Prison sentences have been confirmed against nine people who were found guilty of transporting as much as 2,000 kilos of hashish to Dénia. A total of 28 years and nine months has been handed down in total to the none, most of them serving some three years inside. The group brought a haul of 2,000 kilos of the drug from Melilla to Dénia in an operation which was organized from Málaga, and intercepted by the police on the Dénia beach.

Malaga University has done a piece of research into the reporting of crime by members of the public and compared the results with the statistics which are published by the authorities .The team carried out 1300 ” victimisation Surveys ” on 2005 asking members of the public if they had been the victims of crimes such as car theft , having something stolen from a car , being threatened , sexual assault and having their homes burgled .Sixty six percent or two out of every three said that they had been victims of such crimes but only 41% said that they had reported the incidents.The reluctance to report them might be that they didn’t trust the system , were embarrassed or they might have been too scared to do so .Damage to vehicles was the most common crime , yet it was the least reported while car thefts and burglaries were the most reported and yet occurred less often , maybe because of the insurance connection .Published statistics are based on the crimes that are reported and what the survey discovered is that this is not always a true reflection of what is actually happening .

Italy's paramilitary Carabinieri police working with Spain's Civil Guard arrested Salvatore Zazo as he was making a phone call in a shop in Barcelona on Saturday.Italian police say a Neapolitan fugitive wanted on drug trafficking charges has been captured in Barcelona.Italian police official Angelo Mazzagatti said on Sunday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Zazo a few months ago. He said Zazo, 52, was suspected of international trafficking in cocaine.Investigators say they believe Zazo has been leading the Mazzarella crime family in the historic center of Naples. It is part of the Camorra criminal syndicate.Police say authorities will ask for Zazo's extradition to Italy to stand trial.

Local man has been sentenced by the Málaga Provincial Court to 18 years in prison for killing another in a bar in San Pedro de Alcántara in September 2006.It apparently started when the two men collided by mistake in the bar, with the aggressor then going to his home to get a knife and returning to the bar to stab the other man who died the following day.The aggressor was also found guilty of attempting to kill the victim’s friend, stabbing him from the back. After the aggression the man went back home and then went to the Local Police with his mother. He had claimed he only wanted to frighten the other men with his knife. The court heard that the man was considered to be emotionally unstable and also ordered him to pay 250,000 € in compensation.

Spain's anticorruption prosecutor has opened an investigation into Bernard Madoff's alleged fraud, which may cost clients of Banco Santander, the nation's largest lender and the owner of US-based Sovereign Bancorp, $3.1 billion.The probe began last month, said an official at the prosecutor's office who asked not to be identified.Santander said on Dec. 14 that customers were at risk from investments with Madoff through its Optimal Investment Services hedge fund unit.Madoff's New York-based firm collapsed in December after he told his sons it was a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, according to a complaint filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Santander has been very transparent about its exposure to Madoff," said Luis Benguerel, a trader at Interbrokers Espanola SA in Barcelona. "Santander is a victim in this case."The Wall Street Journal reported that Spanish prosecutors are investigating how Santander lost client money through Madoff's alleged fraud. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment. The official at the prosecutor's office said Santander wasn't a target of the probe.The anticorruption prosecutor will be examining the relationship between Santander, the investment fund Fairfield Greenwich Group, and the Madoff funds, the Journal reported. Fairfield had $7.5 billion with Madoff.About two-thirds of losses incurred by Santander clients were borne by investors in Latin America, the Journal said.

Trio of sporting stars who backed property developments in Spain with their own money and persuaded other British Fly to Let investors to do the same, are now counting the cost after the schemes were scrapped.The Daily Mail carried the story of how five-time Olympic champion Sir Steve Redgrave, 1966 World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst, and former England World Cup rugby star Tony Underwood were all endorsers and investors in the Royal Marbella Group, which later became the Royal Duja Group.
Some of Royal Duja's projects, such as Royal Cabanas in the Algarve, where other well known names, such as Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, invested, did go ahead. But the newspaper reported that another of the investment projects, Lince Sanctuario near Seville, will never be built. It was said that Redgrave invested in a £2million off-plan villa on this site and in return for a discount on the property had allowed his face and name to be used to promote the development on Royal Duja Group's billboards. He is now seking legal advice over the issue.In an interview with the Daily Mail, Redgrave said: “It's been a disaster, with the planning permission revoked. I have lost my investment. I've done promotional work for the developer and that was half the payment for the plot I had. I've lost a hell of a lot of time and image.“I've been talking to Geoff Hurst and he has similar problems. He has invested and he has friends who invested,” added Redgrave.The newspaper report explained how Hurst's and Underwood's off-plan flats at the former Royal Marbella development at Aldea Beach in Manilva on the Costa del Sol were issued building licences illegally by local mayor Pedro Tirado.Tirado has now been imprisoned for accepting bribes and Hurst is leading a group action to try to get back money he and other investors put into the development which are now unlikely to materialise.

