Firemen called out to an accident on the A-31 Alicante-Madrid motorway early on Monday found an unidentified body in the boot of a car which had crashed into the central reservation at Sax and then burst into flames. The body was partially burnt but appears to be that of a man. Reports indicate that the deceased had been tied up and gagged. No other occupants were found at the site and the Civil Guard are now trying to identify the victim and the cause of death.
Two British tour operators who bring tourists to Spain have gone bust. Romano Travel ceased operations on October 26, a day after Airborn Limited. Romano Travel specialized in package holidays to Spain and Turkey and had been operating for 30 years. There were no more than half of dozen or so pending bookings from the Buckinghamshire firm which was fully protected with an ATOL licence and was a member of ABTA. Airborn Limited operated as Airborn Direct and Holiday Hero, and was based in Romford, Essex. It sold packages to Spain, Cyprus and Turkey, and sold its products to other operators. The CAA says there are many clients who have purchased flights with the firm using a credit card, and these flights should be operating normally. If in doubt passengers can confirm with the airline.
A new survey carried out by the HomeAway holiday rentals company and real estate group Savills International has concluded that Spain is no longer the first choice among the Brits for their second residence. 1,700 British property buyers were questioned. More Britons now prefer France because of its better economic stability and the moderation in its house prices. 40% of Brits who buy in Spain later rent out the property, sometimes obtaining an income of as much as 34,500 € a year, but 24% still say that Spain is the place they have chosen for retirement. Despite the change away from purchasing a second home, Spain continues to be the most popular holiday destination for the Brits. In France, Italy and Switzerland the British purchasers usually opt for restored old properties, while in the United States, Cyprus and also in Spain and Portugal, they tend to go for more modern or new constructions.
The city of Malaga on the Mediterranean coast, in the Southern Spanish region of Andalucia, was the city you avoided. An industrial port encircled by a tired ring of Franco-era low-rise apartment buildings, it was always the city tourists dashed by on their way to Torremolinos or Marbella further down the Costa Del Sol.
Being out of favor from the 1970s onwards – when torrid overbuilding ruined the Spanish coast – has served Malaga well, and the tired city around the old port has gone through a revival in recent years: The pedestrian-only squares and streets are washed clean, filled with a mix of fashionable shops selling Ermenegildo Zegna suits and Omega watches, and old men hawking lotto tickets and blanched Andalucian almonds wrapped in paper cones—all in the shadow of the city’s baroque cathedral where the 17th century choir stalls are carved from mahogany and cedar.
The city is still no great beauty, but its unpretentious charm stems from the fact it remains a middle-class working port. The first night I arrived I dined on a plate ofpata negra (thinly-cut slices of cured ham, with a rich marble of fat, made from black pigs that feed on acorns) and some grilled sea bream served with French-cut beans. As I drank my copa de vino tinto, contentedly observing the town’s life from the sidewalk café, a guitar-banging gypsy dashed by, twitchy as a heroin addict, followed by an old man selling to local tapas bars the snails slowly crawling the walls of his white bucket.
Two newly-opened institutions have greatly contributed to Malaga’s cultural revival. The crowd-puller is the Picasso Museum, and I am sure it is a lovely collection, but, in all honesty, I couldn’t bear to see yet another second-tier Picasso Museum. (The Spanish painter, for all his greatness, would have benefitted considerably from being a little less prolific.)
My interest was, however, very much piqued by the new museum housing the collection of Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kaszon.
The Thyssen family, dating back to the 17th century, famously made their fortune supplying the industrializing German state with steel. But they were also great collectors of art, and the late Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza aggressively added works to his father’s stacks of Old Masters until the family’s 1,600-strong collection became the second largest private art collection in the world, second only to the British Royal Family Collection.
Ranging from Hans Holbein to Edward Hopper, the collection was originally housed in the family’s Villa Favorita in Lugano, Switzerland. (The Thyssen family left Germany for Switzerland in the 1930s.) In the mid 1980s, however, the Swiss unwisely barred the baron from expanding his museum at Villa Favorita—they were unimpressed he wanted to show more of his collection to the public.
Enter Spain. In 1985 the baron married his 5th wife, Carmen Cervera, a former Miss Cataluna, just as his battle with Swiss small-mindedness was heating up. The Catalan beauty was instrumental in getting her husband to move his art collection to more flexible Spain, where it now sits in its own museum next to the Prado in Madrid.
But Baroness Carmen Thyssen herself began collecting in the late 1980s, all under her husband’s tutelage, and she focused on Andalucian art of the mid-19th to early 20th century. It was this collection, critically praised throughout Spain when it was first exhibited in the late 1990s, which was squirreled away in the newly-converted palace called the Museo CarmenThyssen Málaga.
The mid-19th century Andalucian works in the collection were largely painted for middle-class European tourists of the day who wanted to return to London and Paris with reminders of their Andalucian holidays. So the first floor of the museum is devoted to these so-calledColumbrista painters, and provides a panoply of chocolate box scenes of idealized Andalucian landscape romanticism: sultry gypsy dancers and battling bandoleros in mountain caves and young fishermen wooing flower girls.
But as the 19th century progresses, so does the sophistication of the paintings. Two paintings in particular stayed with me long afterwards: the dark Columbrista painting of 1851 by the Frenchman, Alfred Dehodencq, painted for the duke occupying the Palace of San Telmo. It’s of a procession through the town during Holy Week. Hooded monks, like an all-black vision of the Ku Klux Klan, are the candle-carrying advance guard of the Mater Dolorosa, and they walk a gauntlet of rapturous women in black mantillas. Powerful stuff.
Later, in 1867, the Spaniard Mariàno Fortuny Marsal painted a bullfight with quick, almost impressionistic brushstrokes that seems to foreshadow what is yet to come in the art world. Called Exquisite Realism, or the Précieux Style, the intense brushstrokes of the “Bullfight” give a blurry sense of speed and movement at the breath-holding moment when a gored picador is carried dying from the ring and another picador is trying to weaken the bull with the hard thrust of his lance. It’s hard to tell who is going to live or die, and it’s a very modern work, in a 19th century way.
