CRIME ON THE COSTAS is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
Georgian mafia henchman extradited to Spain | Olive Press Newspaper | News Spain: "right-hand man of Georgian mafia boss is being extradited to Spain.
Leon Lann, aka Leonid Kaplan, managed Costa del Sol real estate investments for gang leader Zakhar Kalashov.
Kalashov was sentenced in Spain earlier this year and Lann was recently nabbed in Moscow.
Russian-born mafioso is charged with laundering money from arms trafficking through property investments.
Spanish prosecutors believe Lann invested over 5.5 million euros of Kalashov’s money through Costa del Sol firms Suninvest 2000 and Elvira Invest."
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Strip club assault charge: "Christopher Brian Neilson, 28, has been charged with assaulting Maxwell Chapman about 6am on Tuesday.
CCTV footage showed Mr Chapman being knocked unconscious with an elbow strike to the head before his attacker walked away. He has regained consciousness but remained in intensive care yesterday.
Neilson appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday.
Charged with intentionally and recklessly causing serious injury over the incident outside Showgirls Bar 20 in King Street, in the city, he did not apply for bail.
An out-of-sessions hearing was told he was on bail from Queensland on firearms charges following a raid on December 2 that allegedly netted a pistol, shotgun and ballistic vest.
Neilson said he and his partner were in Melbourne for ''a fresh start''. ''I realise I'm a bit of a monster at the moment …'' he told the bail justice.
He was remanded to reappear in March."
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Euro Weekly News | 1093 days since Amy Fitzpatrick vanished | Costa del Sol | News | The Largest English Language Newspapers in Spain: "1,093 days since teenager Amy Fitzpatrick vanished into thin air near her home on the Costa del Sol. Amy's disappearance on New Year’s Day, 2008, has left her Irish mother Audrey Fitzpatrick distraught. But despite it being almost three years to the day since she last saw her daughter, she has not given up hope.
Making a fresh call for help from the public to provide information, she says: “It could be residents in the area, it could be anyone who was on holiday in the area at the time, it could be anyone at all,” she says.
“Please keep your ears and eyes open. Please send us any information you have no matter how insignificant it may seem."
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'Drug lord' gets bail: "ALLEGED drug lord Hakan Ayik - one of Australia's most wanted men - has been granted bail by a Turkish Cyprus court despite fleeing capture there before.
Ayik is alleged to be the co-ordinator of a drugs syndicate stretching across several countries and involving the Comanchero bikie gang, corrupt port officials and Chinese Triads.
After leaving Australia earlier this year, Ayik, a dual Turkish and Australian citizen, learnt he was at risk of arrest if he returned, so settled on the Turkish side of Cyprus. That sparked a five-month game of cat-and-mouse, until his capture last week."
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Euro Weekly News | Marbella-based British company named in nation-wide fraud | Costa del Sol | News | The Largest English Language Newspapers in Spain: "GUARDIA CIVIL are investigating a possible fraud which has affected parents with children in schools throughout Spain. A company based in Marbella, Forward Press (Europe) Ltd, organized a short story contest for young writers in schools all over the country.
Diplomas were handed out to the winners. It then offered parents the chance of having their children’s stories published for just €13, something which hundreds agreed to.
They paid via bank transfer or internet and should have received the books in September.
However, so far no books have been published and Guardia Civil are encouraging parents to contact them and report the problem so they can prove the fraud.
The Penal Code establishes that there is no crime if the quantities are less than €400, but if Guardia Civil can prove the fraud was ‘en masse’ something can be done.
Forward Press (Europe) Ltd is the Spanish-based subsidiary of Forward Press Ltd in the UK, a Spanish daily reports."
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Wanted drug trafficker arrested in Calahonda bar | Olive Press Newspaper | News Spain: "TWO British thugs have been snatched by Spanish police.
Dennis Patrick O’Brien of Liverpool, 61, and a 43-year-old Mancunian known by initials K.P.G have been arrested last week on Mijas Costa.
The arrests have been coordinated by Spain’s National Police and UK’s Serious Organised Crime Unit as part of operation Captura.
O’Brien was arrested in Trafalgar Bar at the Calahonda del Sol urbanisation. He’s a key member of the Kelly family from the Garston area of Liverpool and has been on the run for four years.
O’Brien has a pending life sentence for smuggling one and a half tones of cocaine into the UK. He also has charges for ambushing armoured bank vans and has a murder charge for the killing on William Osu in 1982."
