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Fake Gastric Banding Surgery Through Hypnosis - ABC News: "Lindley, 59, weighed 315 pounds and wanted to lose weight before retiring from her position in a school in Keighley, England. So in July 2009, she traveled to a clinic in Spain. She spent days in 'pre-surgery' counseling talking about her food choices and how gastric banding surgery would leave her stomach no bigger than a golf ball and make it uncomfortable for her to eat more than she needed.
In her final session, Lindley went into the 'operating room' where she smelled antiseptics and heard sounds of the doctors and nurses talking. But rather than go under anesthesia, Lindley had actually already been put under, using hypnosis.
Hours later she walked out of the 'hospital' without a single incision having been made. Lindley didn't actually have -- or want -- gastric bypass surgery, she had hoped the hypnotists at the Elite Clinic in Marbella, Spain could just convince her she had one so her body would not let her eat as much."
Britons Daniel Rushton and Matthew Daly have been arrested in connection with an armed robbery at a supermarket in Puerto Banus, 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.
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.
Two British men have been arrested in Spain for alleged drugs offences, the Foreign Office has said. It confirmed Brian Deans - thought to be from Dundee - and Dean Hinton, from Northampton, were arrested in Alicante on 12 September. The Foreign Office said consular assistance was being provided. But it could not confirm reports that the arrests followed a seizure of more than 350kg of cannabis, a spokeswoman went on to say.
Although Spain is maintaining its position as one of the most economically productive countries in Europe, it also now holds the second-highest rate of unemployment. The European Union's statistics office, 'Eurostat,' released figures stating that 8.8 percent of Spain's economically active population was out of work during January. During this month, the number of applications for unemployment benefit rose by 132,378 on the figure released for December. This left Spain in second place in the unemployment stakes, following closely behind Slovakia within the European community. The average unemployment level was recorded as 6.8 percent within the EU and 7.1 percent throughout the European continent. Spain was also among the countries which experienced a substantial deterioration in its labour market over the past 12 month period, rising by 0.6 points in comparison to the same period last year. It is suggested that one of the reasons for this slide has been the slow down in the labour market, which in turn affected construction and related industries.
