new police team is to be established in Spain which will pursue foreign criminals

new police team is to be established in Spain which will pursue foreign criminals. The decision to set up the new squad has been taken following what is described as the ‘social alarm’ which has been caused by several violent thefts and other actions carried out by foreign gangs across the country.Violent foreign criminals and re-offenders now face deportation to their countries of origin, as do those who take part in the ever increasing numbers of domestic violence.The new police squad will be called The Expulsions Brigade for Foreign Criminals BEDEX and will start operation in the autumn.
News of the new force was given yesterday by the Secretary of State for Security, Antonio Camacho, speaking to the Interior Commission in Congress.

Three men who were shot and wounded in Marbella in Spain

Irishman is among three men who were shot and wounded in Marbella in Spain, it has emerged.Police responded to reports of an assault with a firearm in the Avenida del Prado area at 11.40pm , the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.The three, aged 39, 45 and 73, were taken to the Hospital Costa del Sol in Malaga, the paper said.
One of the men, aged 45, has already been discharged and the older man was expected to leave hospital today.The third man, aged 39, suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder. El Pais said the reasons for the attack were not yet known.

As Ireland's gang war escalates, the coastal resorts of Spain have become home to dozens of Irish criminals who are on the run

As Ireland's gang war escalates, the coastal resorts of Spain have become home to dozens of Irish criminals who are on the run from Ireland for fear of their lives. Peter 'Fatso' Mitchell and John 'The Coach' Traynor are both living in Spain, and just last month Mitchell was shot outside a pub in what is believed to be a botched execution attempt. He was shot twice in the shoulder in the popular tourist resort of Puerto Banus.
John 'The Mexican' McKeown also set up home in the Spanish resort, but after vanishing in December 2006 he is feared dead. John Gilligan, who is now jailed, also has links to Alicante in Spain, where his daughter had run a pub called The Judge's Chambers. In 2003, Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg, both believed to be Westies thugs, fled to the area following a shoot-out with gardai in Co Cavan.
However, the pair are reported to have fallen out with a rival drug dealer and were executed in January 2004.

Liverpool victim resident in Marbella for some years wounded in Banus Shooting.

Police and forensic experts inspect the scene of the shooting in Puerto Banús last night

The victim was said by witnesses to be a man in his 30's from Liverpool who has been resident in Marbella for some years. A man in his 30’s, first reported to be Eastern European by some sources, but now considered to be British by most media, has been injured in a shooting incident in a cafeteria in Puerto Banús, Marbella. At least five shots were fired in the port at 7,30pm last night, according to emergency service sources, with four of the shots hitting the man in the face after a first shot to the knee. He is reported to be seriously injured. Witnesses described the victim as a tall and athletic blonde man, and say he is British, from Liverpool, and has been living in Marbella for several years. They say the shooter, who is also thought to be British, talked to him for some time before opening fire.
Police think that what was the third shooting in the town in less than a month, was a possible settling of criminal scores.

The man was shot as he left a cafeteria in Calle Ramón Areces, to walk to his car, a dark blue British registered BMW which he had left illegally parked with the windows open.

Justice isn't the sentence. Justice is having our Gary home Steve and Lee Dunne want to get his body repatriated so they can hold a family funeral.

Gary Dunne, 22, from West Derby, was attacked with a machete near Torremolinos in March 2006.
His killer, Victor Posse Navas, was jailed for nine years by a judge in Malaga earlier this month. Mr Dunne's parents Steve and Lee Dunne want to get his body repatriated so they can hold a family funeral. But Spanish authorities have said the body needs cremating for hygiene reasons before it can be transported. Mr and Mrs Dunne have already handed petitions into Downing Street and have asked Arlene McCarthy, MEP for the north-west of England, for help. Now they are taking their case to the European Court of Human Rights. Mr Dunne, builder and father-of-one, was stabbed when he and a friend were attacked at Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol. He was taken to hospital but later died of his injuries. Navas, a 24-year-old drug addict, admitted slashing him without provocation but told the court he did not remember very much about the attack. After he was sentenced, Mrs Dunne said: "Justice isn't the sentence. Justice is having our Gary home."

Body of 96-year-old Severino Basalo Cid, a convicted serial arsonist, was found by fire-fighters

Body of 96-year-old Severino Basalo Cid, a convicted serial arsonist, was found by fire-fighters at the point of origin of a forest fire that destroyed 0.01 hectares (0.025 acres) of chestnut tree woods near Viana do Bolo (Ourense) last Wednesday afternoon. It appears that Cid's fellow residents had prevented him from setting the fire after spotting him behaving suspiciously earlier in the day, but nobody noticed when he returned to the scene to complete his mission after lunch. The blaze, which was reported shortly after 3pm, was extinguished by 5.45pm by four teams of ground-based fire-fighters supported from the air by one helicopter.
Cid's funeral took place at Viana do Bolo cemetery at 8pm yesterday evening.

Dismantled a crack and powder cocaine distribution ring operating in parks and neighborhoods in and around the Allapattah area of Miami

multi-agency Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation has successfully disrupted and dismantled a crack and powder cocaine distribution ring operating in parks and neighborhoods in and around the Allapattah area of Miami from August of 2007 until the present. The twenty-one individuals charged, were indicted on August 28, 2008. The indictment charged defendants Pablo Mendez-Trenches, a/k/a "Maka," Felipe Jesus Nunez, a/k/a "Chocolaté," Silvia Maria Zayas, a/k/a "China," Ricardo Terry Domech, a/k/a "Eugenio Arguin," a/k/a "Polopui," a/k/a "Puntilla," Antonio M. Cruz-Ramirez, a/k/a "Tony," Lazaro Soto-Rodriguez, a/k/a "Charlie Chaplin,"Aris Lara Jr., a/k/a "Gordo," Gerardo Pendas-Mechado, a/k/a "Rogelio," a/k/a "Rogelito," Felix Herrera-Cartaya, Belinda Bernal, a/k/a "La Gorda," Sergio Segon, Eduardo Lopez-Hernandez, a/k/a "Rashy," Maximo L. Carriera, Felicia Triana, a/k/a "Comadre," Flor Illiana Torres, a/k/a "Mima," Carlos Albert Pujol, Yajaira Rojas, a/k/a "La Loca," Vivian Guerra, Juan Xique, a/k/a "Juanito," Martina Roman, a/k/a "Amada," and Maritza Garcia-Duartes, with conspiracy to possess crack and/or powder cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 846. In addition, several of the defendants were charged with the distribution of crack and powdered cocaine. Two other defendants, Felipe Jesus Nunez, a/k/a "Chocolaté," and Silvia Maria Zayas, a/k/a "China," are charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of Title United States Code, Section 922(g)(1). If convicted, the defendants face possible sentences ranging from 20 years' to life imprisonment. The defendants will make their initial appearances in federal court on Monday, September 8, 2008.