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WikiLeaks: How U.S. tried to stop Spain's torture probe | McClatchy: "Don't indict former President George W. Bush's legal brain trust for alleged torture in the treatment of war on terror detainees, warned Mel Martinez on one of his frequent trips to Madrid. Doing so would chill U.S.-Spanish relations.
Rather than a resolution, though, a senior Spanish diplomat gave the former GOP chairman and housing secretary a lesson in Spain's separation of powers. 'The independence of the judiciary and the process must be respected,'' then-acting Foreign Minister Angel Lossada replied on April 15, 2009. Then for emphasis, 'Lossada reiterated to Martinez that the executive branch of government could not close any judicial investigation and urged that this case not affect the overall relationship.''
The case is still open, on the desk of a Spanish magistrate, awaiting a reply from the Obama administration on whether it will pursue a probe of its own."
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PressTV - 'UK behind 2009 Iran assassinations': "terrorists involved in the assassination of three people in the western Iranian city of Marivan last year have confessed that British intelligence services were behind the attack.
The terrorists shot dead the second son of Mamousta Mostafa Shirzadi, Marivan's Friday prayers leader, along with two of his friends on July 5, 2009. The three victims were Sunnis.
Following a month of investigation, Iran's intelligence and police forces arrested several suspects, who, when questioned, confessed to having committed the crime with the help of a British Intelligence agent.
The terrorists told a Tehran Revolutionary Court headed by Justice Abolghasem Salavati on Wednesday that the British agent offered them a significant sum of money as well as British residency permits along with other incentives in exchange for carrying out the terrorist act."
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Net closes on Assange: arrest by British police expected in days - Home News, UK - The Independent: "Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, is expected to be arrested in the coming days after Swedish prosecutors filed a new warrant with British authorities.
The Independent revealed yesterday that a procedural error with the European Arrest Warrant had delayed the arrest of the 39-year-old Australian, who is wanted in Sweden over sexual allegations but has been in England since October.
Police in Gothenburg claim they have now submitted a fresh warrant to the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Soca is expected to instruct Scotland Yard to arrest Mr Assange and have him appear before an extradition hearing – although as of last night the Metropolitan Police had yet to receive the warrant."
More than 200,000 € worth of fake 500 € notes have been found in the room of a Málaga hotel. As if in a Hollywood film the notes were found behind the air conditioning grill in one of the rooms by a worker in the in the city centre.
The room supervisor noted that the grill had been forced and found the notes behind, then calling the National Police.
The notes have been set to Madrid to confirm they are counterfeit, and an investigation has been opened as to who could have left them there. Police think it could have been part of a fraud attempt.
Christopher Kinahan and his two sons, Christy Junior and Daniel walked out of the Albolote Prison in Granada on Friday
María del Carmen Gutiérrez Henares, in Court Number 3 in Estepona authorised the release from prison for his two sons, Christy Junior and Daniel, with bail set at 60,000 € for each one of the three.
Reports indicate that they all left the Albolote prison in Granada on Friday
They have been held on remand since May when the police arrested them as part of an operation, codenamed Shovel, which extended across five countries.
Kinahan has been ordered to present himself to the court every Monday as part of the bail conditions, and has had his passport withdrawn. He is accused of heading a grand network of organised crime, which distributed drugs across Europe and offered money laundering services to other drug dealers.
Intelligence services from five countries took part in the Shovel operation, which saw some 30 arrests in Spain, Ireland and the UK. Most of the arrests were in Marbella, Estepona and Fuengirola. 60 properties worth 150 million € were impounded and the ownership of some 50 others in Brazil is being investigated.
Kinahan is also linked to the February 2008 shooting of a 28 year old in an Estepona urbanisation.
Police consider him to be highly intelligent and say that is why he has managed to appear distant from the criminal activities, although he has been sentenced in Ireland for both drug trafficking and financial crimes. Irish police say he spent his time in jail perfecting his Dutch and Spanish languages.
BBC News - Convicted prisoners to get vote after European ruling: "Thousands of convicted UK prisoners are to get the right to vote after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the present ban was unlawful.
Sources told the BBC the government had exhausted all legal avenues fighting the 2005 decision and an announcement is expected later this week.
Lawyers have said a failure to comply could cost hundreds of millions of pounds in legal costs and compensation."
Bulgaria: Bulgarian FBI Seizes Illegal Box-Sets Worth EUR 19 M - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency: "Bulgaria's Unit for Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP) has busted Bulgarian producers of pirate CDs and DVDs worth EUR 19 M, the Interior Ministry has announced.
Police officers from the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Europol have participated in the international operation. They were alarmed about the an illegal box-sets production on Bulgarian territory at the beginning of October.
