigners.

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Spanish authorities Tuesday said it dismantled an alleged Dominican drug trafficking network

Spanish authorities Tuesday said it dismantled an alleged Dominican drug trafficking network, in a Police operation that led to the arrest of 10 ten people, accused of trafficking cocaine from that Caribbean nation and "other Central American countries," to Spain, Scotland and Italy.A source said the operation began at the end of last year in Spain when Police uncovered a ring of "citizens from the Dominican Republic dedicated to introducing large amounts of cocaine in our country," from the Caribbean country, home to its ringleader, linked to Colombian narcotics traffickers. The detainees received the drugs from the Dominican Republic using packets hidden in their body and bought narcotics other criminal groups, to treat it and distribute afterwards from a house in Madrid’s Tetuan sector. The operation included six raids in which the Police seized cell phones, material to “cut” and treat the drug, vehicles, computers and electronic equipment, as well as a bit more than three kilos of cocaine.

British man who is accused of beating another Briton to death in a house in Vista Mar I, Playa Flamenca, Orihuela Costa


29 year old accused, named as Dezzie S. will be back in court on Friday.The court case against the young British man who is accused of beating another Briton to death in a house in Vista Mar I, Playa Flamenca, Orihuela Costa, and then setting fire to the body and home to get rid of the evidence on January 4 2005, was postponed until Friday in Elche yesterday.The victim has been named as Roy John T.29 year old Dezzie S. faces a total of 36 years in prison for the crimes and attended the court yesterday but only to hear the magistrate suspend the proceedings because of the lack of witnesses.Prosecutors’ Office is demanding a 36 year prison sentence for a British man who is accused of setting a house fire, stealing a car, and beating another Briton to death in Orihuela Costa.The attacked happened on January 4 2005, when the 29 year old accused, named with the initials D.S., went to the victim’s house in Vista Mar I in Playa Flamenca.An argument turned into a fight and the accused is charged with beating the victim with a sharp object bursting his aorta and causing his death. Then, in an attempt to destroy evidence a fire was started of both the body and the house, with D.S. accused of leaving the scene in the victim’s car. Three days later he rented another car and drove back to Britain, failing to return the vehicle as agreed.The Prosecutor wants a total of 36 years for the charges and has requested the payment of 150,000 € to the wife of the victim and 200,000 € to each of his daughters.

Monday 23 February 2009

Landsbankis complex fraud involving 40 million euros has hit residents of Marbella on the Costa del Sol

Another complex fraud involving 40 million euros has hit residents of Marbella on the Costa del Sol .It involves an Icelandic Bank , and its Luxumbourg subsiduary plus a Luxumbourg Insurance Company . The case is being investigated by a San Roque court but the main losers are 100 Brits living in Marbella .The latter company has been denounced for deceitful publicity and fraud by a law firm which is representing 28 of the residents .Among those included in the legal action are three financial advisors , mainly to the British community .The people involved are mainly pensioners and those with high value properties .Financial advisors of the Icelandic bank began to sell a product which would guarantee the mortgage of the owner . It consisted of a mortgage on the property of around half a million euros and this was invested in financial products not only to pay off the mortgage but to give income as well .The clients were lured by the fact that it was self financing and had zero risk .It turned out that none of these things was true .They were also told that should the person die then it would reduce inheritance tax .The Spanish argument is that in Spanish law this is not possible and so therefore it is fraud .In fact such schemes had also been illegal in the Uk since 1990 .Under the terms of the Landsbank..Because of the fall of this Icelandic bank these people have no cover and are in danger of losing their homes .equity release scheme the policy holder could take 25% in cash and had to invest the rest in an investment company run by Landsbanki

36 year prison sentence for a British man who is accused of setting a house fire, stealing a car, and beating another Briton to death in Orihuela

36 year prison sentence for a British man who is accused of setting a house fire, stealing a car, and beating another Briton to death in Orihuela Costa.The attacked happened on January 4 2005, when the 29 year old accused, named with the initials D.S., went to the victim’s house in Vista Mar I in Playa Flamenca.An argument turned into a fight and the accused is charged with beating the victim with a sharp object bursting his aorta and causing his death. Then, in an attempt to destroy evidence a fire was started of both the body and the house, with D.S. accused of leaving the scene in the victim’s car. Three days later he rented another car and drove back to Britain, failing to return the vehicle as agreed.The Prosecutor wants a total of 36 years for the charges and has requested the payment of 150,000 € to the wife of the victim and 200,000 € to each of his daughters. The case gets underway at 10am on Monday in the Seventh section of the Alicante Provincial Court in Elche.

Las Maras, could be established in Spain within three years.



Civil Guard sergeant, who lived for a time in Honduras, has warned that a latin gang, more violent than the Latin Kings, called Las Maras, could be established in Spain within three years. Sergeant Pedro Gallego warned that the Latin Kings and the Ñetas, who used to have a higher presence in Spain were only ‘sleeping’ now, but would see a resurgence in activity as the economic crisis bites and youth unemployment rises. Members are attracted to join the gang because of its lifestyle, status and quick access to sex and drugs. Gallego has published a book with the conclusions of his study La Mara al Desnudo.
The book explains that the tattoos of the Mara gang members are important and represent secret codes between them. Dragons, tombs and sex scenes tattooed across the entire body are common place for the gang considered to be much more dangerous than the Sicilian Mafia or the Camorra from Naples.

