Dubai the new Costa del Crime

Crime bosses are fleeing to the United Arab Emirates state because there is no extradition treaty with the UK. Dubai has become a paradise for British fugitives on the run.They are also using the property market there as an easy way to launder their millions. Traditionally criminals fled to Spain's Costa del Sol, but because of the success in extraditing gangsters such as road rage killer Kenny Noye it is no longer considered safe.Among those believed to be in Dubai are £53million Securitas robbery suspect Sean Lupton, 48. Armed robber Noel Cunningham, 47, who escaped from a prison van while on the way to court in 2003, is also believed to be in Dubai.
A source at the Serious and Organised Crime Agency said: "Dubai has pretty much everything you could want as a criminal on the run. Apart from the obvious sun and luxury there is no comprehensive extradition treaty."That makes it very difficult for us to get them to send any wanted criminals back to the UK for trial. Dubai has become the bolthole of choice for the criminal underworld."

Spanish Bank guarantees that are in order are not being honoured as the Spanish property market goes into freefall.

Bank guarantees, or Aval Bancario, from developers have been compulsory by law on off-plan purchases in Spain for the past 40 years. They mean that if a developer fails to build on time, or goes into administration and does not build at all, buyers should get most or all of their money returned. Until recently they worked well. As the holiday home market boomed, few developers went bust and buyers would accept minor delays. If a buyer did claim a refund, developers and banks gladly obliged knowing that rising values and strong demand would see any subsequent unsold home snapped up.

But now Spain's property market is in free-fall. At least 15 developers building holiday homes on the Costas filed for bankruptcy last year. Thousands of homes remain part-built and buyers are calling in bank guarantees. But many are discovering they were given faulty documents by developers, or have guarantees with conditions that make them worthless. One major developer in administration, Martinsa-Fadesa, has been accused by the newspaper El Pais of not issuing bank guarantees at all.

"Until recently some developers would regard it as an insult to be asked for them by foreign buyers and just wouldn't issue them. In other cases guarantees exist but may be out of date or worded in a way that make banks feel they need not honour them," says Peter Ebders of the International Law Partnership, a British legal firm.
More ominously, Ebders says even some guarantees that are in order are not being honoured because banks do not want to pay out large sums in the current dire financial situation. Ruth Genda, from Wymondham in Leicestershire, fell foul of a worthless bank guarantee on an apartment in Marbella on the Costa del Sol. The retired educationalist put down a £75,000 deposit in 2003. But construction was delayed and then the flat was declared an "illegal build" for lacking formal planing permission. Genda took Banco Popular Hipotecaria (BPH) to court, which declared her guarantee valid. But BPH appealed and the original result was overturned. A further legal review found in the bank's favour.Genda says the lack of appropriate building consent makes the flat impossible to occupy: "We're not prepared or able to buy an illegal property. It can't be mortgaged and it can't be sold because of its status. Our coffers are drained by legal fees and other costs, and we're likely to lose our deposit." Genda has launched an online petition - gopetition.com/petitions/spanishbankguarantees.html - but is realistic about the slim chances of success. "The guarantees have been given under false pretences, and no one in authority we've approached - MPs, MEPs, ministers, ombudsmen and so on - have been able to help." More than 100 people claiming to have valid guarantees have signed Genda's petition. "The problem is widespread. Lots of Britons are caught up. It's scandalous," says Barcelona-based Mark Stucklin, editor of the website Spanish Property Insight. The Bank of Spain says it has told banks to honour valid guarantees but has no power to enforce the instruction. Lawyer Mark Wilkins of Marbella-based The Rights Group says any prospective buyer, or one in mid-purchase, should instruct a lawyer to check the eligibility of his bank guarantee - even if the developer appears not to be in financial difficulties.

Uruguayan Police capture international drug gang that moved cocaine to Spain

Uruguayan police disrupted an international cocaine moved to Spain, with the arrest of 14 people, including two Spanish and one Venezuelan, and the seizure of 124 kilos of that drug and 250,000 euros ( 322,500 U.S. dollars), police sources confirmed today.

