"Costa del Crime" since the 1970s, because hundreds of wanted British criminals are thought to be living there. The charity Crimestoppers has set up a hotline to help UK police forces track them down.

Crimestoppers is now operating outside the UK for the first time and hundreds of people have called its free phone line.

Information given to Crimestoppers last month has already led directly to the arrest of one man, a suspect on the most wanted list issued by British police, on 3 December