Owners of a swingers club in Lorca, Le Chateau, have locked themselves inside the building after it was closed down by local police last Saturday for not having a licence.The local town planning councillor, Francisco García, told the press that owners had not complied with a previous order giving them four days to shut down, and that given that two men did not want to leave the premises, they were taped by the authorities with the people inside. There is a small side door which remains accessible if they do want to exit, he added.Le Chateau was to officially open as a couple swapping venue on May 30th, but the local town hall ordered a halt to building work on the 5th, given that there were no licences for the construction.

ex Chief of the local police in Marbella, Rafael del Pozo, who is implicated in the Malaya corruption case in the town, has been re-admitted for the second time to Marbella Town Hall after making an application last April. He had earlier been off work for depression and also for surgery to his foot, but now returns as a traffic assessor in the local transport department in offices based in San Pedro de Alcántara.Municipal sources told El País that his appointment responds to the needs of the Town Hall. Del Pozo faces charges of carrying out continued bribery, failing to pursue crimes and others, as part of the Malaya case, and he is also implicated in the disappearance of traffic fines at the time when Marisol Yagüe was Mayor of the town.

36 year old man who hit a 20 year old pedestrian from Ecuador on a zebra crossing in Málaga at 8am on Monday morning has been arrested after being found to have tested positive for four different drugs.The victim has suffered serious head injuries as well as a broken arm and leg and is now in the Carlos Haya hospital.Police noted that the driver of the van was having trouble standing and carried out an immediate blood test, which detected four different drugs including cocaine and cannabis. The driver will appear in court shortly after police have assembled witness statements.

A 25-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man will appear before a special sitting of Cork District Court this evening following two separate seizures of drugs yesterday.
The 25-year-old Venezuelan woman, who had travelled via Malaga in Spain, was arrested after the discovery of cocaine worth €210,000 at Cork airport. Customs officers found the drug during a search of her luggage. The 22-year-old man was arrested after gardaí seized cannabis worth €600,000 in a separate raid on an apartment in Douglas on Cork city's southside. The man and woman were held at Togher Garda station last night. However, officers are satisfied that there is no connection between the two seizures. In Dublin, another man appeared in court yesterday after gardaí found cannabis worth some €180,000 in the vehicle he was driving. The man, in his 20s, was arrested following the vehicle search at Kilakee Road, Rathfarnham, at 1.50am.

Police have seized more than 35,000 ecstasy pills in the biggest drug bust in Spain against a Chinese mafia group.The drugs were found during raids on three apartments in Madrid, in which 14 Chinese citizens were arrested, including the alleged leader of the drug trafficking network. The pills, which were brought into Europe via Holland, were apparently intended for distribution across Spain, Portugal and Italy.

Spanish police have arrested five teenage computer hackers who allegedly disabled internet pages run by government agencies in the United States, Latin America and Asia, police said. The group, who attacked some 21,000 pages over two years, were arrested last week in Barcelona, Burgos, Málaga and Valencia following an investigation that began in March after the web page of a Spanish political party was disabled.

15 people have been arrested in Mallorca after they placed videos of their illegal high power motorbike road races on the Youtube website. The images shown were recorded on the same stretch or road between Caimari and Selva, where two youngsters, aged 16 and 17, died as a result of the races of the group, which called themselves ‘Pikas de motos’ last April 4. It was that accident which led to the start of investigations into the group.The judge in Instruction Court 8 in Palma took the statements from the 15 detained on Monday afternoon who are aged between 19 and 31. A total of 15 bikes were also impounded, some of them modified to give a break horse power of more than 200.The 15 were released with charges still standing, accused of a crime against traffic safety. They could face prison sentences of two years under the new penal code if they are found guilty of dangerous driving, and up to five years in prison if their behaviour at the wheel is considered to have been suicidal.