National Police have arrested five people, two of them underage, for a brutal road rage attack in a tunnel on the M-30 motorway in September. They were taken into custody after they were identified on video footage from security cameras in the tunnel. The aggressors were travelling in two vehicles on the evening of September 17, and were seen on film chasing another car into the tunnel, speeding ahead and cutting across it to bring it to a halt. The eight occupants of the two cars are then seen getting out of their vehicles and dragging the three people travelling in the third car out onto the roadway. They are beaten and kicked, and their car is vandalised. Some personal items were also stolen and one of the victims was stabbed in the back. The reason for the attack was because the victims had criticised their assailants for a dangerous manoeuvre a few kilometres previously. The Interior Ministry released news of the five arrests this week, and said the search continues to locate the three other suspects involved.
National Police in Spain have arrested 32 people accused of stealing 25 vehicles worth over a million € from counties such as Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland, to be sold on in Spain. The sale of the vehicles were helped by official dealers and the gang even had the collaboration of workers at several ITV/MOT centres which issued certificates to say the vehicles had no signs of being manipulated. The Ministry of the Interior says that the gang was made up mainly of Hungarians, Romanians and Spaniards, and the vehicles were sold on with false documents in dealers in Madrid, Santander, Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia, Alicante, Cuenca, Almería, Córdoba, Jaén and Granada.
A GANG of drug dealers planned to flood Britain with £4 billion of cocaine - arranging the plot from a phone box. The Liverpool and London-based gangsters were planning to smuggle 40 tonnes of cocaine from South America by sea, hidden inside tins of fish and wooden pallets. Liverpool Crown Court heard that the drug would be bought at a "wholesale price" and then sold to other dealers who would dilute it and sell it on. If all the cocaine had made it to the streets of the UK and it was cut before being sold, the court heard it could have been worth around £4 billion. The head of the Liverpool operation used a phone box in Old Hall Street, in Liverpool city centre, to arrange the deal with his London counterpart. But the gang were being watched by undercover officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca). The phone box on Old Hall Street used by one of the drug dealers The group was led by Mehmet Sirin Baybasin, 48, of Fairfield Crescent, Edgware, north-west London, who was jailed for 30 years at a hearing last week after he was found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine. The court heard that Baybasin was one of a total of 24 defendants brought to justice as part of the Soca investigation and that he was "at the top of the pyramid". Judge David Aubrey QC said the offences had "at their core the evil and pernicious trade of drug dealing" and were indicative of the gang's "desire for the good life". He said he was satisfied that the amounts they were talking about were not "pie in the sky" and that the wholesale value of 1,102lb (500kg) of uncut cocaine alone was worth a potential £17 million
NEW appeal has been launched to capture a man wanted in connection with the murder of a Stapeley market trader. Christopher Guest More, 33, of Lymm, near Warrington, is one of 10 individuals wanted in the latest campaign being run by Crimestoppers and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). He is suspected to have been part of a gang involved in the torture and murder of market trader and cannabis farmer Brian Waters, who was killed in a barn in Tabley, near Knutsford, in June 2003. Three of his alleged accomplices, Otis Lee Matthews, James Stuart Raven and John Godfrey Wilson, received life sentences for their part in the brutal attack. More is also sought in connection with the attempted murder of Suleman Razak and for the alleged false imprisonment and assault of other victims present during the incident. It is believed he fled to Spain just 24 hours after the incident. The appeal is part of crime charity Crimestoppers’ ‘Operation Captura’ campaign, which is trying to locate wanted criminals abroad. Crimestoppers’ regional manager Gary Murray, said: “This extremely heinous crime saw an individual lose their life and the person responsible needs to be tried for their actions. “I’d urge anyone with information to contact Crimestoppers on our 0800 555 111 number or use our online form on our website – we guarantee your anonymity.” Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Smith said: “Eight years on, we still remain determined and committed to finding and arresting Christopher More for his alleged involvement in the brutal murder of Brian Waters. “Cheshire Police will not close this case until the family of Brian Waters sees justice done.”
HEART FM bosses have denied any bad feeling after controversial DJ Maurice Boland took over their coastal frequency for a new radio venture. The self-styled ‘Mr Marbella’ has left the station and plans to launch his new business later this month. “As far as we are concerned he can have it, it was an amicable agreement,” owner Pat Jay told the Olive Press. But other sources have revealed that there has been ‘considerable tension’ over the fallout, which left Heart FM ‘retrenching’ back inland. “There have been various issues and Pat and husband Lee have been left shattered,” said a friend. Now Boland, 62 – who was sacked from his previous job at Talk Radio Europe (TRE) after an alleged affair with a teenager – is setting up a studio at Estepona’s Kempinski Hotel. According to sources, he has managed to acquire a retail space to work out of and claims to have some big backers. “He has been approaching presenters at other radio stations, but is not offering a lot of money,” said a source.
THOUSANDS of Telefonica clients on the Costa del Sol were left without service for five hours. The problem, which affected clients in Marbella, Ronda, Casares and Estepona, last Friday was due to a fault with a commutation network system, and also caused minor problems in Malaga City. According to Telefonica, it affected 20 per cent of communications in Malaga province, however, it did not affect clients with smartphones, which account for 65 per cent of clients in the province. Consumer group Facua said compensation for this can amount to the average of the amount charged over the past three months or five times the monthly tariff calculated proportionately by the time the problem lasted.
DUBLIN detectives have travelled to Spain to negotiate the handover of gangster 'Fat' Freddie Thompson. Sources say that gardai are spending a number of days with their Spanish counterparts examining evidence against Thompson. "This is standard procedure in a case like this," a source said. Thompson is due to appear before the High Court today where he is expected to apply for bail after being remanded in custody on Friday when he was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant. laundering Spanish authorities want to extradite him to Spain and they allege that Thompson operated as a bodyguard and chauffeur for the Christy Kinahan drugs organisation, which was targeted in a massive international police operation in May, 2010, known as Operation Shovel. Spanish authorities say that the Kinahan organisation is heavily involved in gun crime, drug trafficking and money laundering through a complex network of companies. Sources have revealed that in the weeks before his arrest, Thompson had fallen out of favour with the Kinahan mob -- organisation who his gang has been sourcing drugs from for over a decade. A European Arrest Warrant has also been issued for Thompson's close pal Gary Hutch (30) but gardai have not been able to find him. The Herald has previously revealed that Thompson's arrest warrant contains explosive details about a phone call tapped by Spanish police in December, 2009, between 'Fat' Freddie and Hutch in which the two criminals discuss firearms. The warrant also alleged that 'Fat' Freddie and Hutch travelled together to Portugal in November, 2009 and Amsterdam in May, 2010, to organise drug shipments. The warrant also states that Hutch and Thompson lived together in Spain and were "right-hand men" of Daniel Kinahan -- the son of Ireland's richest drugs trafficker Christy Kinahan. Also mentioned on the warrant is Ross Browning (27) from north inner city Dublin who is alleged to have collected a major Irish criminal from Malaga Airport in May, 2010, in a car which was also regularly used by the notorious criminal Hutch. violence Browning was one of around 30 people arrested by police investigating Kinahan's drug organisation last year. He was released without charge after being questioned for a number of days by Spanish authorities. Since being sent to Cloverhill Prison on Friday, Thompson has been placed in the protection unit in the jail because of fears that he may become a victim of a feud related attack or that he may orchestrate violence within the prison. It is understood he has had no visitors in jail.