The Coast of the Death 4 tons of Cocaine siezed in Galicia

National Police have siezed 122 cocaine bundles, about 4,000 kilos, that had been disembarked on the beach at Morte, in the municipality Coruna . A person, has been arrested on the beach. The Coast of the Death four tons of cocaine disembarked on a the beach.Spanish authorities seized some four tonnes of cocaine in northwestern Spain on Monday and detained one person as part of their operation, police and customs agents said, cited by AFP.
The authorities moved in as a group was unloading the drugs from a speedboat on a beach between the towns of Aguino and Ribeira in Galicia, a rugged fishing region of isolated coves that is a key entry point for cocaine, they said.
When the group saw the authorities arrive they set fire to the boat and abandoned the cocaine but police managed to arrest one of their members who they said belongs to one of the most active trafficking groups in the region.
Spain, with its historical and linguistic ties to South America, is Europe's main entry point for cocaine from the continent, especially from Colombia, the world's top producer of the drug.
Spanish customs agents seized 21.8 tonnes of cocaine in 2008, according to provisional figures, down from 25 tonnes in the previous year.

New Zealander died in hospital alleged that a Briton was the instigator of the attack.

New Zealander died in hospital in Cádiz on Christmas Eve after being involved in a brawl in La Línea on December 19. It is alleged that the victim and a Briton were involved in a row which first broke out in a pub in Gibraltar and then for reasons unknown the pair decided to go to La Línea where the deceased man lived. Eyewitnesses say that the second encounter took place in La Atunara after a further row between the two. The injured man received a heavy blow to the head. Although there is a hospital in La Línea he was transferred to the Cádiz hospital which has better facilities for dealing with very serious brain injuries. No details about the nature of the fight have been released. However on the Monday after the assault, four days after the incident, the family of the injured man made an official report at the National Police HQ in La Línea. They alleged that the other Briton was the instigator of the attack.

British families started legal proceedings against builders Peinsa after the company reported that La Tercia Real golf resort would not be built

British families have started legal proceedings against builders Peinsa after the company reported that La Tercia Real (LTR) golf resort would not be built. The Hearns and Hunter paid 80,000 each to the builder two years ago for off-plan properties at the complex near Sucina, Murcia. They sold their homes in the UK to finance the deposit of their dream homes and moved into rented accommodation to wait for them to be built. Now they have no property in the UK or in Spain and cannot get their money refunded by the bank despite having a bank warrant. They have been paying £800 and £750 per month in rent respectively, and a further £100 for storage of furniture and belongings.Their solicitor has sent out notary orders to the bank and to Peinsa. Both families are now looking for a court date to recover their life savings. "Nightmare does not even begin to say what this has done to two hard working families with the Spanish dream. "The properties were not holiday homes - they were the only homes we had." She added that as compensation they were offered key ready properties which ‘were not a patch on what they signed up for'. And last August they were offered a 10,000-euro discount at the sales office to stay with Peinsa. Mrs Hearn said: "We were ready to pull out but it was our dream home and we gave them the benefit of the doubt." Mrs Hearn reported that Jayne Hunter was admitted to hospital in the UK shortly before Christmas.

Toll charge on the Costa del Sol motorway has been increased by between 3.5 and five per cent

Toll charge on the Costa del Sol motorway has been increased by between 3.5 and five per cent on the Malaga-Estepona stretch following the approval by the Development Ministry. This means that drivers of cars or motorbike riders will now have to pay 3.75 euros between Malaga and Marbella as opposed to the 3.60 euros it cost in 2008, which is a 4.1 per cent increase. This is the standard tariff between October and May, except during Holy Week.Throughout the rest of the year a fee of 6.10 euros between Malaga and Marbella (+ 4.2 per cent) will be in force. Drivers travelling on the Malaga-Calahonda or Calahonda-Marbella stretch will pay a standard fee of 2.35 euros (+ 4.4 per cent), and 3.80 euros (+4.1 per cent) during the peak holiday season. There will be a standard charge of 2.55 euros (+3.5 per cent) and a peak charge of 4.15 euros (+ 5 per cent) between Marbella and Estepona, and between Marbella and San Pedro, or San Pedro and Estepona, drivers will face charges of 1.40 euros and 2.40 euros respectively.

Juan Antonio Roca charges of embezzlement, money laundering and bribery. That trial will begin sometime in 2009.

The Roca years will have a long-term effect on the economy of Marbella, says Angeles Munoz, who was elected mayor in 2007. Even in Marbella’s waterfront Puerto Banus area, where tourists stop to have their pictures taken in front of Maseratis or megayachts, real estate prices are down 30 percent from their peaks in late 2006.

