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22-year-old man originally from Colombia is fighting for his life after a dramatic chase down the A-31 that ended in Alicante city centre in a collision with a National Police patrol car. The drama began at around 9am yesterday morning when Guardia Civil officers in Villena spotted the man arguing violently with a woman, now believed to be his sister. When they tried to intervene, the man got in his car, speeding off down the twisty A-31 freeway towards Alicante city centre, before ploughing into a police roadblock on the Avenida de Elche, near the old flour mill. He was taken by ambulance to Alicante General Hospital, where he is reported to be in a critical condition suffering from severe head injuries, multiple fractures and contusions.
A member of the crew of a boat which brought four stowaways to Alicante has been arrested by the police. It comes after the Capitan of the Slovak vessel handed over the four Turkish nationals to the National Police in Alicante Port after discovering the immigrants.Reports in Informacion newspaper indicate that the member of the crew who has been arrested charged the stowaways 2,500 € for allowing them on board. Three of the stowaways are reported to have accepted their immediate deportation, while a fourth has asked for political asylum.
Police say the boat initially departed from Istanbul with eight stowaways on board, but four of them got off the vessel at a stop over in Sicily.Three of the four have accepted deportation while the last has applied for political asylum.
The Interior Ministry gave news last Friday of an operation run jointly with Customs and police in Portugal which seized more than half a ton of cocaine in port in Lisbon and led to the arrest of a British man in Alicante.He was arrested at a warehouse in Villajoyosa where he was waiting to receive the drugs which reached port in Portugal in a cargo of nappies The Ministry said 514 kilos of the drug were discovered in a cargo of paper nappies from Gambia on 29th February, which was due to be sent on to Spain. The cargo was allowed to continue on with its journey, once the drugs had been removed, and police were waiting to swoop on a warehouse on an industrial estate in Villajoyosa, Alicante province, when the lorry arrived to unload its cargo. There, a 50 year old man named by his initials of R.P.J. was taken into custody. The operation remains open and further arrests have not been ruled out.
The Alicante newspaper, Información, reports on the case of two men who were arrested in Alicante city centre this Tuesday night, with one of them at the wheel of the car, speeding and zig zagging along the street, and the owner of the vehicle on the roof. He was standing up, pretending to surf.
Both had been drinking.
The driver is charged with reckless driving and causing a danger to others, and could face at least five years in prison. The proceedings at the speedy trial held on Wednesday – where the duty prosecutor asked for two years or a fine - were called off, with the length of the possible sentence meaning the case must now be heard by a higher court.