The chases started after air patrols spotted the semi-rigid boats moving, with four powerful outboard motors, rapidly towards the coast.
Half a ton of hashish has been thrown overboard from two boats off the Costa Blanca. The Agencia Tributaria has recovered about 500 kilos of the drugs off the coast at Torrevieja and Dénia, but they think that the drug runners may have dumped upto double the amount recovered.
A customs patrol boat with helicopter support found 18 bales of the drug, each one weighing 27 kilos off Dénia and 14 more off Torrevieja, and in both cases the drug was seen to be throw overboard when the smugglers were being chased by the authorities.

paediatrician, who was arrested in Benalmádena on charges of possessing child pornography, has been ordered to prison without bail
The man, named with the initials R.D.P.M., who works in the Municipal Health Centre in Benalmádena, is alleged to have had paedophile photos and videos on his home computer, and was ordered to prison by the judge in Instruction Court 1 in Málaga.
Apparently the images were in a file labelled for the learning how to play the guitar.He was arrested as part of a nationwide swoop which was started by the Guardia Civil in Ciudad Real, and now faces charges of the corruption of minors under article 189 of the penal code which punishes those who possess pornographic images of children aged under 13. A 57 year old man from Salamanca and a 33 year old man from Almeria have also been arrested as part of the same investigation, codenamed ‘Tambor’.

Six European countries, including Britain, are to act together against bogus holiday clubs operating in Spain.The scams that dupe holidaymakers into buying club membership with the promise of cheaper holidays catch 400,000 UK victims each year.
Usually sales representatives use high-pressure tactics and misleading sales patter as part of the scam.The task force is to look at common ways of tackling the problem and increasing public awareness of these cons.It’s believed bogus holiday clubs cost UK consumers £1.17bn a year and put people off taking holidays in Spain.

A British national has been arrested in Spain in connection with rape offences committed in south east London.The man named by news sources as Ricky Devine is accused of raping the same victim over a number or years.He was arrested by Spain's National Police at the resort of Orihuela Costa, south of Alicante.The 49-year-old accused is being held at a maximum security prison outside Madrid after appearing before a judge at the National Criminal Court.A spokesman for Scotland Yard said that "Spanish police arrested a 49-year-old British man on suspicion of rape on May 9".The former DJ for Costa Blanca radio station Excite FM presented a show in the 8pm-10pm slot called 'Boogie Nites'.A spokesman for Excite FM said that the staff were "totally shocked"."Ricky was the sort of guy who'd do anything for anybody," he said.The accused could be escorted home within two weeks if he agrees to face British justice.He could face several months behind bars in Spain if he decides to fight extradition.The investigation was carried out with the help of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency in the UK.In 1999, DJ Richard Baker from Cornwall was convicted for a string of rapes in Sussex, Essex and north London. He worked in Spain as a DJ most summers.

Francis Smith, who now lives in Malaga, on the Costa del Sol, is charged with conspiring to distribute 1.234 tonnes of cannabis, seized in a random stop on the A45 near Ryton-upon-Dunsmore.A British ex-pat living in Spain has been charged in connection with a £2.7 million drugs bust in Ryton.Stunned police found 5,000 blocks of cannabis resin when they pulled over a white Iveco van in February 2006.
Stockton man Roy Selby, 42, was jailed for two-and-a-half years in August 2006 after pleading guilty to possessing the cannabis with intent to supply it.It is alleged there is evidence linking Smith to the packages of cannabis seized from Selby's van. Selby had initially claimed he thought he had been carrying furniture.When he was jailed, Judge Marten Coates said he accepted the driver, who was to be paid £500 for making the delivery, was "at the bottom of the food chain".Smith, 56, appeared for a preliminary hearing at Warwick Crown Court where it was indicated he would deny ther charge.The case was adjourned until May and Smith remanded in custody.