After a century-old extradition treaty with the U.K. expired in 1978, Marbella also became a haven for British criminals. Charlie Wilson, who was convicted for participating in the Great Train Robbery, moved to Marbella in 1984 after serving 10 years of a 30- year prison sentence. Wilson, 57, was shot to death at his villa in 1990. Until shortly before Roca’s arrival, Marbella had also been known for the drug dealers and prostitutes who plied their trades on its streets. Mayor Jesus Gil changed all that. Elected on a platform of cleaning up crime, Gil wanted to attract more wealth to the town whose population was then less than half the current 200,000. “All Gil cared about was capturing investment to create jobs and wealth and boost the economy in Marbella,” says Antonio Romero, a former lawmaker in the regional parliament of Andalusia, which includes Marbella. “He didn’t ask or care where the money came from.” Romero says Gil visited Russia in a bid to attract new capital from the gangsters emerging from the ruins of the Soviet Union. Gil hired Roca, a stocky man with dark, greased-back hair splashed with white around the temples, as the head of a property management company owned by the city, Planeamiento 2000, in 1992. The two men then used the company to siphon off 36 million euros from city coffers, according to a press note issued by the National Court on behalf of the prosecutors. Roca took bribes for granting building permits and adjudicating public works contracts at inflated prices to bidders who would pay him under the table, according to Torres, the prosecuting magistrate in Marbella. In the July 2007 indictment, Torres says Roca accepted 230,000 euros from a car-leasing company in exchange for awarding it a contract to provide vehicles to city officials. Roca allowed the leasing company to inflate the rates it charged the town, the indictment says. Roca also sold at a cheap price to his holding companies undeveloped land that belonged to the town, prosecutors say. He then reclassified it as suitable for development and resold it at a huge markup to another developer. For example, Roca bought one parcel of land from the city in 2001 for 132,222 euros, according to Torres’s July 2007 indictment. After reclassification, he sold the land for 1.8 million euros, the indictment says. As Roca built his wealth, Gil became embroiled in a graft scandal and resigned. (Gil died of a brain hemorrhage in 2004 at the age of 71.) Marbella’s city council elected Julian Munoz to replace Gil. Shortly thereafter, Munoz fired Roca, who then rallied support from the other city council members to oust Munoz. In 2003, the council elected a new mayor who had Roca’s backing. Marisol Yague, a 54-year-old mother of three and professional folk singer, had been on the city council since 1991. Torres described her in a March 31, 2006, decree as “just a puppet” in Roca’s hands. She was accused of bribery and fraud in the July 2007 indictment. Her lawyer, Pablo Luna, didn’t return phone calls seeking comment. He said in 2006 that she was innocent. As demand for new construction grew, so did the power of municipal firms like Roca’s across Spain. In many places, it could take as much as four years before a developer had all the permits required to begin work on a site, Instituto de Empresa’s Torre says. Builders such as Aifos would start work on projects under the assumption that they would get all of the necessary permits before it came time to occupy the building. Once the builder had spent heavily on the construction, Roca would demand a bribe in return for the permits, prosecutors say. “Roca’s biggest talent was that he knew how to wait,” says Francisco Benitez, former director of institutional relations for Aifos. “He’d wait until a developer had invested a huge amount of money in a half-finished project and then swoop in.” Benitez’s former employer paid 5 million euros of bribes to Roca over two years in a bid to get him to license two hotel developments in Marbella and Puerto Banus, according to the indictment. In one case, Aifos exceeded the permitted size for its Gran Hotel Guadalpin Banus by 14,000 square feet (1,300 square meters), according to the indictment, giving Roca the ammunition to shut the project down.
Aifos also paid a bribe of 4.4 million euros as part of a deal to purchase a waste treatment facility from city hall adjacent to land holdings in the Guadaiza area of Marbella, the indictment says. In the end, though, the facility was already pledged against various bank loans and city hall didn’t have the authority to complete the sale, according to the indictment. Aifos lost the 4.4 million euros, the indictment says. In January 2004, Aifos’s sales director, Kiko Garcia, took an envelope stuffed with 180,000 euros in cash to a gas station on the outskirts of Marbella and handed it over to a short, balding man he knew only as Salvador, according to Garcia’s sworn testimony to prosecutors on July 26, 2006. Salvador Gardoqui, one of Roca’s associates, has been charged with money laundering in the case. Gardoqui’s former lawyer, Teodoro Garcia, said his former client had pleaded innocent. Gardoqui’s current lawyer could not be reached. Garcia and Aifos Chairman Jesus Ruiz Casado, who have both been indicted for bribery, declined to comment. Benitez, who hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing, was laid off by Aifos in October as the company battled to stave off bankruptcy after banks cut their lines of credit to the firm following the bribery scandal. As Roca amassed bribes, he began to acquire the trappings of wealth for himself and his wife, Maria Rosa Jimeno Jimenez, and their two children and various friends. Roca’s wife was charged with money laundering. Her lawyer could not be reached. According to prosecutor Torres, Roca said his fortune was worth about 120 million euros and included enormous estates in Cadiz, Ibiza, Madrid, Majorca and Seville as well as various palaces in the capital that he intended to restore and sell as hotels. He also owned an art collection worth tens of millions of euros, including the Miro and works by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali.