Guardia Civil officers at Tenerife’s north airport arrested two people caught trying to smuggle 6.5kg of cocaine into the island. 

The couple, identified only by their initials, have been charged with crimes against the public health.

The man, 24-year-old D.A.M.B and his female companion, 35-year-old D.R.A., both Uruguayan nationals, arrived on a flight from mainland Spain.

After police became suspicious of the pair they were questioned, which raised suspicions even more and led to a body search, which revealed the drugs strapped to their bodies.

Police also discovered a large quantity of money and the pair have been detained without bail pending a court appearance.

Guardia Civil officers arrested two Estonian men, aged 23 and 24, at TFS on Friday for carrying 1,793 grams, almost 2 kilos, of cocaine inside their bodies. Agents became suspicious at the high level of nervousness in the two at routine airport clearance checks, and they were even more suspicious when searches of the men’s luggage found nothing. The pair were taken to have X-rays, and both were found to be carrying capsules. After these were evacuated, it was discovered that the first man was carrying 92 capsules containing 1,012 grams of cocaine, and the other 71 containing 781 grams. They are now being judicially processed.

Seized 4,400 kilos of hashish from a yacht flying the British flag off the coast of Torrevieja early last Friday morning and arrested the two crew members. Antonio L.R., aged 37, is a Spaniard with previous convictions for drug smuggling, and Daniel D.D., 28, is a North African who was carrying French identification and a British passport as well. Customs had spotted the craft during the afternoon on New Year's Day sailing 12 miles out to sea and considering it ‘suspicious', sent the Arao patrol boat to investigate. Provincial customs and excise department chief Arturo Marcos said that it had been sailing very slowly with its lights turned off. The yacht, a 12-metre-long vessel called the Masquerade, changed course and officers decided to carry out a search when it entered Spanish waters. Three officers boarded without resistance at 07.00 and immediately saw the contraband in several packages on the deck of the boat. They obtained a search warrant and took the crew and cargo to Alicante port, arriving at around 11.00. The drugs were unloaded on the quay, attracting the attention of several passersby, and the suspects were taken to the National Police headquarters. The investigation into the intended destination of the shipment, valued at 18 million euros, remains open.

Rolf Dieter-Glaetzner absconded prior to a scheduled Edinburgh High Court appearance and spent more than six years on the run before his re-arrest in Spain.47-year-old German national accused of sexually abusing two young girls in Scotland, skipped bail in the UK and has been arrested by police on the Costa del Sol, Spain, it was confirmed on Thursday.Detectives indicate that the fugitive will now face extradition proceedings. Charges against him in Scotland include a series of violent sexual assaults on two girls, aged six and seven at the time.Dieter-Glaetzner appeared initially at Stirling Sheriff Court in October of 2001, and was granted bail.He subsequently broke conditions of his bail, returning to his native Germany where he remained for about one year.When he returned to Scotland in July 2002, he was rearrested, and brought before the Edinburgh High Court.Once again, Dieter-Glaetzner was granted bail, pending a trial at Forfar High Court in Forfar in October of 2002. He left the country, however, for the second time, and remained at large until his capture in Spain was announced on Thursday of this week.
A Central Scotland Police spokeswoman confirmed reports that a suspect had been arrested by Costa del Sol police.