The Customs and police services of the port of Tangier have seized, in four catches over the week-end, some 347 kg of cannabis products, and arrested 3 Moroccans and three foreigners as part of these operations, according to port authorities.
The most important catch was on Saturday when customs at the port of Tangier seized a total of 272 kg of hashish that were concealed in a car registered in Spain. The car's owner and the passenger, two Moroccan nationals, were arrested.
Later in the day, two other cars were intercepted with 18 kg of cannabis resin, locally known as chira, and 38 kg of hashish respectively. A female Moroccan expatriate and two Spaniards were arrested during these operations.
On Sunday night, customs and police services arrested a Portuguese national following the discovery of 19 kg of cannabis extract in his car’s truck.
Since the beginning of January, drug seizures at the port of Tangier are almost daily. The arrested traffickers of different nationalities are brought before court where they face sentences ranging from 5 to 10 years in prison and very heavy fines set according to the quantity of the drugs seized.

Colin 'Smigger' Smith resident of Puerto Banus on the Costa del Sol kept a close eye on his cocaine empire, jetting in and out of Liverpool on cheap EasyJet flights. An underworld source said: "If there was a problem he'd always fly back. It was all done over a cup of tea and then he was off back to Spain." Smith was a fanatical Evertonian with a VIP box at the Goodison Park ground. He was friends with many of the players and had just flown back from a European game before he was killed.
When ex-Everton player Mark Ward fell on hard times Smith paid him to play for a semi-professional team. But Ward later got mixed up with drugs and in 2005 was jailed for eight years for possessing cocaine worth £650,000.
An underworld source said: "Smith was behind one of the biggest explosions of drug use in Britain. He made a lot crime families and gangs rich by making them high-level distributors on generous terms. He was well loved. A lot of people will want revenge."Colin "Smigger" Smith, Britain's Cocaine King with a personal fortune put at £200million, lay dead in a pool of blood as his killer walked quickly away.
A few hours later - and £100,000 richer - the hitman was flying out of Liverpool's John Lennon Airport, sparking off what could be the deadliest drugs war on Merseyside for years.

international drug trafficking gang has been broken up by the National Police in Valencia. Fifteen arrests were made in the second phase of ‘Operation Antilla’, nine of them in Valencia, and 235 kilos of cocaine has been recovered in Madrid and Valencia.Those arrested are believed to have brought the drugs into Spain from Colombia. Police have impounded computers, precision scales and other items in a total of five searches carried out since the first stage of the operation which took place in Madrid last March.The head of the gang is considered to be a 44 year old Colombian who was arrested in Madrid on April 29.In the latest arrests there were three Colombian women, four Colombian men and a Spaniard.All those arrested will appear in court shortly.

A woman has died after being shot in the street in Málaga. It happened on Friday afternoon at 1,30pm in the conflictive ‘La Palma’ district of the city.
It’s thought that the woman in her 30’s was just passing when she was hit by a gun shot coming from elsewhere where it seems a violent argument was taking place.
Police had been called to Calle Deva with reports of a disturbance between two people, one armed with a knife and another with a gun.Police say a full investigation has been opened and no possibilities have as yet been ruled out, but for now they consider that the victim had nothing to do with the fight.

Provincial Court in Málaga has sentenced a British man to 12 and a half years in prison for killing a friend of his fathers with whom he lived in Torremolinos. The court found it proved that 41 year old C.B.C. killed the victim by hitting him over the head and stabbing him a total of 13 times, twice from the back and then 11 times face on. He then tried to hide the body in a room in the house for several days. It happened at the start of May 2006 when the man, who went under a false name, lived in the house in Los Álamos, rented by a friend of his father’s, after having come to Spain from Thailand. He claimed in court that he had hidden the body but not carried out the killing. The body was not discovered until the 24th of the month.The murderer was also ordered to pay 150,000 € compensation to the victim’s family.The unanimous sentence from the jury in the case came after they heard that the man had already been sentenced to life in prison in Britain for a homicide and arms trafficking.

British woman is among a group of three people who have been arrested by the National Police in Torrevieja for drug trafficking. Three kilos of cocaine was recovered in the operation which saw the searching of a house and a restaurant on the ‘Ciudad Quesada’ urbanisation. Those arrested are thought to have been mixing the drug with caffeine, before distributing it locally. It’s thought they purchased the drug, which is of Colombian origin, here in Spain. They have been named as 38 year old Spaniard, C.A.C.Z, his 26 year old British wife, J.T.O., and a 48 year old Spaniard M.P.R.1630 € in cash, a starting pistol, precision balances and other drug related equipment was found.None of the three has a previous record, and the case is now in the hands of Instruction Court One in Torrevieja.