Roca’s lavish lifestyle drew the attention of investigators including Torres and Oscar Perez, who took over the case from Torres in November 2007. They began probing Roca’s business connections, particularly his possible links to money launderers, according to the 2007 indictment.

In one deal, Roca took a 540,000 euro payment from the Mafia based in Calabria, Italy, while he also did “accounting work” for a drug trafficker identified as Davila, the indictment says. While the investigators closed in, Roca faced additional threats. His Marbella office was broken into in 2005. Roca received an anonymous letter that included a photo collage of his family with all of their heads chopped off, according to testimony from Roca’s bodyguard, Jaime Hachuel. By 2005, rumors were circulating in Marbella that the Russian mafia was menacing the city planning administrator, Hachuel told investigators. “When the mafia saw the net closing in on Roca, their closest collaborator, the threats began,” says Romero, the former lawmaker. “If Roca were to sing, that would spell big trouble for them.” Hachuel, 43, a former member of the Spanish royal guard, spent 32,000 euros on eight encrypted mobile phones to prevent Roca’s calls to his colleagues from being tapped. The security guard was trying to procure equipment to detect bugging devices when police taped a Jan. 26, 2006, meeting between Roca and Marbella businessman Ismael Perez Pena in Madrid’s Villa Magna hotel. At the meeting, Roca promised to boost the fees the town paid for the cars it leased from Pena’s company. Roca also signed over to Pena two beachside apartments owned by the city as a repayment for money owed to his company by city hall. In return, Roca wanted a favor -- help repaying another debt to an unnamed party, according to a police transcript of the meeting. “You remember I told you I had to pay 3 million,” Roca said. “What can you give me of that?” “In Box A, nothing; In Box B, as much as you want,” Pena told him, using the local slang for legal and illegal payments. “I can give you 1.8 million in Box B tomorrow.”
Four days later, police stopped a black Audi A6 sedan leaving the Pena office in Getafe, near Madrid, and found 2 million euros in cash inside two cardboard files wrapped in packing tape. The men inside the car were all Roca associates. Pena was charged with bribery and fraud. Neither Pena nor his lawyer could be reached for comment. On March 29, 2006, police arrested Roca on charges of embezzlement, money laundering and bribery. That trial will begin sometime in 2009. A verdict in his separate trial for embezzling 36 million euros from the city is expected in early 2009.
In the race to build without permits, developers wrecked the coastline and city officials neglected infrastructure such as roads, Munoz, 48, says. “People have lived very, very well here,” she says. “Imagine what it could have been like if they had invested as they should have.”

John Vasey was accused of carrying £2.5m of cannabis across the border from Spain

