Fifteen Britons suspected of running one of Europe's biggest "boiler room" scams have been arrested in Spain.

Armed police carried out a raid in Mallorca as part of an investigation into a gang believed to have been cold-calling thousands of UK residents.

The arrested men, from Nottinghamshire, Essex, Luton and London, appeared briefly in a Spanish court yesterday but are yet to face trial.

Boiler room fraudsters use pressure sales tactics to sell worthless shares.

City of London Police, who worked with the Spanish authorities, said younger members of the alleged scam are thought to have been lured into the operation by crime bosses who targeted them in English-speaking bars.

'Fake companies'
Dyno Medical, Inca Pacific Gold and Mining and Viking Gold Resources have been named as fake companies linked to the gang.

The 15 include Liam Rymell, 23; Dominic Jones, 24; Shafiq Dad, 41; Omar Rana, 27; and Rashid Shafayat, 30, all from Nottingham.

Also arrested were John Bartlett, 22; Tyrone Robinson, 23, and Lee Fisher, 24 - all from Mansfield - and Essex residents Danny Dilliway, 25, Chris Savva, 30, Mohamed Ghazalli, 26, and Neil Simpson, 27.

Farhan Khan, 24, from Hayes, west London; Anthony Baugh, 25, from Luton; and Fahim Khan, 36, from south London but residing in Spain, are the other British suspects.

Two German nationals also appeared in court.

Boiler room scams are estimated to cost the UK about £200m a year.

Joey Essex has had £10,000 stolen from his Marbella villa.

The 'Only Way Is Essex' star - who has travelled to the sun-soaked Spanish holiday destination with girlfriend Sam Faiers and a number of other pals from the ITV2 show - returned from a night out to discover the cash, his laptop, designer clothes, and prized orange Ugg boots had all been robbed.
An insider told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Joey had been having so much fun celebrating the show's BAFTA win and was out for another night on the tiles.
"But when he returned to his villa all his belongings, his cash and everything he'd brought out there had been taken. He has been consoled by his girlfriend Sam Faiers and other castmates."
However, the 20-year-old hunk - who is staying with three friends in a plush villa in the hills above the holiday hotspot - thinks he was purposefully targeted by thieves.
Meanwhile, after being left with nothing but the clothes on his back, Joey's management have been forced to jet out to Marbella to provide the reality TV star with a new wardrobe.
A friend told The Sun newspaper: "Joey thinks he was targeted because they knew about him being on TV and thought he'd have a lot of valuables and money.
"He had nothing left apart from the clothes he was wearing."

More than 40 Spanish protesters suffered injuries in altercations with police in Barcelona Friday

More than 40 Spanish protesters suffered injuries in altercations with police in Barcelona Friday, as pressure mounted on demonstrators to end nearly two weeks of sit-in protests around the country.
Five of the protesters were taken to hospital, medical sources said. The injured also included one police officer.
Similar clashes were reported in Lerida, while Madrid's governing conservatives called on Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government to disperse hundreds of protesters in the capital's central Puerta del Sol square.
The protest camp there was becoming 'almost a slum' that hampered business and tourism, PP representative Francisco Granados said.
The protesters form part of the so-called M-15 movement, launched on May 15, which brought tens of thousands of people to the streets ahead of that Sunday's local and regional elections.
They are demanding a profound reform of Spain's democratic system, which they see as serving the interests of financial markets. The movement also criticizes corruption and Spain's 20 per cent unemployment rate, the eurozone's highest.
Police were ordered to avoid incidents ahead of the elections, and allowed protesters to occupy dozens of squares around the country.
But on Friday, Barcelona police ordered demonstrators to remove their tents, mattresses, sofas and other objects from Catalonia Square.
Police said the protesters needed to leave temporarily to allow cleaners to enter the square and to avoid unrest following a Champions' League final football match between FC Barcelona and Manchester in London on Saturday.
Protesters tried to block entrances to the square, with some attacking cleaning vehicles, media reports said.
Police used batons and fired into the air to disperse the demonstrators, who said cleaning the square was a pretext to violate their democratic rights.
Police left after dismantling the protest camp, after which about 1,000 demonstrators were allowed to enter and stay on the square.
In Lerida west of Barcelona, about 100 people clashed with police, who removed tents and other materials to make room for cleaners. Two people were detained.
An entrepreneurs' association threatened to take legal action if the protesters were not forced to leave their Madrid encampment 'immediately.'

61 kilos of speed recovered by Spanish police

Spanish National Police have arrested nine drug traffickers who were based in the Basque Country, and who organised the importation of drugs from Holland. It’s believed all the arrested are Spanish with the exception of a Dutch couple.

The group stored the drugs in Bilbao for distribution in the Basque Country, Rioja, Navarra, Cantabria and Castilla y León.

Their car left Spain for Holland where it was loaded up with drugs hidden inside the back of the vehicle, in the supports of the rear seats.

National Police swooped on the vehicle in a service centre in Guipúzcoa after seeing the car cross into Spain in Irún in the early hours of Tuesday. 61 kilos of speed was found.

Investigations into the group had started in November last year.
A search of the homes of those arrested also revealed a marihuana indoor growing area in Vizcaya, two kilos of Ketamine and other amounts of hashish, cocaine, speed and ecstasy. Another ten cars have been impounded.