Acting on a tip from the DEA, police tracked Edgar Vallejo-Guarin to a luxury hotel in Madrid, police said Friday

Spanish police have arrested a suspected Colombian drug trafficker listed among the most wanted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the police force said in a statement Friday.Acting on a tip from the DEA, police tracked Edgar Vallejo-Guarin to a luxury hotel in Madrid, police said Friday, confirming a U.S. Embassy statement.Vallejo-Guarin, 47, who has a US$5 million reward posted for information leading to his capture, was arrested Thursday, the embassy statement said.Vallejo-Guarin, also known as "Beto el Gitano," has a history of violence, money laundering and corruption, the police statement said.In June 2001 the South District of Florida accused Vallejo-Guarin of being one of the principal sources of Colombian cocaine in the United States between the years 1990-1999, the statement said.Vallejo-Guarin is suspected of having transported many tons of the drug to Florida and Europe, and is also under investigation for possible involvement in several murders, the statement said.
The United States has asked for Vallejo-Guarin's extradition, the embassy statement said, adding that the suspect was using a false identity at the time of his arrest.
The police statement said Vallejo-Guarin had a house in Sant Cugat del Valles, near the northern city of Barcelona, but had been staying at many hotels in Spain and Venezuela to avoid capture.

complex crime involving a rare and expensive Ferrari that was stolen in Marbella in 1993.

Connecticut police have helped unravel a complex crime involving a rare and expensive Ferrari that was stolen in Spain in 1993.Car smugglers falsified documents and records for the car, valued at between $4 million and $5 million, and sold it to a car enthusiast to Sharon, police said.Troopers from the State Police Motor Vehicle Fraud Task Force started their investigation in to the rare Ferrari 250 PF in June after learning that the car was registered in Connecticut. It turns out, police said, that the Ferrari was reported stolen in Spain in 1993. The original Police report identified the victim from Switzerland.
The car was then smuggled into the United States through New Jersey. It was registered and titled in New Jersey in 1994 with a false Vehicle Identification Number, police said. There were multiple paper sales and transfers over the next several years in New Jersey, police said.The vehicle was ultimately sold to an apparent unsuspecting buyer in Connecticut, who bought the car in New Jersey in 2000 for $550,000.00, police said.The buyer added the Ferrari to a collection of exotic vehicles, police said.According to exotic car enthusiasts, the 1958 Ferrari 250 PF is valued between $4 million and $5 million.Interpol and original owner assisted in the investigation.State Police investigators obtained copies of all Spanish and Swiss documents relating to the stolen Ferrari and they were all translated to English.The original owner from Switzerland never accepted the insurance claim because he believed that the Ferrari was so rare and valuable that it would eventually turn up somewhere in the world intact, police said.State Police Investigators submitted a search and seizure warrant to Superior Court for the subject’s residence in Sharon, where they located the stolen vehicle Thursday. The investigation is continuing.

Nikki Beach shooting Iranians have been arrested

Two Iranians have been arrested by the UDYCO Organised Crime Unit of the Marbella police, in connection with the shooting seen at Nikki Beach in Marbella last Saturday August 23. Judicial sources told La Opinión de Málaga that neither of the two men actually carried out the shooting. One of the two has now been released after making a statement to the police, while the other is still being held. It’s understood they took part in trouble between a group of Iranians and a group of Britons which broke out in the discotec ahead of the shots being fired. One 42 year old man needed surgery in the Costa del Sol hospital after being shot in both legs

Graeme Berry, 42, of Millerstone Rise, Kirkby Thore, Penrith, was arrested.

lorry driver has been charged with trying to smuggle drugs into the UK after about 420kg of cannabis resin was found at a British port.The drugs, with a street value of more than £880,000, was discovered by UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers in Plymouth among 20 pallets of foodstuffs.The seizure was made on Tuesday after the vehicle arrived from Santander, Spain.During a search of the vehicle, officers discovered hessian-wrapped drugs hidden among the pallets.Graeme Berry, 42, of Millerstone Rise, Kirkby Thore, Penrith, was arrested.He was later charged with attempting to smuggle the drugs into the UK and was bailed to appear before Plymouth magistrates on September 17.

Raymond Nevitt, thought to be lying low in Spain, doesn't pay up he'll face nearly 14 years in jail - when police finally get their hands on him.

fraudster on the run since 2006 has been ordered to pay back £1.6m he made through crime.If Raymond Nevitt, thought to be lying low in Spain, doesn't pay up he'll face nearly 14 years in jail - when police finally get their hands on him.
Nevitt, 43, from Whitefield, Bury, vanished on bail after being sentenced to three years and nine months for a complex business fraud involving more than £3.2m.
Now, following a proceeds of crime hearing in his absence in Manchester, Judge Martin Steiger ordered him to pay back £1.6m within six months or face a further decade in jail when police catch up with him.Police hope the prospect of a lengthy sentence will prompt him to return home to face the music. They say if he doesn't he will be forever looking over his shoulder because international arrest warrants have been issued against him.DC Julian King said: "This fraud didn't just affect banks. Dozens of staff lost their jobs as a result of Nevitt's crimes and several small companies also failed as a result of what he did. "The investigation is not closed and we are still keen to hear from anyone who may know where he is."
Nevitt ran a company called Ravelle and a series of associated businesses called PC2Go and Just Printers based in Trafford Park. The con involved getting banks and lending institutions to give out massive loans on the back of fictional business transactions.The court was told he corrupted junior members of staff to go along with the scam.Described as leading a `vulgar and ostentatious' existence, Nevitt spent the money living the high life, entertaining in top restaurants, buying cars and rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous.In 2000 he was featured in a television documentary about the Gumball Rally, giving an interview to presenter Ruby Wax after his white Ferrari somersaulted out of control in Latvia.
With money no object, he paid for the crumpled wreckage to be shipped back where it was paraded in Manchester city centre on a lorry, then parked outside one of his favourite nightspots on Deansgate.

60 year old father and his 33 year old son have been arrested for drug trafficking in l’Alfàs del Pi

60 year old father and his 33 year old son have been arrested for drug trafficking in l’Alfàs del Pi, after marihuana plants were found in their garden in the El Patró area of the town.Police say they removed 22 of the plants which were between 1.5 and 2.5 metres tall. Two shotguns and a simulated pistol were also removed from the scene.The police were reportedly alerted to the case by neighbours and found a greenhouse covered by green fabric at the scene.

Police discovered 200 marijuana plants when they searched a rural property just outside Almayate recently

Police discovered 200 marijuana plants when they searched a rural property just outside Almayate recently, and as one plant can be sold for 3,000 euros on the black market, the total haul was probably worth 600,000 euros. Two men have been arrested, one of whom is Spanish. This was one of the largest plantations of marijuana to be found in Málaga province, but top place goes to the discovery last year of 400 plants in the basement of a luxury villa in Marbella. Those plants were being grown in an artificial lake, with heat lamps directed at them to stimulate their growth. Investigators also discovered that the drugs which were allegedly produced there were subject to genetic modificication before being sold, to make them more addictive.

British man who is allegedly a member of an international drug trafficking network involved in a shooting incident in Ibiza

Officers from Fuengirola's Local Police force have arrested two people who they think were involved in a shooting incident in Ibiza in July last year. The men were travelling on a motorbike which was stopped during a routine check at the Torreblanca roundabout, and although the driver produced documentation in a different name, the police suspected that he is a British man who is allegedly a member of an international drug trafficking network, and who took part in a shoot-out between gangs in San Antonio, Ibiza, last summer. The drug trafficker is wanted by the Guardia Civil in San Antonio and there is also an extradition warrant out on him, issued by Belgium.