John Vasey today told of his shock at being sentenced to five years behind bars.
The lorry driver from Rickleton Village, Washington, was due back before a French court today for an appeal hearing, more than four years after first facing drug smuggling charges. The 48-year-old had just started piecing his life back together after he was accused of carrying £2.5m of cannabis across the border from Spain.After a nightmare 14-month spell in jail after his arrest, and losing his home, business and marriage, he was finally freed on bail in 2004.
He thought his ordeal was over for good, but he told yesterday how he is fighting again to clear his name after being issued fresh court papers.Today John revealed he has been living in silent torture for over a year, after judges found him guilty at a re-trial in October 2007.The dad-of-one was sentenced to five years in prison, which was suspended while he appealed against the verdict.From France, John said: “I was sick to the core when they delivered the verdict.”John returned to England with a brave face, determined to do all he could to win his appeal.But he had a massive task in hand, because under French law, it is up the lorry driver to prove he had no knowledge of the drugs in his load.“You have to prove your innocence, not the other way round,” said John. “They don’t present any witnesses or evidence.“That is why we have taken more photographs, and I have taken my own translator this time because it has been very difficult.“You feel very isolated in there, standing on your own in front of three judges. It is all conducted in French and the paperwork is all in French. We have to pay for everything ourselves to be translated.”It has been a harrowing time for his partner Suzie Eldin, also a lorry driver, who met John through work two years ago and lives with him in Washington.They tried to make the most of Christmas, knowing it could be their last together for a long time.She said: “It has been a long two years for me, but it has been even longer for his family.“It’s so difficult because under French law, you are responsible for what is in the pallets. But that’s like expecting your postman to open your letters and check for anything illegal before putting them through the letterbox.“We made the best of Christmas as we possibly could, just in case he is not here next year. And we had a good new year together too.“We have normal plans for the future like other couples, but our lives have been put on hold with this hanging over us.“John does not talk about it much. We live together, and he hardly discusses it with me. He knows the effect it has had on everyone, and I think he feels that by not talking about it he won’t add to it.”John’s parents Mary and Ken Vasey are desperate for an end to their ordeal, throughout which they have campaigned tirelessly to clear his name.He has also had the constant support of his cousin Sue Austerberry and her husband John, who are both with John in Montpellier in the south of France today.
Grandma-of-seven Mary, of Lambton, Washington, said: “It has taken its toll on our health.“We have both aged a lot throughout it all, and my memory has got a lot worse. I try not to think about it, I just keep busy. John is like me, he buries his head in the sand too.”His family enlisted the help of Newcastle lawyer Clive McKeag at the outset, and he is still fighting John’s case today.Mr McKeag explained why John was granted leave to appeal against his verdict and sentence.He said: “The judge ordered that a whole lot of investigations had to be done. These investigations have never been made, and we are extremely concerned about it.”

Sean Woodhall, 43, a convicted fraudster known as “Slippery Sean”, that he staged the mysterious plane crash.

Claims are being made that a group of businessmen who went missing in a mysterious plane crash staged their deaths and fled with 

millions of pounds.The four debt-ridden Britons were officially on board a small Brazilian charter plane that crashed along the country’s coastline last May.A rescue operation was called off when wreckage from the twin-engine Cessna washed up after several days. However, the bodies of the four men and two Brazilian pilots have never been found. The passengers had links to Ocean View Properties that was in financial 

difficulties and one was less than a week away from settling a costly 

divorce.Brazilian authorities are still trying to solve the crash riddle but Foreign Office officials last night confirmed that death certificates had been issued to the British families.

Shipwrecked Zodiac dinghy was spotted roughly 22 miles off Cape Vilano last Wednesday by a passing Portuguese ship

Three Spanish men were rescued by the crew of the 'Pesca I' coast guard helipcopter yesterday lunchtime after their shipwrecked Zodiac dinghy was spotted roughly 22 miles off Cape Vilano last Wednesday by a passing Portuguese ship. All three are reported to be well despite suffering from minor injuries and mild hypothermia.
They were taken to Peinador airport in Vigo, from where they were transferred to Meixueiro Hospital Hospital to receive medical attention, but face interrogation after several suspicious packages wrapped in green and brown plastic - which investigators suspect may be drugs - as well as life jackets were spotted close to the wreckage of their vessel off the coast of Corrubedo by the crew of the 'Rosalía' coast guard spotter plane deployed to search for them. It has since been confirmed that two of the men have previous convictions for drug trafficking.

British national who lived in Orihuela found dead in an irrigation canal

It has been confirmed that the 18-year-old youth found dead in an irrigation canal in San Miguel de Salinas (Alicante) early yesterday morning was a British national who lived in Orihuela. His body was found on the service road that leads to the Villamartín residential estate at 7.45am, around three quarters of an hour after a passer-by had found his damaged moped and reported a possible accident to the emergency services. It appears that the lad lost control, smashed into a roadside crash barrier, catapulting him into the ditch, and was then swept roughly fifteen metres downstream before coming to rest in mud. Prior to the official post-mortem result, it is believed that the young man was knocked unconscious and drowned.

