Alfredo Marijuán and Carlos Farré have been detained in custody and Isaac Pacheco Suárez and Eusebio Vázquez Fernández were released on bail.Forty officers have been questioned in connection with the case, which relates to alleged payments received by Inspector Marijuán from Russian nationals for reports on police surveillance operations.The officer was also alleged to have delivered an envelope containing details about the girlfriend of a Russian who was arrested for cocaine smuggling in the US.The Costa del Sol gained its nickname after British criminals took advantage of the ending of an extradition treaty in 1978 to escape Scotland Yard's reach. The likes of Ronnie Knight and the drug dealer Clifford Saxe, both wanted in connection with a Security Express robbery in east London, set up home there. Kenneth Noye, who helped to launder the Brink's-Mat gold, fled to the Costa del Sol in 1996 while on the run for murder. More recently, however, it has become the base for a more dangerous breed of gang, from the UK, Russia, Colombia and eastern Europe. The Russian mafia are known to have a major presence on the Costa del Sol, exploiting lax property laws and lack of police resources to launder millions from arms dealing, drug dealing and prostitution. A Spanish interior ministry report said nearly a third of organised crime in Spain is based in the area, with 102 known gangs.Three years ago, Spain launched a major crackdown there, forming specialised units to combat the problem.Two of the four National Police UDYCO anti-drugs and organised crime chiefs who were arrested on Tuesday accused of corruption, were ordered to prison without bail on Friday evening. They are the UDYCO chief from Marbella, Carlos Farré and the organised crime chief from Málaga, Alfredo Marijuán. Instruction judge number 5 in Marbella, Julián Cabrero, also granted bail with charges remaining for the other policemen. Two translators, one based at the National Police station in Marbella, and the other the wife of an ex Russian official based in Madrid and allegedly linked to the case, were granted bail, as was the director of the Marbella Clinic, who had bail set at 30,000 €.The arrested policemen spent all of Friday in the court building in Marbella, finally leaving with heads covered around 6pm.
They are charged following a Police Internal Affairs investigation which began two years ago into alleged misappropriation of items seized in the course of police operations from mafia-type criminal gangs.The investigator in the case considers that the Chief Inspector Marijuán received payments from Russian citizens in exchange for information on security procedures in Málaga province, although the defence is reported to say there were only the normal regular contacts with the Russian Ministry of the Interior.
Spanish Minister for the Interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, on Thursday asked for respect for the four arrested police chiefs, reminding his audience about the presumption of innocence.
Meanwhile unions have criticised what they describes as the ‘systematic ill-treatment’ of the arrested policemen. They accuse the man who is the assistant operations director, Fernández Chico, of not respecting the presumption of innocence, and they have called for his resignation. They also say the men were given no food or water for a 24 hour period.The internal affairs unit is reported to have questioned some 40 other National Policemen in the province as their investigations proceed.