‘Sheriff of Coslada’, the local police chief in the Madrid town of Coslada, Ginés Jiménez Buendía, has told the judge instructing the allegations of widespread local police corruption that he is innocent. His lawyer, José Andrés Díaz Herrera, says the case is wrapped up in political fighting.13 of the 24 local police arrested last Thursday still remain in the judicial cells waiting for their turn to make a statement to the judge. Eight of them did make a statement to the
Instruction Judge 21 in Coslada, Eduardo Cruz Torres, yesterday.
Reports indicate that all those to declare have claimed to be innocent. They are accused of extorting local businesses, and of dealing in prostitution in the town.
Of the 25 arrested, 8 have been granted bail so far.

Man has been arrested by the local police in Alicante after allegedly stabbing his father during an argument on Saturday night. The difference of opinion emerged when the two were discussing the First Communion plans for a nephew and the victim was stabbed in the shoulder. He has now been allowed home after treatment in the Alicante General Hospital, while the aggressor has now been handed over to the National Police and is expected to appear in court shortly.

INVESTIGATIONS are being carried out into the disappearance of two guns held by a policeman in La Vila Joiosa. A member of the Local Police is thought to have misplaced one handgun and lost the other.One of these later turned up in the safe at the police station.

Confiscated three firearms and various stolen goods in a known drug zone in Málaga. Local Police officers, acting on repeated complaints from neighbours, uncovered the illegal activity on Monday after entering a property in the city’s Carlos Haya neighbourhood.Taking advantage of a ‘client’ leaving the building, officers went inside and discovered quantities of hashish, cocaine and marihuana in bags and empty tuna-tins. They seized the handguns and numerous items believed to have been stolen or taken in payment for drugs, including jewellery, computers, cameras, consoles, and mobile phones.

father and son wanted for questioning about the murder of a traveller in the UK have been arrested in Marbella. The headless and handless body of John Finney, 42, was found dumped in Ickleford, Hertfordshire, on 14 March. 49 year old British man, named as N.J.J., and his 23 year old son, J.N.J., were arrested on Friday afternoon in Marbella in connection with the disappearance of a 42 year old man, John Finney Mr Finney is thought to have been abducted from his vehicle in Northaw, on 29 February. A third man, Mark Curran, 28, of Barnet, Hertfordshire, has been charged with his murder and has been remanded in custody. Mr Finney was identified partly by the tattoos on his body. His Mitsubishi Pajero was found abandoned in Park Farm, Northaw. A post-mortem examination was unable to establish the cause of Mr Finney's death. He and his family were well-known within the travelling community, police said. The investigation has been carried out by the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit.The arrests in Marbella were carried out on a European Arrest Warrent by Spanish National Police in collaboration with their British colleagues, who also arrested a third man in the U.K.Three cars, a replica firearm and a large amount of documents were impounded, together with a quantity of currency of some 30,000 €.

Police in Spain have arrested 17 people across the country and seized computer equipment containing over one million images of a pedophile nature, the interior ministry said Friday.They are suspected of being part of a "wide-ranging and active network of people with residency in Spain who accessed and distributed these types of archives," it said in a statement.
The 17 faces charges of corruption of minors and possession of child pornography.
Over 60 police officers took part in the operation which involved searches of 18 homes.Spain has over last few years stepped up its fight against pedophilia with the use of a progam known as "Hispalis," which allows them to detect and provide names and addresses of Internet users as they are logging on to illicit websites

Spanish police have arrested in the city of Barcelona a man wanted by the Argentine authorities for suspected drug trafficking. Police sources said the man wanted in Argentina belonged to an organization dismantled at the end of last year when it tried to smuggle around a ton of cocaine into Spain. The Algerian-born French citizen who is under arrest was a kingpin of the organization that fronted as a company that imported protective coverings for the grass in stadiums. The case goes back to February 2007, when the Argentine judiciary began to investigate the international organization made up mainly of Bolivian and Argentine citizens living in Spain. Argentine police were able to take 13 of the suspected members of the organization into custody last December following a concert at Boca Juniors soccer stadium en Buenos Aires after finding narcotics in the base of the scaffolding and in the plastic sheeting, just as the material was about to be shipped to Spain.
Alerted by Interpol, the Spanish police learned that the fugitive was living in Barcelona, where he was finally arrested.