Missing Amy Fitzpatrick father in Ireland

Could you please put information on your website about Missing Amy Fitzpatrick father in Ireland He has now hired a private detective to help in the search for Amy
Anyone with information can contact Private Investigator Liam A Brady.www.liamabrady.ie .

peaceful protest march in Almeria

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

La Manga Club in Murcia filed for bankruptcy protection

La Manga Club in Murcia filed for bankruptcy protection. Owned by George Soris’s company MedGroup, the company says that they will continue to trade, but will take ‘very strong measures’ to make the company viable.
They purchased the club from P&O for 102 million pounds in 2004. It includes three golf courses, 28 tennis courts, 8 football pitches, a spa, 1,800 private villas and apartments, and a 5 star Hyatt Regency hotel. It’s one of the most complete tourist complexes in Spain and one of the best in Europe, and currently employs 700 workers.
The Concurso Voluntario de Acreedores was placed in the mercantile court in Murcia, but the judge has yet to make any decision on the case.
The situation implies that the firm has problems meeting debts which are pending. Some reports say that its banks have declined to re-finance part of a 97 million € debt, despite its assets being valued at 170 million.
The La Manga Club is well known internationally as it has been used by many tennis stars, such as Anna Kourniokova and football teams such as Manchester United and Real Madrid for training.

severe fall-off in bookings is alarming tourist authorities and businesses.

The severe fall-off in bookings is alarming tourist authorities and businesses.
Figures from the Spanish tourist industry reveal that the number of Britons who visited Spain in November, for example, was down by 15% on 2007.
The fall has closely tracked the decreasing value of the pound. Britons began to turn their backs on Spain in September, when numbers were down 5%, reaching 7% in October. Last month's dramatic decline came after the pound had lost 25% of its value against the euro in a year. With the pound and the euro now apparently heading for parity, tourist authorities fear that worse will come ? with the all-important summer season now looking grim. Thousands of Britons are dropping traditional holidays to Spain because of the weakness of the pound and fears over the after-effects of the banking crisis. "We are seeing principal markets fall away," explained Marien Andr?, of the Catalan government's Tourism Observatory. "Everything has become very volatile." That is causing alarm in a country which relies on a steady flow of Britons to keep its tourism sector buoyant. Some 17 million British tourists land at Spanish airports or drive across the border every year, according to the Foreign Office, accounting for almost one in three tourists who visit Spain, which earns 11% of GDP from tourism. The Canary Islands, where the mild winters attract many of end-of-year British tourists, have seen the number arriving this winter fall by 15%, while the Costa del Sol area around Malaga suffered even worse, with visitors down by 17%. Spanish hotels have dropped their prices by 2% this year, but this has not been enough to hang on to British tourists - many of whom now prefer to rent houses and apartments online or off friends and relatives. While British people are abandoning their Spanish holidays, however, Spaniards are beginning to fill the budget airline seats that they are leaving empty. The weakness of the pound has made England suddenly seem cheap to Spaniards who previously found Britain's most popular tourist spots too expensive. With the euro also stretching much further in British shops, Spaniards who last year traveled to New York to hunt for bargains in the post-Christmas sales have been booking into London hotels. Spanish internet hotel booking sites report increases of up to 70% in London bookings for immediately after Christmas. Bookings for flights plus hotels were up 80%, according to one portal. One route, from the northern city of La Coruna, to London is carrying double the number of passengers this year compared with 2007.
"The attraction of London is very strong,'' said one travel agent. "It is not that far away and its currency is weak." Newspaper travel supplements in recent weeks have been full of the bargain prices in London, with iPods now 25% cheaper there than in Spain. Barcelona's La Vanguardia newspaper filled three pages on Monday to explain to its readers the advantages of traveling to London in the coming months.
"No one doubts that this year London will be the favored destination for those who, despite the economic crisis, still want to keep traveling," the paper said.
Not all Spaniards, however, were mourning the disappearance of the British tourist. "They only ever spend their money on alcohol and then they have to be carted off to hospital after they get drunk and pass out,'' said a comment posted on La Vanguardia's website. "Perhaps we can start bringing in quality tourism now."

arrest of 20 members of a suspected international counterfeit money distribution network, operating in Spain and Portugal.

code-named ‘Margarita-Kuskus,’ in Alicante, Valencia, Murcia, Malaga, Almeria and Lugo provinces, has led to the arrest of 20 members of a suspected international counterfeit money distribution network, operating in Spain and Portugal.
The operation, carried out in collaboration with the European Union's criminal intelligence agency (Europol), also resulted in the seizure of 150,000 fake euros in 50 and 20 euro denominations destined for distribution in Spain.

The investigation was launched toward the end of last year after in increase in false bank notes was detected in circulation in Alicante and Lugo Provinces. Given that the modus operandi of these crimes was the same in both provinces, Guardia Civil officers from both agreed to work in partnership on the investigation.