Spanish town is offering gay couples fast-track marriages before a likely November election win by the conservative Popular Party, which opposes same-sex marriage. The mayor of the small southwestern town of Jun, Jose Antonio Rodriguez, said he offered the service across Spain after hearing from gay couples fearing a change in the law after the November 20 vote. “People are very afraid, they are starting to realise that there could be a real change and they will lose a hard-fought right,” the Socialist mayor told AFP. “I felt it was important to reassure people and find a way so that people who want to get married could do so,” he said. Rodriguez said the town had received 52 requests from same-sex couples wanting to be married in the past week after he announced on Twitter he would offer speedy gay marriages before the general election. The town of just over 4,000 residents carried out just 11 same-sex marriages during all of 2010. The wedding applications are handled entirely online in about five days, complete with marriage certificate delivered by e-mail. The mayor said he had made the town’s park available for wedding ceremonies but the vast majority of couples opt for the electronic marriage and would not need to set foot in Jun. Under Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain has been on the vanguard of Europe in terms of gay rights. In 2005 — a year after Zapatero was first elected — Spain passed a law to allow same-sex marriages, making it only the third member of the European Union after Belgium and the Netherlands to do so. The law, part of the ruling Socialists’ aggressive agenda for social reform, also lets gay couples adopt children and inherit each other’s property. Since then more than 20,000 gay couples have tied the knot. The conservative Popular Party, which is riding high in the polls, has appealed the gay marriage law to Spain’s Constitutional Court. Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy has pledged to reform the same-sex marriage law if elected but as the general election has neared he has stressed that any legislative action will come only after the court issues its ruling. Polls show two-thirds of Spaniards back same-sex marriage, one of the highest levels of support in Europe.
UP to €4.50 can be saved be choosing the cheapest petrol station to fill up. The average price per litre for unleaded petrol in Malaga Province is now up to €1.34, 13 per cent more than the same time last year, according to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce and the highest in the whole of Spain. Diesel is €1.29 on average, 16 per cent more than October 2010. The cheapest place to fill up with 95 octane is Distreax-22, Velez-Malaga, at €1.29 per litre. The most expensive place to fill up with 95 octane is E.S. El Torcal, Villanueva de la Concepcion (Malaga), at €1.38 per litre. The cheapest place to fill up with diesel is Galp, Antequera, at €1.24 per litre. The most expensive place to fill up with diesel is Cepsa, Manilva at €1.31 per litre.
Spain was one of the first countries to start to lay down laws relating to old non-registered pay-as-you-go SIM cards for anti-terrorism reasons i.e. you MUST tell the authorities your name and address and get a new SIM if you had one of the old anonymous ones. Following on from this "mobile legality" theme, news this week bubbles of Sybase subsidiary company Sybase 365 working with Spanish mobile operator Yoigo. The two firms have joined forces to offer registered SMS, a new service allowing companies to send customers confirmation text messages with the same legal standing as registered mail. According to Sybase, "Officially certified by the Spanish Real Casa de la Moneda (The Royal Mint of Spain) the Sybase 365 and Yoigo service recognises an SMS confirmation as legal proof of delivery of important documents and information. These certificates can then be used as evidence in judicial proceedings in Spain for enterprises wishing to demonstrate correspondence with their customers. This will enable companies and their customers to resolve disputes in a timely manner, avoiding the cost of court proceedings." With registered SMS, financial institutions, utility companies and enterprises will be able to use SMS where previously they would have used registered mail. Developers working to build in legally approved services into mobile (or desktop for that matter) applications should perhaps take note of Sybase 365's suggestion that an SMS provides a number of advantages over registered mail including five times better response rate over traditional mail and is read 288 times faster than email. "No other communication medium has the ability to reach more people than SMS, said Howard Stevens, senior vice president, global telco and international operations, Sybase 365. "Consumer acceptance and enterprise adoption of the mobile channel is fuelling the growth in volume, availability and sophistication of mobile services and the registered SMS services we're launching confirms this trend."
Spain is reeling from an avalanche of allegations of baby theft and baby trafficking. The trade began at the end of the Spanish civil war and continued for 50 years – hundreds of thousands of babies are thought to have been traded by nuns, priests and doctors up to the 1990s. This World reveals the impact of Spain’s stolen baby scandal through the eyes of the children and parents who were separated at birth, and who are now desperate to find their relatives. Exhumations of the supposed graves of babies and positive DNA tests are proof that baby theft has happened. Across Spain, people are queuing up to take a DNA test and thousands of Spaniards are asking ‘Who am I?’ Katya Adler has been meeting the heartbroken mothers who are searching for the children whom they were told died at birth, as well as the stolen and trafficked babies who are now grown up and searching for their biological relatives and their true identities.
Spain’s property bust is only getting worse. The wonder is that the country’s economy and banks are still this resilient. The Spanish government said Tuesday that housing prices remained in free-fall in the third quarter, dropping 5.5% from a year earlier, the biggest decline since 2009. This makes Spain, in many senses, the worst case of a property bust in the developed world—the country is already deep in its third consecutive year of falling prices, with no rebounds. Last year, the pace of decline slowed significantly, signalling some light at the end of the tunnel, but another metaphor is called for instead: that last year’s respite was nothing more than a dead cat’s bounce. The good news should be the overall amount of the decline, since Spain’s government says prices are only down 18%, in nominal terms, since their peak in early 2008. But that doesn’t include the effect of Spain’s persistent inflation, one of the highest in the euro zone, which makes the real drop closer to 30%—Spain’s government didn’t provide real price data in today’s release. After earlier predictions of a short-term correction have been smashed, some analysts now say prices may keep falling for the next two years, eroding Spain’s household wealth and banking balance sheets. Meanwhile, banks are struggling to keep up with the loss in value of the collateral against €400 billion worth of loans to construction and real estate firms, an amount that remains unchanged since 2008. For Luis Garicano, a professor of economics and strategy at the London School of Economics, this number is perhaps the most dangerous of those related to the bust, since it indicates the banking sector exposure to such loans hasn’t diminished. He estimates that a possible explanation is that banks have exchanged some non-performing loans for property that they now own, but not enough to offset the rising interest on the loans. Many, if not most of these loans, are being rolled over to keep zombie developers in business, in the hope that the market will recover. All the same, banks have also turned into property developers now. Walk into any Spanish bank branch, looking for a mortgage, and you will see that is much easier to get it if you’ll just take one of the many, many houses the bank acquired from a bankrupt developer. But many will say why worry? The same house will be even cheaper next month.