Tuesday 17 February 2009

Costa Blanca Crime

Robbery took place last week in Callosa de Segura town centre when two armed men got away with almost 4000 euros .The robbery took place at a gas distribution centre .The men entered the offices wearing motorcycle helmets and threatening staff at gunpoint , telling them to empty the tills .The Guardia civil are investigating the incident .There has been an increase in crime of this type during the last few months .

OFFICERS of the National Police have arrested six persons from Marbella, Alicante and Ibiza suspected of defrauding 70 businessmen and women

OFFICERS of the National Police have arrested six persons from Marbella, Alicante and Ibiza suspected of defrauding 70 businessmen and women by pretending to invest large sums of money in foreign companies in exchange of a profit share, and pocketing the administration and legal costs of these transactions; a figure that is estimated at four million euros.The investigation that lead to four Marbella residents and one from Ibiza and another from Alicante, was carried out by the Costa del Sol Organised Crime and Anti-drugs Unit. One of the four arrested from Marbella is thought to be the kingpin in this fraud ring. Four houses valued in excess of one million euros, 400,000 euros, several luxury vehicles and a large amount of documentation was seized by the authorities in this case where further arrests have not been ruled out.

Torremolinos arrested fifteen people in connection to the sale of luxury stolen cars.

Guardia Civil, directed by the court in Torremolinos, has arrested fifteen people in connection to the sale of luxury stolen cars.
Ten of the group have already been sent to prison on remand, and one of them is accused of importing the stolen vehicles from Germany. Two were granted bail of 10,000 € and three were released.
Diario Sur reports that even more people are implicated in the network, and that it is a foreigner allegedly at the centre of the case.

Tuesday 10 February 2009

large-scale fraud on the London Stock Exchange Six people are arrested

Six people were arrested in Barcelona, Madrid and Alicante, accused of large-scale fraud on the London Stock Exchange, netting more than 450 euros. Behind the swindle were ex-Mossad agent, Abraham Hochman, and Diego Magin Selva, former adviser to the disgraced Spanish banker, Mario Conde.

Monday 9 February 2009

17 year old teen is still missing in Seville

17 year old teen is still missing in seville .She went missing on the 24th January after visiting friends .Her ex-bfriend gave her a lift almost to the door of the building in which she lived with her parents and two younger sisters .It is now thought that she mayhave entered the flat andd gone out again as her father is almost 100% certain the internet router was switched off when they went out but when he and the rest of the family returned in the evening it was turned on .There is a possibility that someone may have contacted her via the internet and that she went out again .She was seen by a neighbour outside the building where she lived at a time which coincided with the ex-boyfriend dropping her off that evening .
A massive poster campaign has been launched across Seville and other Andalucian provinces .In fact the scale of publicity about her disappearance is unprescedented .Her friends have set up a ” missing ” page on Tuenti , that has so far recorded 500,000 people supporting the campaign .Police are examining the family computer and forensic experts are also analysing telephone records in an attempt to find out who she had been communicating with on the internet .

Guardia Civil officers arrested a known drug dealer in the town centre

Guardia Civil officers arrested a known drug dealer in the town centre .The man was approached by the police and as they did so he ran off into a nearby cafe .Officers followed him and did a search when they discovered a small quantity of cocaine in his pocket .As they were about to arrest him a fracas broke out in the bar and the man once again ran off into the kitchen , dropping a box in the process .The box was found to contain bags of a white powder which were later confirmed as being cocaine .A search of the kitchen unearthed more drugs and some gold rings .The police also confiscated a very large machete style hunting knife , over 2000 euros , a mobile phone , more white powder .The white powder was not cocaine but possibly something which was used to cut the cocaine .

Torrevieja crime in broad daylight

Torrevieja a man had parked his car in the town centre for only five minutes and the thieves attacked .They were well organised and had look outs on bicycles .When the time was right the car window was smashed and the CD player and and CD’s were stolen .Passers by saw it all happen and understandably did nothing .One never knows these days when there is a knife waiting to be used .The thieves were thought to be Russian .This man had experienced another daylight robbery only weeks before when his mobile phone was stolen from under his nose in his business place .It is clear that thieves are hanging around looking for a chance to steal from unsuspecting victims .Is it the credit crunch or the economic climate which causes people to behave in this way or are they just normal criminals ? When people do not have enough to feed themselves or their families then they will steal , in fact that is what most of us would do in similar circumstances , it is called survival .

Sunday 8 February 2009

last week a judge in Madrid had granted a warrant to arrest Ian Donaldson 30-year-old amateur racing driver from Paisley.

Ian Donaldson spent last Saturday night with pals in Glasgow's Karbon club, despite being the subject of an international arrest warrant. "He had a team of pals with him and didn't seem to have a care in the world. "He certainly didn't look like a man who is wanted by the police across Europe. "It's puzzling as to why the police in Scotland haven't arrested him." Donaldson - once cleared of a gangland kidnap - faces drugs and money-laundering charges in Spain. The Spanish authorities have already confiscated eight properties, a Lamborghini supercar and a yacht belonging to him in Tenerife as part of a major operation, which has seen the seizure of £12million of alleged criminal assets. A Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency spokeswoman said: "This is a matter for the Spanish authorities."

Friday 6 February 2009

Amy Fitzpatrick disappeared on the evening of New Year’s Day 1st January 2008

Amy Fitzpatrick disappeared on the evening of New Year’s Day 1st January 2008 at approximately 10pm when she left her friend’s house in the tourist resort of Riviera Del Sol on the Costa del Sol to take the 10 minute walk home.