Once the distributors, mostly of North African origin, were identified and located, they were arrested. One of those arrested, a Torrevieja resident, with dual Spanish-Moroccan nationality who had worked as a judicial interpreter, now faces further charges of passing confidential information relating to the case to the criminal gang.The investigation revealed that the main distribution point in Spain was in Alicante Province, between Callosa del Segura and Torrevieja. The boss of the gang was identified as being from Torrevieja and three of his partners in crime were from nearby Callosa del Segura.Towards the end of October this year, Guardia Civil officers followed the head of the gang and stopped him at a toll-booth on the A-7 in Puzol, Valencia. It is believed he was on his way to southern Italy, with the intention of purchasing a large quantity of fake notes. When they searched his car, they found six wads of 20,000 euros in 20 euro bills. He was arrested along with another two men of North African origin, whose job was allegedly to make contact with other gang members, resident in Italy, where the counterfeit notes were printed by the Calabrian Mafia, ‘Ndrangheta’, one of the most powerful and violent known crime organizations in Italy.It is believed that other members of the organisation periodically travelled to Italy where they purchased the false money and smuggled it back into Spain hidden in specially designed compartments in their vehicles. As a security measure, the vehicle carrying the cash was always escorted ahead by a second vehicle whose purpose was to act as a look-out for any police presence or checks.

Once the money was in Spain, it was stored and at several premises between Callosa del Segura and Redovan, in the Orihuela area. From there, the notes were then distributed throughout Spain, Portugal and North Africa.

In a similar pattern to that known to be used by drug- trafficking gangs, the organisation had a further network of people who would purchase the fake notes at prices between 30 and 40 per cent of their face value. They would then introduce the money into the legal economic system, making small purchases that generally managed to avoid detection.Once the money had been changed into authentic cash, it was laundered through the purchase of properties, vehicles and other goods, often in other people’s names to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

purple €500 notes are so rarely seen that they have earned the nickname “Bin Ladens”.

Spain is estimated to have one of the biggest black economies in Europe, accounting for between 20 and 23% of annual GDP. Spanish tax authorities are investigating 12,000 big transactions involving €500 notes.

It is, perhaps, the strangest idea yet for pumping extra liquidity into Europe’s troubled banking system. Spanish officials were yesterday reported to be looking for ways of encouraging Spaniards to remove the estimated 108m €500 notes they have hoarded in safes or under floorboards and take them to the bank. That averages out to at least two per Spaniard, or a total of €54bn, circulating outside the country’s banking system.

A combination of tax-cheating and a long-standing mistrust of banks, means Spain soaks up a quarter of all the €500 notes - one of the world’s highest denomination bank bills - released every year.One option for getting the notes into the banking system, by offering a no-questions-asked fiscal amnesty, was ruled out by the finance minister Pedro Solbes yesterday. El Mundo newspaper reported, however, that there had been pressure from within the government’s finance team to consider a fiscal amnesty. Spain’s tax inspectors, whose job it is to root out the notes when they are used for tax fraud, were among those opposing the idea.The purple €500 notes are so rarely seen that they have earned the nickname “Bin Ladens”.Most are used in real estate deals, where property is often bought and sold in a mixture of fiscally opaque cash and fiscally transparent bank transfers. The price of property deals reported to the tax authorities is, therefore, often much lower than that really paid.Other notes circulate in the country’s black economy. Sectors including the footwear industry, construction or silversmiths are thought to do much of their business in black currency.

Fortuna Land scam was run out of offices on the Costa del Sol using companies registered in places like Cyprus and Delaware (USA).

The Spanish land investment scam run for years by Fortuna Estates has finally been busted, with the Spanish fraud squad swooping last week on several office in Mijas and Fuengirola, arresting at least 2 people, and questioning 20 others. This could be one of the biggest Spanish property scams to date, with hundreds, if not thousands of British and Irish victims. The Spanish authorities estimate that Fortuna Estates made at least 65 million Euros out of this fraud.Still under official secrecy orders, the police have released few details about “Operation Fuentespino”, but the Spanish press reports that there could be more than 2,000 victims, mainly middle class investors from the United Kingdom and Ireland.Fortuna Estates, which had changed its name to Fortuna Land (Investment) by 2007, snared its victims with the promise of high returns from land reclassification projects in rural Andalucia.

“Watch your investment in raw undeveloped land turn into commercial projects with multi-million euro potential,” promised Fortuna Estates, which started selling ‘shares’ in its projects in 2002.