Expat Gangsters visiting or living on the Costas

John `The Coach' Traynor (52)
Traynor strenuously denies allegations that he set up crime reporter Veronica Guerin for her murder.Garda and criminal sources allege that Traynor travels regularly between southern Spain, Amsterdam and Brussels to organise large-scale cannabis deals. Traynor, a former fraudster and associate of `The General', Martin Cahill, is believed to have made and spent a fortune from his involvement in the hash trade between 1994 and October 1996. In a phone interview with this reporter he denied that he had any part in Guerin's death.

Peter Mitchell (33)
Mitchell, from Dublin's north inner city, was alleged during two trials to be a member of the biggest cannabis gang that operated in Ireland in the mid-1990s.
Now based in Fuengirola, Spain, Mitchell is wanted by Gardai in connection with his alleged role in the gang. Mitchell and Traynor are believed to be in regular contact.

George `The Penguin' Mitchell (51)
Ballyfermot-born armed robber-turned-cannabis and ecstasy dealer Mitchell is unlikely ever to return home, as the Gardaí, the British police and the IRA are all keen to speak to him if he returns from Amsterdam, where he allegedly continues to run his hash business.Mitchell, a suspected member of the £30 million Beit art robbery gang led by Martin Cahill in the 1980s, served 18 months in jail since he left Ireland in 1996 after being caught during a robbery of computers in Holland. He is reportedly worth €15.3 million. Mitchell was accused in his absence in a court in London of being the organiser of a botched gangland hit on gangster Tony Brindle, a rival of the infamous Daly crime clan. Sources close to Mitchell have denied he was involved.

Tommy Savage (51)
Savage phoned Garda detectives from Amsterdam four years ago and said he had no part in the shooting dead of ex-INLA man Paddy `Teasy Weasy' McDonald in 1992.
However, because of newspaper reports about his alleged cannabis dealing, he has not returned because he says he would not get a fair trial.Savage, a former member of the Official IRA -- the old paramilitary wing of the Workers' Party -- was sentenced to nine years in Portlaoise for armed robbery in the 1970s. A number of his former colleagues have suffered violent deaths. In 1983 Danny McKeown was shot dead outside a Dublin dole office. Later that year Gerry Hourigan was killed in Ballymun. Michael Crinnion was murdered in Cork in 1995. Savage is believed to be close to George Mitchell.

Mick `The Corporal' Weldon (48)
Gardai have sought Weldon since 1993, when he fled the country as detectives prepared to bring him before the Special Criminal Court. He was found by Gardai with a gun allegedly in his possession.Weldon reportedly has his own plane and pilot's licence, and frequently flies to Colombia and Surinam. It is claimed by Garda sources that the former Irish Army corporal from Swords is one of the biggest cannabis barons in Europe.One criminal who knows Weldon insisted: "Mick is just like one of the lads who does a bit of this and that -- he's not an international gangster."Weldon's whereabouts are uncertain. He was last sighted in the Costa del Sol.

Seamus Ward
Ward was named during a trial two years ago as being a member of the same cannabis gang as Peter Mitchell. Ward, from Walkinstown, Dublin, has been missing since October 1996. Gardai believe he may be in the Costa del Sol, but criminal sources claim he is living in southern England.

Jim McCann
Jim "Just call me the Shamrock Pimpernel" McCann is wanted all over the world for a variety of crimes, and is regarded as a colourful figure in the underworld.
The reformed cannabis smuggler Howard Marks wrote in his autobiography that McCann mixed with unsuspecting IRA men and Hollywood actors like James Coburn during his heyday in the 1980s.McCann, originally from Belfast, in 1971 became the first man in decades to escape from Crumlin Road jail, where he was on remand for petrol-bombing Queen's University.
In the intervening period he linked up with international cannabis dealer Marks, while still trading on his reputation as a revolutionary. In 1977 he was arrested in France for extradition to Germany for allegedly bombing a British Army base in Moenchengladbach. A subsequent case failed, thanks largely to protests by French political radicals. Next he turned up in Naas, when Gardai caught him with nearly £100,000 worth of cannabis. When arrested, he would only say: "My name is Mr Nobody. My address is The World."McCann was later freed by the Garda on a technicality. He was last seen in Argentina.

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has vowed to end its reputation as a villains' bolt hole.

Turkish Cypriot detectives are accustomed to receiving tip-offs from their British counterparts about notorious criminal underworld figures who are heading for the island. Ever since Turkey invaded the north more than 30 years ago, the sun-baked coastline has been a haven for villains happy to exploit the impotence of extradition warrants in an occupied territory.
But as leaders from both the Turkish north and Greek south prepare for next month's talks aimed at uniting the island, the self- proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has vowed to end its reputation as a villains' bolt hole. Ferdi Soyer, the prime minister, told The Times that Britons seeking sanctuary from justice would be deported. The attempt to improve northern Cyprus's international reputation has been welcomed by the Foreign Office and by British police forces, which believe that 15 fugitives are living there. The authorities have been repeatedly embarrassed by the likes of Kenneth Noye, who laundered proceeds of the the Brink's-Mat robbery, and Sean Lupton, a suspect in the £53million Securitas robbery, both of whom were traced to the island. Mr Soyer issued a warning yesterday to criminals who consider northern Cyprus a haven. Sitting in his Nicosia office beneath a portrait of Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, Mr Soyer said: “To British criminals, I say: ‘Do not think of coming to northern Cyprus'. “Some think that they can save themselves from justice here. They are thinking wrongly. When we receive information from the British about fugitives here we will arrest them and hand them over to Britain. They are not welcome here.” A few miles away, at police headquarters, Commander Mehmet Ozdamar, first assistant to the TRNC police commander, echoed that sentiment. “Even though the TRNC is not recognised by any government and has no extradition treaty with Britain, we have identified and arrested criminals who have fled here and sent them back. There's no safe haven for criminals here.”
The words are no idle threat. In the past year, two wanted Britons were seized by Turkish Cypriot police, escorted on to flights back to Britain and handed over to Scotland Yard. Peter Roberts, 72, nicknamed “Maggot Pete” for selling diseased poultry, was deported after being spotted working at a car-hire firm. He is now serving a six-year sentence.
Miran Thakrar, 24, was returned to Britain and jailed for 42 years for murdering three men over a cocaine deal in Hertfordshire. Turkish Cypriot police traced him after he boasted in the island's British-style pubs about the shootings. This year Lupton, 47, skipped bail and travelled to the island, where he allegedly tried to launder some of Securitas's missing £32 million in the 45 casinos. The Times established that he had been living in northern Cyprus. When he heard that two Kent detectives were on their way to arrest him he fled across the UN buffer zone and on to Israel. Eight years earlier Noye, now 61, also left his retreat after discovering that diplomatic negotiations would secure his deportation. He was subsequently arrested in Spain. Brian Brendan Wright, the drug baron known as the Milkman because he “always delivered”, took a private jet to Cyprus but fled the island when the authorities realised who he was, having observed that he was moving vast sums of money through their banking system. He was picked up in Spain and jailed last year.
Some suspected criminals, however, are harder to banish. Asil Nadir, who fled to northern Cyprus in 1990 to escape criminal charges after his Polly Peck business empire collapsed, enjoys his freedom because he is a Turkish Cypriot by birth and runs much of the pro-TRNC media. Gary Robb, a suspected drug dealer, has ploughed millions of pounds into an as-yet unfinished building project. The TRNC authorities would prefer him to complete the job before considering his deportation.
Mr Ozdamar is undeterred. He flicks though a file on British criminals as he explains how his officers have testified in the British courts - and how British detectives have returned the favour. Last year a van full of exhibits from Staffordshire arrived in Nicosia to help to secure the conviction of Kemal Kemalzade, a Turkish Cypriot who set fire to his newsagent's business in Stoke-on-Trent in an insurance scam in which a man died. Knowing that he could not be deported from his homeland, he went to northern Cyprus. But judges there agreed to try him and Kemalzade is now serving a ten-year jail sentence in Nicosia. Mr Ozdamar bristles with pride, too, as he explains how intelligence given by his officers to Britain led to the seizure of 350kg of heroin and 13 convictions in British courts.
The Foreign Office, which will not recognise northern Cyprus, welcomed its attempts to clean up its reputation. “We applaud the Turkish Cypriots' determination to ensure that the northern part of Cyprus is not a haven for fugitives from justice,” a spokesman said.