Police in Marbella have arrested two Britons, father and son, who are wanted by the UK authorities in connection with a murder.The two men, 49 year old NJJ and 23 year old JNJ, were arrested under an international arrest warrant. A third person involved in the crime was arrested in the UK.The men are wanted in connection with the kidnapping and subsequent murder of a UK citizen. The victim is believed to have been abducted from Park Farm in Northaw at around 19:00 on February 29th. His body, minus head and limbs, was found on March 14th near Ickleford in Hertfordshire.
The missing body parts were never found and the victim had to be identified through DNA tests. The forensic analysis concluded that the victim was murdered shortly after being kidnapped…Hardly likely to have been before….The investigation was a joint operation involving the Grupo de Homicidios de la Unidad de Delincuencia Especializada y Violenta (UDEV), the Hertfordshire Police Department and the Costa del Sol Grupo de Estupefacientes.At the time of the arrests, the police also seized three vehicles, an imitation gun, various documents and €30,000 in cash.

Suspected Drink driver who killed two Irish pedestrians in Spain has blamed poor road conditions and the couple's "lack of caution" for their deaths.
The 35-year-old has been remanded in custody while a judge investigates him for the possible crime of manslaughter.John O'Connell (46) and wife Mary (45), from Cahirciveen, Co Kerry, were killed instantly when they were struck by a Peugeot 206 at an accident blackspot on the Costa Blanca on Monday night.Now the driver is said to be considering suing local authorities because of the poor condition of the N332 in Orihuela Costa, where the tragedy occurred.He was arrested at the scene after allegedly failing a breath test. He is also thought to have been speeding.But in a statement to an investigating judge behind closed doors on Tuesday, the driver said the area was badly lit and badly signposted.His lawyer reportedly blamed the tragedy on the "possible imprudence" of Mr and Mrs O'Connell.The driver, originally from Madrid but living in Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca, was returning from a dinner in a restaurant when he ploughed into the couple as they walked down the street.He has not been charged with any offence. The investigating judge will decide at a later date if he should face charges.The driver was told he would be held at the Folcalent prison in Alicante unless he could stump up the €6,000 bail.Meanwhile, yesterday a local restaurant owner told how he attempted to revive the couple after the horror crash but found they were already dead.Both bodies were found 50 metres from the car.
Jose Ramon Machuca said: "I had just closed my restaurant and I heard the bang. I tried taking their pulses but they were already dead."The driver didn't seem drunk to me, not at all. He seemed to be very normal."This has happened before, and it's a miracle it doesn't happen more often, because there is no pedestrian walkway, no footbridge, nothing."At night it's horrendous. I have reported it but the town hall has just ignored me."The couple, who have no children, were just hours into their holiday and were walking back to their hotel from a concert when they were struck by the car.They had recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows.The stretch of road where the tragedy occurred, lined with bars and restaurants and near to a popular ex-pat residential neighbourhood called La Zenia, is a notorious accident blackspot.Local residents who live either side of the road and holidaymakers who stay in nearby hotels and self-catering apartments, have long complained of the dangers they face crossing it.Fr William Crean, of Cahirciveen parish church, said: "The town is simply devastated. They were heavily involved in the local community."

Coín’s Local Police made 70 arrests during the month of April, double the monthly average of 30 to 30 and the largest number in the force’s history. Just under two thirds of the arrests were made in the town itself. The rest were made in Alhaurin el Grance, Guaro, Monda and Tolox, which come under Coín’s jurisdiction. Most of the arrests involved robbery, followed by drug trafficking. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the National Police in Malaga city said firearms were taking over from knives as the weapon most used to commit crimes. He said there had been nine shootouts and more than 20 robberies at gun point since the beginning of the year.