Fortuna Estates contacted potential investors at through property exhibitions, cold calls and mailing lists, and a fairly substantial advertising campaign in the British quality press.Claiming to be the “leading land investment agency based in Southern Spain,” Fortuna Estates offered its clients ‘shares’ in greenfield projects purporting to turn land in out-of-the-way parts of Andalucia into hot commercial property investments.
“Working primarily in the commercial sector of land development, Fortuna Estates has developed a program of investment techniques that bring this highly lucrative sector within the grasp of the ordinary investor,” claimed Fortuna. Targeting the ‘ordinary investor’ was a key part of Fortuna’s strategy. It claimed it was making high-return land investments accessible to people who could not otherwise afford them. Many of Fortuna’s victims probably invested the minimum of around 10,000 Euros, and the vast majority probably had no experience of land reclassification or the realities of investing in Spanish property.Fortuna sold various different projects over time, starting with a project called Bella Fortuna, then going on to sell projects called Sierra Fortuna, and Cazadores Reales.An insight into how Fortuna hooked its clients with talk of high returns, backed up with invented figures, can be gained from Fortuna’s sales material. “These factors have contributed towards the success of the Bella Fortuna project,” goes the patter. “This plot of stunning Andalucian countryside is over 400,000m² in size and located midway between Malaga and Granada, next to the town of Zafarraya. This project was first released to private investors in Sept 2002 at a price of €6.80m² and closed at a price of €9.20m² 14 months later. In Oct 2004 official planning permission for the Hotel Zafarraya complex was granted and the land was then independently valued at €37.59m².”The valuations were meaningless, as Fortuna made them up to make it look like investors were making big profits, on paper at least. This was enough to keep filling the pipeline with new investors, and convince existing clients to invest more money in new projects. Some of Fortuna Land’s hapless investors are thought to have invested in as many as 3 of their projects.Fortuna also beguiled it clients by doing all transactions through ‘independent’ lawyers and notaries, and giving clients “legally notarised title deed to the land in which they have invested.”
“ Whether your investment is for 5 acres or just a quarter of an acre, every investment is secured by physical ownership of the title document,” Fortuna assured its investors.
The plans Fortuna had for its land reclassification projects, and the way in which it kept changing them and announcing delays should have had investors’ alarm bells ringing. Plans veered around from hotels with a wedding chapel, to retirement homes, to solar farms. At one point, after long delays, they claimed they had received ‘verbal’ planning permission, but there is no evidence that Fortuna were serious about delivering on their promises.Most of the victims of this scam are thought to be British, though Irish and Germans investors are also thought to be involved. As an article in the Spanish daily ‘El Pais’ points out, the British have fallen for numerous scams on the Costa del Sol over the last decade, mainly involving property.
The Fortuna Land scam was run out of offices on the Costa del Sol using companies registered in places like Cyprus and Delaware (USA). Currently the Fortuna Land website (fortunaland.es), claims they have “implemented a strategic relationship with The Oanna Group to realise your investment projects in Spain,” and instruct visitors to direct all future communications to oannagroup.com. The Oanna Group appear to have an office in London.Despite making several arrests, the Spanish police do not think they have nabbed any of the masterminds, who are thought to have disappeared, and may already be working on their next scam.Indeed, ‘El Pais’ reports that victims of the Fortuna Estates fraud have already been targeted by new scam that promises to recover their money for a fee of 10% of their investment paid up front.

Death of the Beach Bars,500 bars and restaurants in the Malaga province alone have been built on the sand in contravention to planning regulations

Coastal authority of Andalusia has announced plans to enforce a 1988 law designed to prevent construction within 100 yards of the waterline. An estimated 500 bars and restaurants in the Malaga province alone have been built on the sand in contravention to planning regulations, authorities claim. Around 300 of them will be forced to close when their concessions end next year. Javier Hermoso, the chief of beaches on the eastern Costa del Sol, said closing the bars and clearing the coastline had become his main objective since taking office in September. "It will be a long complicated process because nothing has been enforced for 20 years," he told local newspaper La Opinion de Malaga. Critics of the move fear that the clamp down will lead to huge job losses at time when the area is already suffering a downturn in the tourist industry. "We are talking about making 7000 people out of work in Malaga alone with this move," said Norberto Del Castillo, of the Federation of Beach Businesses of Andalusia. Others said it would drive tourists away. "A beach without a beach bar is one lacking the essential elements," said one commentator in Malaga. "They are a tourist must-have. Eating and drinking with the sea nearby and one's feet in the sand is one of greatest delights of the beach."