A European Union diplomatic source added: “It is very positive if fugitives are returned from north Cyprus. It seems that the Turkish Cypriot community wants to improve its international reputation and demonstrate its adherence to European standards.

“With a reunification process under way in Cyprus, the Turkish Cypriot community is keen to demonstrate that it takes its international responsibilities seriously.”

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass, the Ulster Unionist and Turkophile who has had a holiday home in northern Cyprus for 24 years - and who has often helped British detectives to trace fugitives there - believes the TRNC should be recognised. “The word has got out among Britain's criminal underworld that the political situation in Cyprus means they can use the loophole in the law to their advantage. It is terribly frustrating for British police forces. But things are changing.” With prospects growing of a political solution to the Cyprus problem - Europe's most intractable dispute - the remaining British fugitives could be forced to flee if EU extradition warrants come into force.
Mr Soyer believes that the TRNC should be allowed to come in from the cold, allowing Cyprus to show the world that Muslim Turks and Christian Greeks can live side by side - to say nothing of the impact that the end of the trade embargo would have on the north's ailing economy.
But Mr Ozdamar raises a hand to block questions about how a peace settlement would affect fugitives still in the north. “There is more and more organised and international crime across the globe. So, police departments all around the world should work together against all types of crimes now. Police are not politicians.”

42-year-old man was arrested in Málaga yesterday three hours after phoning to warn that a bomb had been placed on a Swiss International Airbus 321

42-year-old man was arrested in Málaga yesterday three hours after phoning to warn that a bomb had been placed on a Swiss International Airbus 321 travelling from from Zurich to Málaga. None of the 141 passengers were injured as they were made to evacuate the plane at Geneva airport using the emergency escape chutes. As a result of the incident, the runway was closed for around ninety minutes, forcing eight other flights to be either cancelled or diverted to Lyon.
The man, who was seized at his home on the Avenida Salvador Allende, has been charged with public disorder

Murder inquiry after a man was shot dead in Finglas last night.The shooting follows a gun attack in Marbella

Murder inquiry after a man was shot dead in Finglas last night.The shooting follows a gun attack in Marbella in Spain last Thursday night in which Peter Mitchell, a former associate of convicted drug dealer John Gilligan, was shot and injured. Two bystanders were also hurt in the attack.
Two masked raiders armed with handguns burst into a busy pub and opened fire as mourners attended a function following a funeral.Gardai said they singled out their victims in the upstairs of the Jolly Toper bar before shooting them a number of times.The dead man was named locally as Paul Martin.Detectives believe the attackers fled the scene in a dark coloured car driven by a third man who had been waiting on Church Street before making off towards the Finglas Road.Superintendent John Harnett, Finglas Garda station, said a car was later found nearby and is undergoing a technical examination.The two men were rushed to the Mater hospital where Mr Martin, who was in his late 30s, died a short time later.The second man, aged 33, is in a stable condition after undergoing emergency surgery at the Mater.A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out on the dead man at the Dublin City Morgue.
Gardai said one attacker was just over 6ft while the other was just under 6ft.
Both men were slim and wearing dark coloured clothing.Supt Harnett refused to say whether the shooting was linked to drug crime or if the dead man had previous criminal convictions but it is understood the attack was linked to a local gangland dispute.Gardai have received information from people in the pub at the time, he added.“We have received great co-operation so far and we are appealing for anyone with information to contact us,” Supt Harnett said.

Gangland Warfare hits the Costas Russian mafia and British gangsters, have fought for control of the lucrative drugs trade in southern Spain

Gangland war against Dublin criminal John Gilligan has shifted to Spain’s Costa del Sol. Gardai believe that the attempted murder of a former member of Gilligan’s drugs gang in Andalusia was linked to threats against the crime boss. Peter Mitchell was shot outside a bar on a complex in Puerto Banus, near Marbella.Two other people wounded in the shooting were innocent bystanders from Ireland, says the Republic’s Department of Foreign Affairs. One of the two other victims was a 73-year-old Irishman.Spanish police were waiting yesterday to interview 39-year-old Mitchell, who is expected to make a full recovery from his injuries. Mitchell, who fled to Spain in 1996, had been one of a number of gangsters targeted in a major state operation against the Gilligan gang.Security sources in the Republic last night linked the murder bid on the Spanish coast to a new campaign by rival Irish criminals against Gilligan and his associates.Earlier this month it was revealed that Gilligan was receiving 24-hour protection inside Portlaoise to safeguard him from other prisoners.Rival criminals are angry over his recent interview in Irish pop magazine Hot Press, via a mobile phone. This contributed to a security crackdown, which has affected the operations of other gang leaders inside.A Gardai source said: ‘Up until then, a number of jailed criminals were still able to run their empires from inside. Now they can’t communicate with their teams and they blame Gilligan for that.‘Gilligan was badly beaten up by a young Dublin criminal in front of other inmates. And these rivals are not just prepared to go after him it seems; they have the team and the firepower to hunt down the remaining members of his old gang, most of whom are now in Spain.’In recent years the Irish underworld, alongside the Russian mafia and British gangsters, have fought for control of the lucrative drugs trade in southern Spain.

Nikki Beach shooting possible links to Peter Mitchell hit.

Police in Spain are investigating if an overnight shooting in Marbella is linked to a gun attack on an Irishman in the Costa del Sol this week.A 42-year-old man and one other person were shot in the early hours of this morning, outside a disco bar.
On Thursday night 39-year-old Peter Mitchell, a former associate of convicted drugs dealer John Gilligan, was shot in a bar in Puerto Banus by a masked gunman.
He remains under guard in hospital in Spain after narrowly surviving the assassination attempt, while two other men caught up in the shooting received minor injuries.