The new General Plan for Urban Development in the town gave promoters who had built illegally the opportunity to pay compensation in order to make some complexes legal so that the homeowners would not be affected by demolitions as they had bought the properties in good faith. This had to be done within a year, although the period could be extended to two years. However, in cases which were classified as minor, where too many houses were built on a plot, no period for them to be legalized was given, and promoters have not come forward voluntarily to do so. Therefore, the town hall has now given them two months to legalise the buildings by giving the town hall 10 per cent of the benefits they have obtained from the projects. Once the two months is up, the town hall will chase the promoters who have not come forward to demand the compensation.
BODY discovered on a property in Mijas is that of missing Finnish teenager, Jenna Lepomaki, Malaga National Police have confirmed. Nevertheless, an autopsy and DNA tests are being carried out on the body, which police are 99 per cent certain belongs to Jenna. Four people have been arrested, three of them in Finland, thanks to a joint operation between Finnish and Spanish police. The 19-year-old came to the Costa del Sol on holiday invited by two Finnish men, aged 18 and 20, who she had met online, as the mother of one of them lived in Mijas. Her family attempted to dissuade her from coming, but the men paid for her trip and she arrived on June 20. She spent the first few days in a hostel in Fuengirola, but when the young man’s mother, 37, and her partner, 47 and also Finnish, went away, Jenna moved into the house. In July, her family reported her missing in Finland, and this was communicated to the Spanish police. They discovered that the teenager had reported them to the Guardia Civil in Mijas because they had allegedly attacked and threatened her when she refused to transport cocaine from Spain to Finland. She also reported that they had taken away her passport. From June 29, her mobile phone was turned off. Spanish police discovered that the two men had left Spain, travelled to Ireland and then back to Finland, where they have now been arrested, and focused their investigation on them both for their involvement in Jenna’s disappearance and their possible links to cocaine trafficking. Last Thursday, the Spanish police searched the house in Los Espartales area of Mijas, where the girl had been staying which was hired by the mother’s partner. He was arrested, and the two young children living with him were taken into the care of the Junta de Andalucia. She was also arrested in Finland. The search later continued in the area surrounding the house, where an almost mummified body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag hidden amongst some bushes and leaves. The body was missing both legs and one arm. Part of the arm was found in a barrel located on a construction site nearby. They report that it appears she was killed inside the house and the killers attempted to cut her body into pieces and then burn her remains, but having failed to do so, they hid it.
Spanish authorities say activity by an underwater volcano has led them to close access to a port on El Hierro island. Ships have been ordered away from waters around La Restinga and aircraft have been banned from flying over the island's southern tip. The port's 600 residents were evacuated Tuesday after volcanic activity began. The regional government of the Canary Islands says scientists have detected airborne volcanic fragments called pyroclasts rising from the sea off La Restinga. The government said it awaited scientific reports on the danger posed by pyroclasts, but a research vessel that was collecting samples there has been ordered to desist. TV channel La Sexta reported Saturday that journalists also have been told to clear the area.
SPANISH AUTHORITIES are seeking to extradite a Dublin man, Freddy Thompson, who they allege is a member of a international criminal gang involved in trafficking drugs and weapons. Mr Thompson (30), with an address at Loreto Road, Maryland, Dublin 8, was arrested by gardaí at that address yesterday afternoon on foot of a European extradition warrant issued by the authorities in Malaga, Spain in September 2010 and then brought before the High Court. The court heard the Spanish authorities are seeking his extradition on grounds alleging Mr Thompson is a member of a criminal organisation whose members include Irish, British and Spanish nationals. The warrant further claims Frederick James Thompson, said to have moved to Spain in 2008, is a member of an organisation alleged to have laundered the proceeds of illegal drugs and weapons trafficking through a complex network of companies. It is claimed Mr Thompson’s role was to secure weapons for the organisation and that he acted as a bodyguard and a chauffeur for the gang, based on Spain’s Costa Del Sol. The Spanish authorities also allege Mr Thompson is an associate of and has worked for other known criminals, some of whom were described as good friends of his. It is also claimed in the warrant that ongoing surveillance of Mr Thompson conducted by police in a number of countries revealed that on dates between 2008 and 2010 he travelled to locations including Morocco and Amsterdam. It is claimed he travelled either in the company of or to meet gang members or other criminals, and the trips were to organise criminal activity including the shipment of drugs. It is further claimed Mr Thompson has no movable or immovable assets, such as property, in Spain, and no legitimate means to support his lifestyle. Yesterday, Sgt Sean Fallon of the Garda extradition unit told the court Mr Thompson was arrested shortly before 3pm at Loreto Road. Sgt Fallon said when the charges contained in the warrant were read and a copy of the warrant was handed to Mr Thompson, he replied: “I can’t read, I am not taking that.” Mr Thompson was then taken to Kevin Street Garda station. Mr Justice Michael Peart said he was satisfied the individual before the court was the person sought in the warrant. He told Mr Thompson he had a right to professional legal advice as well as the right to consent to surrender at any time during the extradition process to the Spanish authorities. While no application for bail was made yesterday, Mr Thompson’s lawyers indicated one would be made in the future. The State indicated it would object to any such application. Mr Thompson’s lawyers told the court they would be applying for legal aid under the Attorney General’s scheme. Mr Thompson was remanded in custody by Mr Justice Peart to next Wednesday’s sitting of the High Court.