Colombian drug trafficker has been shot dead in his bed of a Madrid hospital. Leónidas Vargas Vargas received four shots from a pistol with a silencer after an individual entered his room in the 12 de Octubre Hospital at 8pm last night.
There were two people in room 543 and the assassin asked first which one was Vargas.
Police consider the shooting is almost certainly a settling of scores, with Vargas known as ‘El Viejo’ and to be linked to the Medellín drugs cartel. He was arrested in 2006 but was now granted release because of a lung problem. Police are now studying security tapes to see if the assassin has been caught on camera.Leonidas Vargas, a once powerful Colombian drug trafficker, has been shot dead in his hospital bed in the Spanish capital, Madrid. Police said that a gunman entered his room and fired four shots at Vargas, who was being treated for lung disease.
Vargas, 59, was the head of the Caqueta cartel which ran vast cocaine laboratories in Colombia in the 1980s. After serving a prison sentence in Colombia, he was arrested in Spain in 2006 and was on bail awaiting trial. The Spanish authorities stopped him up for carrying a fake Venezuelan passport, and he was later charged in connection with a 500kg (1,100lb) cocaine haul. His trial was delayed and he was admitted to the Doce de Octubre hospital for treatment in early January. Witnesses say two people entered Vargas' room on the fifth floor of the hospital. One man took out a pistol with a silencer and fired four shots at Vargas, who was asleep. His killing is believed to be part of a settling of accounts between rival drug-trafficking organisations, says the BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Colombia. Vargas assumed a low profile after being released in Colombia, but in the 1980s he was allied with the powerful Medellin drug cartel of Pablo Escobar. An idea of the scale of his wealth at the time was revealed after the Colombian state seized $29m worth of properties from him.

32 year old drug mule who came over a bit poorly at Reina Sofia last night. He told the medical services at the airport that he was feeling unwell. A couple of hours later and 78 capsules of cocaine lighter, the Guardia Civil are now keeping him company at the hospital in Santa Cruz.

peaceful protest march in Almeria
City this Friday, January 9th 2009 - a year exactly after Len and Helen Prior's house
was demolished by the Junta de Andalucía. It's being organised by AULAN, AUAN (both anti-property abuse associations inAlmeria), Ciudadanos Europeos and others. This is our first big opportunity to showthat the arbitrary treatment towards property owners must be stopped.

Immigrant has been shot dead by the Moroccan police when trying to cross the border fence in the Spanish enclave of Melilla. The police opened fire against a group of 80 Sub-Saharan people who were storming the fence at Iyasenen, and another 14 people were arrested. The dead man died when on his way to hospital, and the rest of the group managed to escape, but none made the crossing into Spain.There was a similar attack from a group of 150 last November.

two 18 year old’s from Melilla were arrested in their van at Adra, Almería after 150 kilos of hashish was found in hidden compartments in their car.

Four crew from a small launch, two of them underage, have been arrested in Almería.
It happened at 4am on Saturday in the waters of Níjar, close to Punta Polacra. The launch was heading to shore with 1,400 kilos of hashish on board. On the interception by the Maritime Guardia Civil two of those on the launch jumped into the sea in an effort to swim to shore. Both were resuced by the authorities.

Spanish police have broken up an arms trafficking gang, seizing nearly 300 weapons as well as 350 kilos of ammunition, police said Friday. Five people were detained in Palma Majorca and in Zamora in the north of the Spanish mainland. They included the owner of an arms store and an expert who repaired used weapons. The confiscated weapons ranged from revolvers to rifles and machine guns. Police also seized mortars and grenade launchers.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Thani,had €50m stolen from account at Barclays in Marbella between 2001 and 2003. Last month Barclays was reportedly ordered to post €20m as security with a Spanish court as part of a legal battle. At the time a settlement was said to be still some way off after a letter from the sheikh in the summer which vowed he would pursue every legal route possible to recover his money.
The sheikh claims a former employee set up a bank account at Barclays' Marbella branch, using his own name and the sheikh's. The sheikh claims he had no knowledge of this and his signature was forged. It is alleged money from another of his accounts was siphoned to the joint account, and later withdrawn or transferred to Monaco, the British Virgin Islands and Switzerland.

Three Brits were arrested and another was on the run last night after police in Spain seized almost four tonnes of hashish in a raid on a Costa del Sol warehouse.
Spanish drugs squad officers swooped on the industrial unit in Antequera, near Malaga, earlier yesterday before arresting the three suspects.A fourth British man was cornered during a similar raid on an apartment building in the Costa del Sol resort of Marbella, but he managed to escape through a first-floor window and was still at large, police officials said.A drugs squad officer said: "We carried out the raid after a tip-off and made one of the largest drugs seizures of the past 12 months."Three British men resident on the Costa del Sol are being held in custody facing charges for drugs trafficking."The officer confirmed: "A fourth British man, who is believed to be connected to the other three, escaped and is still on the run."

32-year-old man who reported feeling unwell to the medical services yesterday morning was found to be carrying 78 capsules of cocaine in his body, a total weight of 854 grams. The man sought medical assistance in arrivals in Reina Sofia airport, and admitted that he was carrying drugs within his person. He was immediately transferred to a Santa Cruz hospital, where he was operated upon to remove the drugs. He is still in hospital under Guardia Civil arrest.