Shots were fired as fighting broke out at the Nikki Beach disco

Shots were fired as fighting broke out at the Nikki Beach disco, near Marbella, where guests included the British actress Jennifer Metcalfe from the soap opera HollyoaksA 42-year-old man received hospital treatment after being shot in both legs, while the extent of the injuries to the second victim remained unclear. A third was believed to have needed treatment for a cut hand.One witness said: 'It was absolute pandemonium. People ran for their lives. Chairs and bottles were flying all over the place. Some people ran for cover as it all kicked off, and others just dropped to the ground and covered their heads as best they could to protect themselves. 'The minute they realised someone had been shot there was a mass surge for the door, as people tried to get out of the club as quickly as possible.'
It was the second shooting incident in 48 hours in the area. Last Thursday Peter Mitchell, 39, who has connections to the jailed Dublin gangland criminal John Gilligan, survived after being shot outside a bar on a complex in Puerto Banus, near Marbella. Two bystanders, including a 72-year-old Irishman, were also hit after a masked gunman burst into the bar and fired four shots before escaping in a white BMW. Irish police believe the attempted murder of Mitchell is linked to threats against Gilligan inside Ireland's Portlaoise jail. Mitchell fled to Spain after the 1996 murder of the investigative journalist Veronica Guerin

'Fat' Freddie Thompson, who has been lying low in Spain for the last number of weeks, has returned to his inner city stronghold

'Fat' Freddie Thompson, who has been lying low in Spain for the last number of weeks, has returned to his inner city stronghold, no doubt to organise the next phase of a bloody feud that has already claimed 13 lives.It seems unbelieveable that this drug mastermind, who has so much blood on his hands, has now the temerity to attempt to sue gardai for an alleged security breach. With almost breathtaking affrontery, this criminal would use the law he so despises to protect his life and blame it when it's under threat. What is not being denied is that a security dossier with the names and addresses, car registrations and other details has been stolen by an opportunistic thief from a garda car. Thompson has been made aware that the file could be in the hands of his deadly enemies in the long-running feud. As the violence has escalated, many of Thompson's henchmen, fearful of an assassin's bullet, have sought refuge in some of the more affluent parts of south County Dublin. News of the stolen dossier of course will send shivers up their spine and will further enflame an already tense situation. The idea that this gangster could be contemplating an action against the gardai because of a threat to his own life is beyond a joke and highlights the need for the State to take the gloves off and take on these drug barons. When the Government returns after their summer holidays, they should bring in new laws to deal with these organised criminals. Anti-racketeering laws, like the RICO laws that brought organised crime gangs to their knees in the US, are needed. The Government must realise that Freddie Thompson and his ilk represent a deadly menace to the wellbeing of the State.

Peter "Fatso" Mitchell and two other men received bullet wounds as they sat drinking beer on the pub terrace near the Costa del Sol

Peter "Fatso" Mitchell and two other men received bullet wounds as they sat drinking beer on the pub terrace near the Costa del Sol resort of Puerto Banus. Four shots were fired by a masked gunman, two of which hit 39-year-old Mitchell in the shoulder and arm. He was last night recovering in hospital. Spanish authorities said his injuries were not life threatening. The shooting happened around 11.40pm on Thursday night outside the El Jardin bar in the Aloha Gardens complex, a popular tourist area in the upmarket residential suburb of Nueva Andalucia. The two other men shot -- aged 45 and 73 -- received flesh wounds to the arm and leg respectively. Both have already been discharged from hospital. Local reports said that the two other victims were Irish nationals. However, Spanish authorities refused to confirm this last night. Spanish authorities said a gunman wearing a balaclava fired the shots after running up to where Mitchell was sitting. He then jumped into a white getaway car, which sped away from the scene and was later discovered abandoned a short distance away. The identities of the other two injured men were unknown last night. However, Spanish officials described them as innocent holidaymakers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mitchell, originally from Summerhill in Dublin's north inner city, is a former lieutenant of jailed drug baron John Gilligan. He fled Ireland in 1996 amid the unprecedented garda crackdown following the assassination of journalist Veronica Guerin. Mitchell was a close friend of another Gilligan gang member, Brian Meehan, who is the only man to have been convicted of Guerin's murder.
The Special Criminal Court, which jailed Gilligan for 20 years for drug trafficking, heard evidence that Mitchell was part of a gang which imported vast amounts of cannabis into the country. Detectives believe Mitchell remained heavily involved in drugs rackets after fleeing to Spain. He had also been running the Paparazzi bar in Puerto Banus until it closed earlier this year after failing to secure a music licence. One witness, Sara Lopez (23), said: "I heard four pops like fire crackers and the next minute I heard screaming and looked up to see an old white car racing away from the scene. "A man was lying on the floor of the terrace outside the bar and writhing around in agony with blood coming from his shoulder as the first of the police cars turned up." All three shooting victims were rushed to the Costa del Sol Hospital in nearby Marbella. Spanish police said the elite Malaga-based Anti-Drug and Organised Crime Unit were assisting local officers in the investigation. Recent reports said Mitchell was selling his €1.2m villa in Puerto Banus following the closure of his pub and a falling out with associates. His bar had been frequented by Dublin hitman Paddy Doyle, who was himself shot dead in the nearby Costa del Sol town of Cancelada near Estepona in February. Doyle, who was originally from Dublin, died after he and his friend Gary Hutch were ambushed in his 4x4 outside an apartment complex. Hutch survived the shooting. Nueva Andalucia is a residential area behind the upmarket Puerto Banus port where thousands of Irish and British expats and holidaymakers party every summer alongside multi-million-euro yachts and expensive sports cars. High-profile summer residents include British PR guru Max Clifford. The area is also home to a string of golf courses, a casino and a bullring. But Irish, British and eastern European criminals behind shady drugs deals and prostitution also frequent its bars and restaurants. And the street where Thursday's shooting happened has been the scene of several violent shootings in recent years.

Convicted drugs smuggler Anthony Cyril Spencer, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire has helped his son Jason Wilson to write Him & Hers Smuggling Vacation.