Guardia Civil has arrested a British man on the quay at Cádiz port after 5,800 cartons of contraband tobacco from the canaries were found in a false bottom of the van he was driving. A statement was released from the Guardia Civil saying the arrest took place last Monday when searches were carried out on vehicles which had arrived from the Canaries. The unit from the UAR, the Risks Analysis Unit, which is made up jointly by the Guardia Civil and the Agencia Tributaria, earmarked the van for an exhaustive inspection. They found the cigarettes behind wooden panels in the van which had been placed on the floor walls and even the ceiling of the vehicle. The arrested man has been named as 39 year old G.M.H. from Liverpool. He will appear before the Instruction Court Four in Cádiz.
Nine people have been arrested and 2,500 marihuana plants recovered from a luxury villa in a village of Zaragoza. The electrical installation to heat and supply light to the plants used as much power as 50 homes, and an illegal connection had been established to the grid. The facility had the capacity to produce 1,500 kilos of cannabis a year and had been established following the ‘Holland Model` of optimising plant growth by controlling the hours of light the plants receive. The chalet was found in Caspe, Zaragoza, and the nine arrested are accused of distributing all types of drugs including cocaine, hashish, amphetamine, methamphetamine and marihuana to bars and clubs in Tarragona. The swoop is the result of investigations which started five months ago. Six searches were carried out in different homes in Caspe, Tortosa, Amposta and Santa Bárbara where 40 grams of cocaine and different amounts of speed and crystal were recovered along with 11,500 € in cash.
Estepona Town Hall has drawn up a new by-law which includes measures against street prostitution with a ban on offering, requesting, negotiating for or accepting paid sexual services in public spaces, particularly within 200 metres of residential or commercial centres and schools. Fines are envisaged for those who fail to comply with the regulations. Councillor Ana Velasco told Europa Press that the by-law is expected to be approved at the next council meeting. Assistance and advice will also be available from social services for prostitutes who work locally, especially for those who want up to give up the profession. The by-law also covers other matters such as the practice of youngsters drinking in the street, graffiti, unauthorised street peddling and the responsibility of dog owners to clear up after their pets.
The Spanish National Police has arrested a British man who is wanted by the authorities in the United States for a fraud. Named as 61 year old R.B.A. he was arrested in Torrevieja, Alicante, when he was carrying out some transactions in a real estate company. The US fraud dates from March 1999 when the Briton was the main owner of a company which mis-invested the firm’s retirement funds. He and others in the company invested part of the fund in treasury bonds, but the rest was transferred to personal accounts. The arrest was carried out by agents of the UDEV from the Alicante Police Station, coordinated by the fugitive location group of the Judicial Police.
The wife of the man who shot him has been arrested for covering up the crime and another youngster is in custody for attempted robberyThere have been two more arrests in the case of the 15 year old Moroccan boy whose body was found on the roadside between Marbella and Ronda on morning. The owner of a nearby finca was initially arrested, and it has now emerged that he shot the teenager dead after catching him breaking in to try and steal his marijuana plants. The owner, 58 year old P.N.G., moved the body off his property to the roadside and now faces charges of a public health crime in addition to the murder charge. His wife has also been arrested for allegedly covering up the crime. The third person taken into custody is a friend who was with the deceased on the night it happened, who is charged with attempted robbery. The deceased lived in San Pedro de Alcántara and is reported to have been involved in previous attempted break-ins at the property with a group of friends from the area. They had been shot at before, and on one occasion one of the group suffered minor injuries but did not report the incident to the police. The murder weapon was a hunting shotgun which was found in a police search of the suspect’s house. Another 10 firearms have also been confiscated.
– the biggest ever uncovered in the UK. Nigel Cranswick, 47, tried to cheat the taxman by claiming back tax on £2billion worth of bogus sales made by his mobile phone firm I2G. The “phenomenal” turnover was generated in eight months, HMRC said. Advertisement >> Meanwhile Cranswick lived it up in his rented villa in Marbella. “Despite this phenomenal turnover... I2G operated from a small office in Sheffield,” HMRC said. The scam was smashed after a five-year police probe, Newcastle crown court was told. Cranswick, from Sheffield, admitted conspiracy to cheat HMRC, as did accomplices Brian Olive, 56, of Doncaster, and Darren Smyth, 42, from Rotherham. Claire Reid, 45, also from Rotherham, admitted false accounting. The four will be sentenced next month
A man has been arrested in connection with the death of the 15 year old Moroccan whose body was found by the roadside between Marbella and Ronda. The arrested man lives on a nearby finca to where the body was found, and has claimed that the 15 year old was continuously stealing from him. Government Sub Delegate for Málaga, Hilario López Luna, said that the National Police arrested the Spaniard on Tuesday. The 15 year old Moroccan is known to have had a police record. The arrested man said that he surprised the Moroccan on his land and shot him in the face with a shotgun. He then moved the body to the roadside. He is expected to appear in court shortly.
Medical suppliers haven't been paid for as much as two years, emergency rooms have been shut down and doctors in Catalonia have been told to accept a pay cut or 1,500 medical residents will lose their jobs. Spain's treasured public health care system has become the latest victim of the euro zone debt crisis. "We haven't been paid, but there's nothing we can do about it. We need the contracts, so we're just going to have to wait it out," said a representative for a cleaning company who did not want his or the firm's name used for fear of a backlash. The company, which says it is owed hundreds of millions of euros by the government of the Castilla-La Mancha region south of Madrid, is one of dozens of providers of everything from surgical swabs to disinfectants struggling to pay workers as Spain's regions delay payments to meet tight deficit targets. The debt-burdened autonomous regions' spending cuts are a tangible sign of the present and future pain as Spain works to meet ambitious deficit reduction goals pledged to the European Union in the midst of an economic downturn. Spain's political parties have kept their positions on the issue vague ahead of November 20 general elections, but even the most passionate defenders of the current system agree there is scope for cost savings and more efficiency. Spain's conservative opposition, the People's Party (PP), which is expected to win in November, will likely cut into social welfare programs the incumbent Socialists have left untouched. But even the Socialists now say they can find ways to reduce health spending without harming services. Examples include forcing car insurance firms to pay for the treatment of accident victims and sending foreign governments the bill when their citizens use Spanish hospitals. 900-DAY WAITS Multinational pharmaceutical firm Roche says the Castilla y Leon region north of Madrid is more than 900 days behind on its bills, which has raised fears here that the company could start withholding drugs for some hospitals as it did in Greece, which is fighting off bankruptcy. Spain's central government makes yearly transfers of income tax revenue to the country's 17 autonomous regions, which are in charge of administering health care and schools. But the regions are being forced to make drastic budget cuts after piling up debt during Spain's property boom, the collapse of which in 2008 sent the country into recession and unemployment soaring to more than 20 percent. As the regions squeeze spending wherever they can, what they owe to companies that provide health care services and products has risen 42 percent in a year to more than 4 billion euros, according to the Spanish Federation of Healthcare Technology, known as Fenin. AT Kearney consultancy calculates the system's long-term deficit is 15 billion euros, a heavy burden for a government whose borrowing costs have soared in the euro zone debt crisis. Margarita Alfonsel, secretary general of Fenin, says small companies in her federation "are suffering to an alarming extent due to the liquidity squeeze." She said some will have to lay off staff or go into bankruptcy. The average number of days providers must wait for payment has risen in the past year to 415 days, from 285 days, she said. "It was unacceptable before. Now it's totally incomprehensible," said Joaquin del Rincon, Spanish representative of Boston Scientific, which provides medical and surgical instruments to Spanish hospitals. "We have to explain to our central offices that this is an ongoing problem in Spain made worse by the crisis," he said.