Diario Sur, published in Málaga this morning says that local immigrant workers are paying for fake work contracts so that they can keep their Spanish residency. As the economic slowdown begins to bite locally, especially in the construction industry, it is immigrant workers who are in the front line, and non-EU workers are obliged to have a current work contract when they need to renew their residency permits.Police say they are investigating the sale of fake work contracts in the city for prices which range from 1,000 € to 9,500 €. Most of the contracts are for companies which are registering no activity.

Credit card duplicators has been broken up in Marbella and items from fraudulent purchases estimated to be worth more than 100,000 € have been recovered. Police also found a large amount of false documentation with some 100 cards which had been cloned and were ready for use.Europa Press reports that National Police based in Marbella broke up the gang of Romanians, and two of those arrested, named as Petrica L. and Florin B. will appear before the judge shortly.Police discovered the group on April 10th using the cloned cards in several exclusive shops in Puerto Banús. The cards were made using a technique of skimming. The cards were prepared here, but using data sent to the group over the Internet from abroad.

Guardia Civil have broken up an international network specialists in the theft of luxury top of the range cars. 19 people have been arrested in the provinces of Madrid, Alicante and Málaga, and at least a dozen properties have been searched.
Spanish police say the group was one of the most active in Europe and could have carried out vehicle thefts in as many as ten provinces. Codenamed ‘Operación Lujo’, the nationalities of those arrested are Spanish, Bulgarian, and Peruvian.GUARDIA CIVIL have arrested 22 people in connection with the theft of luxury cars on the Costa Blanca and all over Spain.Operation ‘Lujo’ was set up at the end of 2007 after police identified a pattern in the number of luxury cars being stolen.
They centred their investigations on Alicante, Madrid and Málaga and this led to the identification of a number of individuals.A police spokesman said that the gang was divided into three groups, each with its own responsibilities. The first group would identify the cars to be stolen, they were followed by specialist car thieves who used electronic devices to record central locking codes on the target vehicles and neutralise their alarm systems.Once the vehicles had been stolen the third group produced false documentation for the cars, which included changing the number plates and altering chassis number details.Of the 22 people detained, 16 are Bulgarian, five are Spanish and one is a Peruvian.Two of the arrests were made in Alicante and Polop de la Marina and police recovered 83 stolen vehicles in searches of properties in Alicante, Madrid and Málaga.All 22 detainees have been remanded in custody while the police investigation continues.

Ecuadorian man, Amable Danilo B., who is accused of killing the 19 year old local girl, Laura Jiménez, from Pilar de la Horadada, whose body was found weighed down in an irrigation reservoir, was sent to prison on remand by the judge investigating the case. He is accused of premeditated murder. His arrest and imprisonment has been welcomed by the victim’s family as ‘the first step of justice for the death of Laura’. The killing has caused a great upset in the area of the Vega Baja.A second person who was arrested with him was granted provisional bail, with charges of covering up a crime remaining.

Argentinian man, has been injured after being shot twice in the leg. It happened in a house in Calle Cómpeta in Málaga yesterday afternoon at 2pm according to the EFE news agency.The victim was taken to the Clínico hospital, and police have recovered the firearm used and opened an investigation.The victim says that he did not know the two attackers, who shot him when he answered the door. The attackers, who are also thought to be Latin American, then robbed the victim’s home.

Three men have been arrested in connection with the murder of a man whose headless and handless body was found in Hertfordshire. John Finney, 42, is thought to have been abducted from his vehicle in Northaw on 29 February. His body was found in Ickleford on 14 March.
Two men have been detained under a European arrest warrant in Spain and are currently being held there. Another man was held in north London and remains in police custody.
Police said two men, aged 59 and 22 and from north London, were arrested in Spain on suspicion of murder. The third person arrested was a 28-year-old man from Barnet.