COMIC book with top tips on drug smuggling from a Midland supercriminal is being circulated at HMP Birmingham.Convicted drugs smuggler Anthony Cyril Spencer, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire has helped his son Jason Wilson to write Him & Hers Smuggling Vacation.Spencer was sentenced to six years in jail for importing cannabis in 2003 and has spent more than 20 years in prison.The book is based on a married Coventry couple who try to smuggle a large cannabis stash from Spain into the UK.
It features crime tips, including the best way to transport cannabis from the sea to dry land and safest way to communicate plans.It also describes in detail how police undertake surveillance operations.Jason said the book has proven a big hit at Winson Green where it is being widely read by inmates.And said he hopes it will be contained in prison libraries in the future.
But last night Birmingham Perry Barr Labour MP, Khalid Mahmood, said he was shocked that prisoners have been allowed to read the book.“I’m absolutely appalled,” he said. “I don’t want to stop former criminals writing about their experiences.“But to actually put information into a book like this which will only increase the criminal knowledge of inmates is highly dangerous.
“Prison authorities should have stopped this from getting into the wrong hands.
“We don’t want our prisons turning into universities of crime.”British police named the 59-year-old Spencer was the ‘most wanted’ criminal in Britain while investigating a multi million pound drugs factory in a remote farmhouse in the Midlands.Spencer fled to Holland in 2000, on suspicion of taking part in the plot to produce amphetamine sulphate and Ecstasy on the farm.And in 2006 he was cleared of killing 37-year-old David Royle, who was shot dead on May 26 2001 in Amsterdam, Holland.It was understood at the time that Spencer’s plea of self-defence was accepted – he was shot in the chest during the incident.
Jason, 37, who previously worked as an animator at Birmingham’s Custard Factory, said friends and relatives of Winson Green inmates have sent them copies of the book.
He said: “It’s selling incredibly well and is very popular in Winson Green
“I’m really glad about that, as that’s the audience I wanted to reach, since dad’s spent over 20 years of his life in prison.
“Also, the project started as a prison comic.
“It went from wing to wing in dad’s jail in Spain.“Now we’re getting great feedback from Winson Green. They say it’s ‘F***ing brilliant.’
“My ambition is to get loads of them into prison libraries around the country.”
Spencer, who now lives in Ireland and helps convicts receive legal representation, is also pleased his former inmates are able to read the book and believes it could prove very useful for them.He said: “I’m really glad this is proving to be a big hit with all my old pals in jail.“I wanted to make sure all the technical information was spot on, otherwise the book would have had no credibility.
“We’ve put the kind of authentic criminal detail into the comic that you’ll never get in crime movies
“This comic will be like the bible for inmates. Although it’s also great for youngsters, who can look at the pictures.”
But Jason said he doesn’t want his book to make the criminals look like heroes.He said: “I don’t want to glamourise them, like one of these Guy Richie movies. Criminals are very hard people to envy.
“They have all been to prison. They all have bad backgrounds. They are all dysfunctional.“But they certainly aren’t ignorant or dumb.
“The ones I’ve met through my father are all passionate about crime, and are more intelligent than they are given credit for.“That’s what can make them terrifying.”
Spencer changed his family name from Wilson to avoid police pressure.
And Jason admits being raised by one of the Midland’s most notorious criminals was a traumatic experience.“I didn’t realise what dad did for a living when I was a young kid,” he said. “When dad was in prison when I was seven, I was told that he was going off to college.
“But when I was 10 he was imprisoned for armed robbery, then it was explained to me what had actually happened.“It was a stressful life. With my dad going in and out of prison, the family was in turmoil.“My parents ended up getting divorced, and we moved houses and schools.“When I didn’t know anybody in a new area, that’s really when my passion for drawing took off.”Jason said he now wants his father to steer clear of gangsters.He hopes that crime capers will permanently be replaced by comic capering.“Parents are always meant to worry about their kids,” said Jason. “Instead it’s always been me worrying about dad.“I’d much rather that he was helping me write comic books all the time.“If this one really takes off, hopefully it will keep dad away from all the bad stuff.
“He’s 59 now, and still suffers from infections because of the bullet shrapnel that exploded in his body in Holland, and is still there.“I definitely think it’s time he retired for good.”
It took the two men a couple of years to complete the comic. Jason devised and wrote the story, about a foolish young Midland couple, who stumble into a world of depraved drug smuggling while on holiday.
He then posted pages of script to his father in his Spanish prison cell, who ensured the criminal activities were accurate.
“If dad didn’t know any of the details, he was surrounded by people who did know,” Jason said.Finally, the younger man provided the colourful cartoons.
One of the characters – a grey haired master-criminal – has been sketched to resemble his dad.During the project, over 2,000 letters were sent between father and son.They have always been close.Both West Midlands Police and the Prison Service declined to comment.

crackdown on Costa Blanca crime, the police have arrested 28 alleged members of criminal groups from former Soviet countries

crackdown on Costa Blanca crime, the police have arrested 28 alleged members of criminal groups from former Soviet countries on suspicion of money laundering in what Spanish authorities have called the largest-ever crackdown on international organized crime in Europe.The arrests took place in Benissa, Alicante, Aigues, Orihuela, Altea and Benidorm as well as Malaga and Barcelona. More than 400 Spanish police agents took part in operation Avispa, or "Wasp," a weekend-long sting that culminated in the detention of 28 people whom they allege are members of the "Russian mafia," Police conducted raids in 11 cities along Spain's Mediterranean coast, seizing cars, cash, jewelry, weapons and works of art, the Spanish Interior Ministry announced Monday. In all, police seized 41 homes and businesses and froze 800 bank accounts.Most of those arrested were ethnic Georgians, the ministry said.
Munoz said that 13 of the 22 held Georgian passports, five Russian passports, three Spanish passports and one a German passport. No names were immediately released.They were placed under arrest on suspicion of belonging to illegal organizations, money laundering and fraudulent bankruptcy.The operation was a joint international effort involving police forces from Russia, Germany, France, Belgium, Israel and the United States, the Interior Ministry said in a statement posted on its web site.The raids yielded 42 luxury vehicles, including Bentley, Mercedes, Porsche, Jaguar and BMW models. Weapons seized included shotguns and ammunition, brass knuckles, knives and a saber.The money-laundering operations were conducted primarily in the Cataluna, Costa del Sol and Alicante regions of Spain and involved the purchase of property and establishment of fraudulent commercial and financial networks, the Interior Ministry said.As money-laundering fronts, the groups set up restaurants, bars and clubs, which were among the properties seized, the ministry said. Also seized were country villas, city offices and a site to be turned into a housing development, "Los Eucaliptus," consisting of 38 identical homes. Footage of the raids shown on NTV television Monday evening showed one of the suspects handcuffed and in his underwear on the floor of an lavishly decorated living room.
The Spanish Interior Ministry's statement called the operation the "biggest blow to international organized crime in all of Europe to date."Spanish authorities said that 22 of the suspects were notorious crime bosses known as "thieves-in-law."
While the Spanish Interior Ministry talked in terms of the "Russian mafia," this blanket term is commonly used in the West for often-unrelated criminal groups from the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Denis Dechkov, a diplomat at the Russian Embassy in Madrid, said Spanish authorities had not provided the embassy with any information about the arrests. "I have no information about how many of them are Russian citizens," he said.
Gregorio Laso-Mostoles, spokesman for the Spanish Embassy in Moscow, also said he did not know how many Russian citizens had been arrested. "At this time, I can say only that the majority of those arrested are of Georgian nationality," he said.
It was unclear whether any of them were facing criminal charges in Russia. Prosecutor General's Office spokeswoman Tatyana Matyunina said she had no information about the arrests and could not comment on possible extradition requests.
Reached by telephone, a spokeswoman for the Spanish Justice Ministry, Julia Gomez, said she expected the suspects to be tried in Spanish courts for the crimes committed on Spanish soil.Andrei Konstantinov, who heads the Agency of Journalistic Investigations in St. Petersburg and has a reputation as the most knowledgeable chronicler of Russia's criminal underworld, said that Russian gangsters began moving to Spain in the mid-1990s to escape the turf wars."Most of them left behind the life of crime and began buying real estate to legitimize the dirty money," Konstantinov said Monday. "But it wasn't just the gangsters. A lot of bureaucrats who earned their money dishonestly also went to Spain."The Spanish police operation was conducted under the auspices of a special anti-corruption commission overseen by the Spanish high court, Audencia Nacional, and appeared to be part of a broad campaign against money laundering and organized crime. Calls to Audencia Nacional went unanswered Monday.
In March, seven people were jailed in southeast Spain on provisional charges related to money laundering, possibly linked to the Yukos oil major.
Reuters quoted a source close to the investigation as saying the suspects may have been siphoning funds from Yukos without the company's knowledge as part of a bigger money-laundering ring.
"These are individuals who, from inside the Russian company, appear to have diverted sums of money ... which then left the country without the knowledge of the company or the tax authorities," Reuters quoted the source as saying.
A week earlier, 33 others had been arrested on Spain's Mediterranean coast on money-laundering charges.Spanish Attorney General Candido Conde-Pumpido at the time called those money-laundering arrests "the tip of the iceberg" of international organized crime in Spain.