The National Police have identified a body which was found on the hard shoulder of the road between the Nueva Andalucía area of Marbella and Ronda on Monday as that of a 15 year old Moroccan boy who has been named by his initials, T.A. Despite the identification from finger prints there is no report of a missing person. It’s thought that his body could have been thrown from a moving vehicle as it passed the access road to the La Quinta urbanisation. The body, which was dressed in sports gear, was removed from the scene for autopsy as the investigation continues to determine the exact cause of his death. However reports indicate that he had suffered shotgun wounds to the face.
Local police in La Línea de la Concepción have reported that last Sunday they arrested three local men, 17 year old J.Z.B., 20 year old L.M.L.F. and 22 year old J.R.P. in connection with a robbery with violence. The police were patrolling the Calle Gibraltar in the town at 0630am close to a discotec, when they were approached by an 18 year old British man who told them that his father was being beaten up in the Princesa Sofía park. On their arrival at the scene they saw a 63 year old British man on the ground, with injuries to his face and body. They called the health services and were told by the victim how three youngsters had attacked him and stolen his mobile phone, passport and tobacco. Local police informed the National Police and a search of the area found the three in the Bellavista district. Once back at the police station the three are reported to have confessed and the stolen items were found in their pockets.
Four people have been arrested in connection with a murder committed on the Costa del Sol this summer, after a body was found on an isolated property in Mijas last week. It’s believed to be that of 19 year old Jenna Lepomaki, a woman from Finland who arrived in Fuengirola for a holiday in June and was reported missing the following month after she failed to return home to her family. DNA testing is to be carried out to confirm the identification. She is reported to have travelled to the Costa del Sol at the invitation of friends she met on line and who paid for the trip. El País indicates that it has now emerged that she placed a complaint with the Spanish Civil Guard while in Spain for the threats her friends made against her after she refused to act as a courier to smuggle cocaine back into Finland from Spain. Investigations in Finland led Spain’s National Police to the property in Mijas, owned by a Finnish man, where the body was found, partially dismembered, wrapped up in a sleeping bag which was half covered over in a mound of leaves. Part of a missing arm was found inside a barrel which was being used by workmen working on site to renovate the swimming pool. Four Finnish nationals have been arrested in connection with the murder. The man who owns the Mijas property is in custody as a suspected accessory and, in Finland, the two friends she was travelling with in Málaga have also been arrested, as well as the mother of one of the two.
BODY found on a Marbella roadside with shotgun wounds to the face has been identified as a 15-year-old Moroccan boy. The youngster was found near the La Quinta urbanisation on the Marbella to Ronda road on Monday, with reports indicating he had been thrown from a moving vehicle. An investigation is now underway, with an autopsy being held to determine the cause of death. Despite being identified by his fingerprints, there is no report of a missing person. It comes as four people have been arrested in connection with the murder of a Finnish woman whose partially dismembered body was found at a villa in Mijas. Jenna Lepomaki, 19, is thought to have been killed after refusing to help smuggle cocaine between Spain and Finland.
All the detainees are Spanish and are aged between 35 and 45.The operation began several months ago focused on locating illegal weapons which had allegedly been sold by the network. The police also found sophisticated cannabis greenhouses where more than 2,000 plants were seized. The electrical supply to the greenhouses had been obtained illegally.Thirteen properties in Granada province were searched, and more than €130,000 in cash, as well as 14 firearms, ammunition, and four high range vehicles were seized.
POLISH woman was arrested in Marbella for her alleged involvement in a murder in Valencia in August 2009. The victim was Djordje Kenecevic, who was shot and burned inside his car in Almussafes (Valencia). The 49-year-old woman, identified as Danuta G.K. but also known as Renate B. and other identities, was arrested on the Palm Beach urbanization in Marbella. She had been identified as a suspect some months ago but was only located in Malaga last week after using one of her false identities to travel within Europe. She is a known drug smuggler and was wanted by the German authorities, according to press reports. She was set free with charges of covering up the murder, but later taken to prison under the orders of the National Court as there is also a request for extradition to Germany. The extradition process will have to wait, as the crime which she will have to respond for in Spain is more serious and carries a longer sentence. Djordje Kenecevic is believed to have been killed by members of the gang he belonged to. Most of them, like him, were sailors who took advantage of their work with Europe’s main shipping company to transport packages with up to five kilos of cocaine between European ports. The detainee is considered to have been one of the leaders of the organization, and is the second person arrested in this case.
Bank manager has been arrested in Vitoria after trying to rob his own branch. The man arranged for his brother to attack the bank, but things immediately went wrong when several people saw the brother putting on a wig and false moustache sitting in a car round the corner from the bank, and alerted the authorities. The man then left the bank by car but was found later by the police who found a wig, beard, moustache and false teeth in a bag he was carrying, along with gloves and a fake pistol. The car he was driving was found to belong to the bank manager, his brother. When the police asked the bank manager what had happened he initially said that a man had come into the bank to ask about several products and left shortly after, but other clients and employees said that it was ‘evident that the man was in disguise’. Both men have been arrested by the Basque regional police, la Ertzaintza, who said that the brothers came up with the idea because of the financial difficulties they were in. The arrests took place on Friday, but the Basque Government interior department only released news on Monday. The 60 and 53 year old are accused of attempted robbery with intimidation and will appear in court shortly.