Brian Wright led a double life as a notorious horse-racing punter and a major league gangster before his arrest in Spain 2005.Brian Wright is being chased for £45million in profits from his billion-pound cocaine smuggling operation, a court heard.The 61-year-old godfather — who was known as The Milkman because he always delivered — is serving 30 years in jail after being convicted last year. In 2004 he was said to be worth £600m and prosecutors have this week been trying to claw back the proceeds of his crimes at Woolwich Crown Court.
But Wright, who had a house in Frimley, claims he has no assets left. He is refusing to attend the hearing despite being brought from Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire to the high-security Belmarsh jail in south London.His barrister Jerome Lynch QC told the court: “His position is he has nothing and no matter how much he says it, that will not be accepted.“Everything he paid for was paid for in cash and rented.
“The approach the Crown has taken is so unrealistic that it is pointless engaging and he takes the view that it almost doesn’t matter.“He is nearly 62 years of age, and is serving 30 years. He will not see the light of day.
“One can understand a man of his age taking that approach when it is likely he will die in jail.”Mr Lynch said Wright’s wife died last year and added: “Is it really supposed that this man who allowed his wife to die in a rented apartment in Spain is the holder of £45million?’But Wright is refusing to give evidence in court to back up his claims he has no money left.“He has no intention of going into the witness box to give any further evidence other than that which he gave in the trial,” said Mr Lynch..He rubbed shoulders with royalty, boasted a celebrity lifestyle.
He laundered his drug money by making huge wagers on horse racing.Wright, married for 43 years, even boasted of meeting singer Frank Sinatra and film star Clint Eastwood.His wealth afforded him a house in Frimley, his rented luxury apartment in Chelsea Harbour, and a £2m villa — named El Lechero, the Spanish for The Milkman — in Spain.He had a box at the Royal Ascot race meeting for 14 years and was a member of the exclusive clubs Tramps and Annabels in London.Wright was finally nailed by a Customs and Excise operation which began after a boat named Sea Mist was boarded by Irish Police at Cork Harbour on September 29, 1996.Officers found 1,230lb of cocaine — valued at more than £50m — hidden in the dumb waiter of the yacht.
The shipment was meant to have been smuggled into the UK and stored at a safe house in Lymington, Hampshire, but the gang fled the property after hearing of the arrest of the crew.Left at the house was Brian Wright’s Channel 4 Racing Diary containing contact numbers for other members of his cartel, as well as dozens of famous names in horse racing and TV. In 1997, police began bugging Wright’s exclusive riverside flat in Chelsea Harbour and following him and his friends, including right-hand man Kevin Hanley.The next year, as three more shipments successfully arrived in the UK via Poole, Dorset, and Salcombe, Devon, Wright was arrested over horse-fixing allegations.He was released on bail and in December 1998 he left the UK for Spain after having a heart bypass operation.But on February 12, 1999, Wright’s son Brian Anthony Wright and son-in-law Paul Shannon were among 15 people arrested in connection with the smuggling investigation. Five days after his son’s arrest, Wright Snr paid £20,000 through his daughter Joanne for a private jet to take him and jockey Declan Murphy to Northern Cyprus.Because the territory had no extradition treaty with the UK, he was effectively safe from arrest until he moved on to Spain in 2002.It was only in the spring of 2005 that Wright Snr was arrested in Marbella and flown back to Britain to face trial.The same year, police arrested Hanley’s girlfriend Anni Rowland for laundering drug money and found nearly £70,000 at her home in Great Burford, Oxfordshire.
Wright, whose last known address was in Cadiz, Spain, denied one count of conspiracy to evade the prohibition on the importation of a controlled substance and one count of conspiracy to supply drugs.
His only previous conviction is for dishonesty, obtaining property by deception, in the late 1970s.Wright Jnr, now 40, of Ridgemount, Weybridge, Surrey, was found guilty of drugs importation and jailed for 16 years.
Paul Shannon, now 42, of Lockier Walk, Wembley, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply and jailed for five years.