Spain police have made their biggest heroin seizure when drugs with a street value of more than 54 million euros ($89.6 million) were found at Sitges

Spain police have made their biggest heroin seizure when drugs with a street value of more than 54 million euros ($89.6 million) were found in the Mediterranean port of Sitges.The 316.5kg of heroin were taken from a US-flagged ship and loaded on a van with a Dutch licence plate, police said in a statement. Five men, four of Turkish origin and a Romanian were detained.The drugs were in 633 packages.It is one of the biggest heroin busts in Europe and it is the first time that smugglers have been caught by Spanish police trying to bring the drug into the country by ship, the police statement said.
"We have managed to discover and dismantle a method of introducing heroin, by sea, which was unknown to date, even at the European level, which is especially dangerous," the statement said.Police said they began their investigation in February by monitoring a Dutch national of Turkish origin who was arrested in 1994 for being the leader of a group that smuggled 118kg of heroin into Spain.
He was one of the five men detained on Thursday.Spain, with its extensive southern coastline, is Europe's main point of entry for Moroccan cannabis and for cocaine from South America, mostly from Colombia, the world's top producer of the drug.

Marbella Police in action

Police have arrested nine people from the Costa Blanca on suspicion of peddling liquid ecstasy via the internet

Police have arrested nine people from the Costa Blanca on suspicion of peddling liquid ecstasy via the internet. They say the substance is highly dangerous and the bottle carries a warning that it is ‘unsuitable for human consumption’. A total of 12 people from the provinces of Alicante, Malaga and Madrid were detained last week and found to be in possession of 14 litres of Gamma Butirolactona (GBL).This is primarily an industrial solvent used for metal cleaning and removing paint, and also used in farming and the pharmaceutical industry, police explain. GBL is also a main ingredient in the perilous designer drug known as liquid ecstasy.A high volume of sales by individuals not involved in industries where it is used aroused officers’ suspicions a year ago.
Since that time, some 15 people have been hospitalised after taking GBL orally.
Police say that further arrests have not been ruled out.

Málaga waiter stabbed

waiter in a Málaga restaurant was stabbed after he asked a beggar to stop bothering his customers. The vagrant smashed plates on the floor before picking up a table knife and attacking the 26-year-old waiter who was not seriously injured. Catering workers have complained that city centre beggars constitute an on-going problem but that complaints to the town hall bring no solution.

Wave of arrests investigation into taxfraud involving a bank in Liechtenstein. Costa arrests were in Marbella, Fuengirola, Torremolinos

70 Spanish nationals have been arrested in a major investigation into tax and fiscal fraud involving a bank in Liechtenstein. Four of the detentions were in Marbella, Fuengirola, Torremolinos and Benalmádena and officers have also visited a private bank located in Nueva Andalucía.
According to official sources some 200 million euros is thought to have been involved in the fraud. The 'Jade-Limusina' investigation started in April when the Tax Agency presented the anti-corruption prosecutor with a report indicating that 198 people could be involved in tax evasion. These were all resident in Spain and are thought to have had dealings with the Liechtenstein Global Trust (LGT).
This is an international case and started off in Germany where some 1,000 people are though to be involved. As it developed it saw the tax authorities in Spain working with colleagues in Australia, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK and USA. All these countries had instances of their nationals using the same bank to allegedly avoid paying tax to the authorities.
The case in Spain was placed under the wing of the Audiencia Nacional judge Santiago Pedraz who ordered investigations by the tax authority's own team and the anti-corruption squad of the Guardia Civil. This led to raids on around 20 companies and business advisors in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Zaragoza.
The situation of the Nueva Andalucía private bank is not clear. It is believed that the Guardia Civil were at the bank interviewing officials for an hour but no arrests appear to have been made. It is also understood that the same bank could be involved in the German arm of this investigation.
LGT is not only caught up in this fraud investigation. Last week in the USA a hearing of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) of the US Senate also cast doubt on the bank's operations. In a statement LGT Group asserted that: ''it has always conducted its business in accordance with the applicable legal and regulatory provisions. The data under investigation by the PSI - which is based on the data stolen from LGT Treuhand in 2002 and goes back to the 1970s - is from a time when different regulations applied and when there was no Qualified Intermediary (QI) agreement in place. The specific cases mentioned in the subcommittee's report are dated and do not in any way reflect LGT's current business practices.'' Obviously following the wave of arrests in Spain and the parallel investigations in the USA the bank will once again be under the spotlight.

Civil Guard is looking for the thieves who broke into the home belonging to their Civil Guard Chief Captain in San Vicente del Raspeig, in Alicante.

Civil Guard is looking for the thieves who broke into the home belonging to their Civil Guard Chief Captain in San Vicente del Raspeig, in Alicante.The chief was asleep with his family in his home in the old Guardia Civil barracks in Babel, where some 20 civil guard families now reside, while the thieves obtained access through a balcony window. The embarrassing theft took place a month ago, but news of it has only just been released. A bag and other items were taken.

Prices falling, buyers are disappearing and developers, starved of loans by Spanish banks nervous about international financial instability