National Police have identified a body which was found on the hard shoulder of the road between the Nueva Andalucía area of Marbella and Ronda on Monday as that of a 15 year old Moroccan boy who has been named by his initials, T.A. Despite the identification from finger prints there is no report of a missing person. It’s thought that his body could have been thrown from a moving vehicle as it passed the access road to the La Quinta urbanisation. The body, which was dressed in sports gear, was removed from the scene for autopsy as the investigation continues to determine the exact cause of his death. However reports indicate that he had suffered shotgun wounds to the face.
family has been left "devastated" after a young father died while on holiday in Spain. Chris Lindsay was staying in Calahonda, between Marbella and Fuengirola, when he died on Friday. His brother told a newspaper that the 34-year-old was found unconscious in the street with cuts and bruises and his passport missing. He is thought to have died of liver and kidney failure. Mr Lindsay had become a father three months ago. His brother, Tony Lindsay, 38, from Edinburgh, told the newspaper: "We don't know who found him but he had been unconscious in the street and his passport was missing. There was bad bruising down his right-hand side and cuts on his knees and elbows. He had certainly been in a fight. "All we can say for sure is that he ended up dead." Mr Lindsay's father, Harry Lindsay, from Airdrie in Lanarkshire, told the newspaper he was "absolutely devastated". Mr Lindsay is believed to have travelled to Spain with colleagues from the Marketing Company, based in Glasgow. A company spokeswoman said she had "no comment at all". A Foreign office spokeswoman said: "We can confirm the death of a British national in Spain on October 7. We are providing consular assistance to the family."
Spain's fifth biggest bank, Banco Popular, said on Monday its takeover offer for smaller rival Banco Pastor has been accepted by the target bank's majority shareholders. Their agreement effectively seals the all-share deal, worth a reported 1.36 billion euros ($1.8 billion), the latest step in the restructuring of Spain's financial sector following the collapse of a property bubble in 2008. The three major Banco Pastor shareholders representing a combined 52.28 percent of the equity "have accepted the terms of the offer," Banco Popular said in a statement. The three shareholders are corporate foundation Fundacion Pedro Barrie de la Maza with 42.17 percent, Amancio Ortega, who owns the textile giant Inditex, with 5.06 percent and Tesalia with 4.04 percent. Banco Popular announced Friday it was in talks with Banco Pastor, one of five Spanish banks that in July failed European Union stress tests to assess the ability of lenders to withstand a prolonged recession. "It was very unlikely that Banco Pastor could survive given its strong exposure to the property sector and its resulting high level of bad debts, but also its reduced size and weak capital base," Spanish retail bank Bankinter said in a research note. Banco Pastor hopes to complete the deal by early next year. It said it may carry out a convertible bond issue of around 700 million euros to maintain its solvency ratio at 9.6 percent. "It is likely that there will be more concentrations in the sector, but this will take place slowly," said Fernando Hernandez, a fund manager at Spanish brokerage Inversis. The Bank of Spain and the government have put pressure of Spanish banks to merge so as to lower costs and strengthen their balance sheets to cope with bad loans that piled up after the 2008 property market collapse. The financial restructuring has already cut the number of savings banks from 45 to 15 through a series of mergers. Banco Pastor and Banco Popular shares were suspended from trading on Friday when they announced the takeover was being discussed. The offer consists of: -- 1.115 new Banco Popular shares in exchange for each Banco Pastor share. Based on the latest Banco Popular share price, that would value Banco Pastor's outstanding shares at 1.08 billion euros. -- 30.9 new Banco Popular shares for each mandatory convertible bond in Banco Pastor. According to the daily El Pais, this part of the offer is worth another 277 million euros. Hernandez said the deal would allow Banco Pastor "to get out of a delicate situation and move to a more normal situation. "But for Banco Popular, even if they gain market share, they will introduce more risk to their balance sheets through greater exposure to the property sector," he added. Banco Pastor shares jumped 21.05 percent at 3.68 euros in mid-afternoon trade while Banco Popular shed 1.21 percent at 3.522 euros. Banco Popular had total assets worth 130 billion euros ($174 billion) at the end of last year, compared to 31 billion euros for Banco Pastor.
As part of his visit to Murcia, the British Ambassador to Spain, Giles Paxman, attended a workshop with local English speaking charities and social services to help improve the support offered to vulnerable British nationals living in the area. As the British population in Murcia has increased tenfold since 2002, all parties were keen to get together and discuss how working together could help them to better support vulnerable and elderly British nationals. The workshop, part of the Alicante Consulate’s ConeXiones programme, was the first of its kind in Murcia, and was organised with the help of YoVoluntario, the Murcia regional government volunteer support organisation. The Ambassador was able to see the local English speaking charities find out from social services exactly what was help was available and also discuss how they could work together in the future. They all agreed that it is vital for British nationals to be registered on the padrón in their local towns as without this, they cannot access social services assistance. Leopoldo Navarro Quilez, the head of Yo Voluntario, started the event by explaining to the local associations what support Yo Voluntario can offer and also how to ensure that they are legally registered in Spain. He encouraged people to use the resources that are available in Spain and thanked them for their hard work in supporting British nationals. During his talk at the event, the Ambassador said: “I am delighted to launch ConeXiones in From left to right, The Ambassador, the President of the Region of Murcia, the British Consul and the Regional Councillor for Tourism Murcia. The rapid increase in British population in the last decade has meant that it is essential that there is an adequate support network. It is impressive to see representatives from social services from all the main town halls where there is a significant population working hand in hand with British and Spanish charities to support those who are in need.” As this is the first time that the Ambassador has visited the Region of Murcia, he also took the opportunity to meet with the President of the Region to discuss issues around property and the new airport that is being built. Additionally, he met with the Honorary Consul in Murcia, Antonio Berdonces, and the Delegado del Gobierno for Murcia where they discussed the location of the Honorary Consulate and contingency planning. Charities that attended the ConeXiones event included Age Concern Costa Cálida, MABS Murcia, Royal British Legion, Help at Home and Help Mar Menor. From the Spanish side, Caritas and Cruz Roja attended as well as social workers from the key town halls where British nationals live, such Mazarrón , Los Alcazares and San Javier.
80 year old man from Belgium was remanded to custody on Monday after his 78 year old wife was found dead at their home in Calpe on Saturday. The Civil Guard found him next to his wife’s lifeless body at the couple’s home on the Carrió urbanisation on Saturday afternoon after a phone call from the man’s son saying that his father had confessed by telephone to killing his mother. She was also from Belgium and her body was found lying on the floor with a serious wound to the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency services who were called out to the couple’s home. The husband was found to have minor injuries, which he appears to have sustained after attempting to commit suicide after killing his wife. The accused took up his right to refuse to answer any questions when he was interviewed by the judge on Monday, although Diario Información indicates that the 80 year old confessed to the Civil Guard on Sunday that he had killed his wife during an argument. There has been no confirmation as yet of any previous history of domestic violence.