prices are falling, buyers are disappearing and developers, starved of loans by Spanish banks nervous about international financial instability, are going bust. Along the Costas, developments lie half-finished, without water and electricity, and without any prospect of being sold.
For Spain's notoriously corrupt and capricious planning regime, which gave birth to the developments now disfiguring virtually all the country's Mediterranean coastline, the chickens are coming home to roost. Houses built on the nod of corrupt mayors are being refused retrospective planning permission by regional administrations under pressure from the green lobby. Many properties, new and not-so-new, are blighted by illegality and are the effectively worthless; others have simply been demolished. Scan the websites used by current or potential British expatriates and you will find people desperate for advice about how to reclaim deposits that they will, in many cases, never see again – and all at the wrong end of life, when lost savings cannot be recouped.
Even the biggest Spanish firms are going under. Last week, Martinsa-Fadesa, a major and respected player, filed for bankruptcy.
Gwilym Rhys-Jones is a financial investigator based on the Costa del Sol, and a longtime observer of the Spanish property scene. He says that even large, well-known builders were accepting deposits for off-plan developments that had no planning permission. "These things are no more than pipe dreams, but there was such a ready supply of British and north European buyers that all they had to do was show them a pretty drawing and they were falling over themselves to buy them."
Drive along the coast south of Alicante and the results of the Spanish property bubble are there to see: serried ranks of exquisitely tasteless, often empty, villas advancing in close order up isolated, parched hillsides. Many have been built in locations totally unsuitable for housing: by the sides of dual carriageways, away from shops and amenities – anywhere that developers could find a landowner willing to sell. Property has driven the Spanish economy like no other in the European Union. Last year, housing investment accounted for a tenth of GDP and 13 per cent of private sector jobs. More than four million dwellings have been built in the last decade, a boom fuelled partly by an influx of British retirees (some three-quarters of a million Britons now reside in Spain). Britain's Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors says the number of homes built last year would be excessive even given steady market conditions, never mind a downturn.
But it's on the Costas where the developers are really hurting. La Axarquia is part of Malaga province, a constellation of 29 coastal and inland councils. Ask about the number of illegally built properties in La Axarquia and the official figure will be about 10,000. Local environmentalists put that at more than 20,000.
"In Marbella, the local council is calling on the regional authorities to retrospectively authorise illegally built properties because otherwise mortgages cannot be raised on them," says Mr Rhys-Jones. "In other words, they want to draw a line under the old era." However, he does not believe the property industry will be cleaned up any time soon. "In my town of Estepona, the mayor was elected in May on an anti-corruption ticket. He is now awaiting trial, charged with money laundering, and influence-peddling relating to planning permission."
Housebuilding was popular with ordinary Spaniards, struggling to match the living standards of their more developed partners in the EU. Unfettered building was a vote-winner with local electorates because of the money it injected. Smallholdings, worth next to nothing as agricultural land, suddenly took on great value. Helping it all in recent years was the pound's strength against the euro, making Spain an attractive destination for elderly British couples wanting to maximise their pensions. Now, the pound has dropped and the developers are finding fewer takers from the UK. The result is an enormous glut. Prices are falling relentlessly on the Costas, destroying the hopes of Britons who bought properties as investments.
Tina Reeves, who has worked as an estate agent in Spain for the last 18 years, says tortuous planning laws are part of the problem. "Licences granted by local councils to developers are being rescinded by the regional authorities," she explains. "It's not the fault of the developers, it's the fault of local councils granting licences and not passing it by the region. Also, not many Spanish banks are lending at the moment. They are getting uptight because even they don't know whether anything is legal any more."
Drive inland, a few miles from the Costa Blanca resort of Torrevieja, and you come to the village of San Miguel. As recently as 25 years ago it was an isolated spot, accessible only by a potholed road. Now it is thriving, partly thanks to an influx of expatriates such as Margaret and her friend Melvyn, both from south Yorkshire.
Margaret moved to Spain a decade ago. She feels sorry for people like Peter, but says they are often victims of their own naivety. "People leave their brains at Gatwick. You wouldn't part with your money that easily in the UK, but when they get here, they do. Spanish people will not sign unless everything is in order.
"They bring these people out from England on short breaks and show them a new-build property or a plan and tell them, 'This is your dream' – and it is a dream. The amount of building has gone mad. There is hardly a patch of coastline not built on. When we came here, you would have detached properties with a bit of land. Now it's apartments and houses crammed together."
The value of Margaret's pension has dropped with the pound – the rising euro means she is worse off by the equivalent of a weekly shop – but she says he and her husband would never return to Britain. "I wouldn't go back. I don't think I could afford to live there, to be honest."
Melvyn, a former environmental health officer, is very pro-Spanish. However, he warns: "Corruption is commonplace. They bring you out here and show you a patch of land with a view and it looks beautiful. But when you hand over money you have saved all your life, you find they've built another house a few yards away and there's no view." A few miles away, Peter is sitting in his apartment, musing on the last few years.
"If we went back I think we would say, 'Well, we lived in Spain for two years. It was an experience. There were a lot of good things and a lot of bad.' "
His wife appears more accepting of misfortune.
"I had the image of running private keep-fit," she says wistfully. "You looked out and the mountains were right on top of you. I loved the idea of that."
As a kind of remedy, the couple have been offered an apartment being built at another site. But "it's not what we wanted", says Peter, the stress telling in his voice.
His dream of golf in the morning and a mountain view at sunset is likely to remain just that.

James Douglas Willson retired Des Plaines pilot convicted of international drug trafficking in Morocco

James Douglas Willson, 67, suffers from diabetes and kidney failure and has lost 35 pounds, said his daughter, Marilyn Brief.
A retired Des Plaines pilot convicted of international drug trafficking in Morocco isn't getting adequate medical care and may not survive his 7-year prison sentence, a family member says."My dad's body is shutting down," Brief said. "He's dying."
Imprisoned since early May, Willson was convicted after a Cessna 337 he reportedly was flying was seized by Moroccan police on a rural road, according to a statement from the Moroccan news agency.Willson piloted the twin-engine plane and landed it in Morocco to load drugs, according to the statement, which said two Moroccans also received prison sentences. Brief and Mouafik Anis, Willson's Moroccan attorney, said that Willson was a passenger on the plane, which took off in Spain but was forced to make an emergency landing in Morocco.A friend of Willson's recently delivered the plane to Spain and asked him to take a training flight with the pilot to make sure he could use the equipment, Brief said.
After the emergency landing, Willson was arrested, although no drugs were found on him or in the plane, Anis said during a telephone interview from Morocco."How can we charge someone with trafficking drugs when we did not find any drugs?" Anis said. "You must find drugs."Willson was sentenced June 16. The case is in the appeals process, Anis said.Willson is at a disadvantage in the Moroccan court system, according to Anis, who said he isn't always given advance notice of court dates. It is up to him, he said, to provide translations for his client.
The U.S. Embassy in Morocco referred all questions to U.S. State Department officials in Washington, D.C.Steve Royster, a State Department spokesman, said he could not say whether the embassy was involved in ensuring a translator was present at Willson's court proceedings. But he said at least one hearing was postponed because a translator was not available.Royster said the consular office in Morocco made sure Willson's U.S. health records were sent to the prison doctor.
"Whenever an American is detained overseas, we have a role to make sure he's getting access to the legal system and conditions that are humane," he said.Representatives have visited Willson twice and spoken to him on the phone several times.The consular staff also speaks to Willson's attorney almost daily and the prison doctor regularly, he said.The consular staff reported that Willson is about to be transferred to a larger prison with a better medical facility. Embassy officials also worked with Willson's attorney to make sure the family could visit him in prison in June.
"We're continuing to monitor the case," Royster said.
U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said he has talked with Brief and helped her get in touch with government officials to assist her father.
"I just can't imagine what [she] is going through," he said.
Willson is housed in a facility without a roof or air conditioning, Brief said.
During his career, Willson flew planes for Ryan's Aviation and Atlas Air cargo carrier out of O'Hare International Airport, she said.
The Chicago native also worked as a pilot for Midway Airlines, a commercial airline that was based at Midway Airport.
"My dad has only been an upright citizen—an ordinary, working man," Brief said. "It's like they think my father is disposable, and he's not!"

Álvaro Iglesias was found guilty of sexually abusing five children between 2002 and 2004.

The Spanish paedophile known as ‘Nanysex’ has been sentenced to 58 years in prison for sexually abusing five children between the years 2002 and 2004. The name came for Álvaro Iglesias following his system of offering himself to babysit for the children who he would then go on to abuse. He also faces charges on six counts of the corruption of minors in localities in Madrid and Murcia.His friend and accomplice José G.C. was sentenced to 31 years in prison by the Madrid court, and a third defendant, Eduardo S.M. was sentenced to 14 years after he was the only one of the three to show remorse for his actions.‘Nanysex’ was arrested in May 2005 after a long police investigation into the abuser who would record his abuse on videos which he would then exchange with others on the Internet.