54 immigrants were intercepted by the Spanish authorities on two patera small boats close to Motril and Adra on Saturday night. Most of those rescued were adult Moroccans, but it has not been ruled out that some are under age. The Red Cross reports that all are in good health. The Motril boat was carrying 24 males, 21 Moroccans and three from the Sub-Sahara. They were taken into Motril port where they arrived at 0410 Sunday morning. The other boat was intercepted 7.5 miles to the SE of Adra, and was carrying 30 male Moroccans.
search is underway for a brother and sister, aged 6 and 2, Ruth and José Bretón Ruiz, who vanished from a park in Córdoba on Saturday afternoon. The children were in the Cruz Conde park in the city with their father, and since then there has been no sign. Police say they are keeping all options open after taking statements from the parents who are in the process of separation, and after the mother denounced psychological ill-treatment on Sunday. The mother is from Huelva where the coupled lived until a month ago, when they decided to end their relationship. The father is from Córdoba and the first news of the missing children came at 1840 on Saturday. He claimed that they vanished when he lost sight of them for an instant.
The National Police have identified a body which was found on the hard shoulder of the road between the Nueva Andalucía area of Marbella and Ronda on Monday as that of a 15 year old boy who has been named by his initials, T.A. His exact nationality has not yet been released, although it is known that he is not Spanish. The body was removed from the scene for autopsy as the investigation continues to determine the exact cause of his death.
34 year old British man has been arrested at the Los Rodeos Tenerife North Airport after found to be carrying 75 capsules of heroin inside his body. News has just been released of the arrest which took place last Wednesday afternoon, and a statement from the Guardia Civil says the total weight of the drug recovered was 913 grams. Apparently when stopped by customs officials on arrival from the Spanish mainland, suspicions were raised when the Briton was unable to give a clear explanation as to the reason for his visit to Tenerife. The man, who has not been named in reports, was subjected to medical and police surveillance in the Canaries Universitario Hospital until all the capsules had been passed. That was checked by x-ray.
area has been prepared next to the Guadalhorce river
Ten months after introducing new restrictions on prostitution in Málaga, prohibiting the offering of services less than 200m from shops or homes, the PP controlled City Hall has now set up a special space where woman and men can carry out the oldest profession in the world without being fined.
Some are calling the idea a ‘follódromo’, and it reminds others of the late Marbella Mayor, Jesús Gil’s intention to establish a ‘Putódromo’ in Marbella.
The area chosen is next to the Guadalhorce river, and over the last few weeks the Ayuntamiento has levelled the ground and installed a dozen or so lampposts.
Several non-governmental organisations have already criticised the plan, considering that it will expose the prostitutes to robberies and aggressions, but the prostitutes think it is the only way for them to avoid the actions of the police and fines of 700 €.
Sandra Vicente, from the Commission to Investigate Domestic Violence against Women, is reported in El País as saying
‘The problem is the Town Halls are taking it for granted that prostitution is legal. Most of the laws penalise the women who are in the street, but do not specifically mention prostitution’.
A bull brutally gored a matador in Spain on Friday, tearing through the man's jaw and pushing out his eyeball as spectators watched in horror. "I can't see, I can't see anything," Juan Jose Padilla, 39, shouted as he was rushed out of the ring while bleeding profusely and cupping his protruding eye. The 1,120-pound animal had chased the bullfighter and pinned him to the ground, goring him after he tripped. Television images caught the horrifying scene. The bull, named Marques, was the second fighting beast Padilla had faced during the second day of the annual Virgen del Pilar festivities in Zaragoza. Padilla was rushed to emergency facilities at the Misericordia bullring before being driven to the hospital. A statement from the Miguel Servet Hospital said he was in a stable condition after a five-hour operation to repair his face. The hospital said Padilla was likely to suffer facial paralysis and lose sight in one eye. The hospital said he suffered eye, bone, muscle and skin damage when the bull pinned him to the ground. Surgeons had not been able to repair a severed facial nerve. Surgeons used titanium plates and mesh to reconstruct parts of Padilla's face.Elena Munoz/AP
POLICE have still not found the man who attempted to ‘rape’ a teenage British girl near ‘24-hours’ square in Benalmadena Costa. The man has been described as having dark hair and skin, aged 24 - 29, around 5ft4 and well-built, but not muscular. He was wearing shorts and a white shirt at the time. Women are being advised to not walk alone at night and to contact the police if they see anything suspicious.
organised crime and drugs unit, UDYCO of the National Police on the Costa del Sol has found 900 kilos of hashish on a yacht and hidden in a house in Cártama. At least eight people have been arrested, three Moroccans and five Spaniards. La Opinión de Málaga reports that the investigation started in Madrid, and a police operation last week which observed how the yacht left Morocco last week destination Spain. The vessel was intercepted and then escorted into Málaga port where 600 kilos of hashish was found. The police say the owner of the yacht is already well known to them for his alleged links to hashish trafficking across the Strait. The second part of the operation came in Cártama where a home was found to contain 300 kilos of hashish, 2.5 kilos of cocaine, some 150 marihuana plants and about 70,000 € in cash. A man and woman arrested there were finally released. It’s believed the house was used to store the drugs before they were distributed across Europe.
LOCAL POLICE in Nerja are to crack down on bar and restaurants which take up too much space on pavements. Over the past month, complaints from Nerja residents have risen regarding bars and restaurants putting their tables out on pavements, preventing people from passing. Nerja is a tourist area, and most local cafeterias, bars and restaurants have their tables, chairs and signs out on the pavements, something which is allowed as long as they pay a fee to do so. However, there are limits to how much space they can take up, and it appears that in over this summer, some of them have decided to ignore the rules, making it difficult for pedestrians and vehicles to pass. This also affects shops which put their goods out on the pavement. One shop in particular has had its goods confiscated after doing so on several occasions. The owner was cautioned, but failed to keep within the limits set for his shop. This does not necessarily lead to a fine, but the owner will have to pay to get his merchandise back. “It’s not permissible to allow any business to obstruct walkways used by tourists and local residents, nor to endanger others” sources from the town hall said.
2009 ·COSTA DEL GANGSTERS by TNB