The police established that the pirate CDs and DVDs came from two legal production lines in the Bulgarian capital Sofia and the city of Plovdiv and were intended for distribution in the Netherlands.
The Dutch police have seized boxes, containing box-sets with the newest music, movies, software, games, TV shows, etc."
Europe's largest whorehouse raided after just nine days: "Five Brazilian women were found in the Paradise club in La Jonquera were in the country illegally
What has been described as Europe’s largest knocking shop, the Paradise club near the border with France at La Jonquera, has been raided by police after being open no more than nine days.
Police arrested five Brazilian girls for not having their papers in order, and identified the 125 prostitutes and 188 clients who were in the building at the time.
The local town hall in La Jonquera says that it did all it could to stop the 2,700 square metre club from opening, but the regional courts finally obliged them to issue the opening licence.
The owner of the club, José Moreno, has two others in Girona, and has been arrested on previous occasions related to the exploitation of immigrant women."
Spanish police on trial in San Sebastian, Spain over alleged torture of two ETA Members: "Spanish police on trial in San Sebastian, Spain over alleged torture of two ETA Suspected Members
15 Spanish police charged over alleged torture of ETA suspected Members Fifteen Spanish policemen went on trial in Spain's northern Basque region San Sebastian charged with torturing two ETA separatists while they were in custody.
The newspaper El Pais said that the accused denied the charges at the start of trial, in the city of San Sebastian, saying the two suspects were injured as they were trying to escape arrest.
The 15 officers from Spain's paramilitary Guardia Civil police force are accused of torturing and injuring the two, Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola, following their arrest in January 2008 in the Basque Country."
Costa gang rape: 3 held - mirror.co.uk: "Three men have been arrested over the gang rape of a British tourist nine years ago on the Costa del Sol.
The men were linked through DNA samples to the knifepoint attack in Torremolinos in 2001.
The victim was 33 when she was drugged and raped.
Two Spanish brothers, aged 31 and 32, and their cousin are being held on remand.
Police said: 'The arrests were possible thanks to a biological profile obtained following the arrest of two of the three men for other criminal offences.'"
UK Chancellor George Osborne met with his Swiss counterpart Hans-Rudolf Merz
The UK and Switzerland have signed a declaration to begin negotiations on tax issues in a step towards making Britons with Swiss bank accounts pay tax on the interest they earn.
Switzerland has strict secrecy laws and has long attracted the very wealthy as a place to save their money.
Treasury sources said negotiations were in the early stages and no details of tax rates had been agreed.
An agreement between Liechtenstein and the UK is expected to raise about £1bn.
Any agreement between the UK and Switzerland may raise more than that as there are more accounts in Switzerland.
Withholding tax
The declaration followed talks between UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and the Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz in London.
Formal negotiations will cover the possibility of implementing a withholding tax, which would see Swiss authorities levying a tax on interest earned in their accounts on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs. The UK would push for this to be a retrospective tax.
The UK is also expected to push the Swiss authorities to provide more information on accounts held by UK taxpayers
.An airplane carrying some 176 kilograms of cocaine crashed Sunday morning by the Torres river, west of the Costa Rican capital of San José, police said.
The plane was believed to be heading to Guatemala after taking off from Tobías Bolaños Airport in Pavas, also west of San José.
The crash came after a week of major drug busts in other Central American countries.
The Honduran Police seized 460 kilograms of cocaine in the country's Caribbean region last week.
The seizure took place Wednesday night in Brus Laguna district of Gracias a Dios province, police spokesman Leonel Sauceda told EFE on Thursday.
The drug traffickers were preparing to load the drugs onto three speedboats when a police and National Drug Enforcement Agency (DNLCN) team arrived at the scene, he said.
The drugs were seized after a gun battle, but no one was hurt, Sauceda said. The speedboats and two jet skis that belonged to the drug traffickers were destroyed by the authorities. Police have launched a search for the small plane that brought the drug to Brus Laguna from South America.
Prosecutor is also calling for a 36 year ban from pubic office for the ex Municipal Real Estate Assessor in Marbella
The prosecutor has called for a 24 year prison sentence, a 36 year ban from public office, and an 810 million € fine for Juan Antonio Roca, the ex Municipal Real Estate Assessor in Marbella Town Hall, for his alleged role at the centre of the Malaya corruption case.
He is accused of continual money laundering, fraud, passive bribery and the misuse of public funds among other charges. The Prosecutor considers that Roca laundered some 240 million € over a ten year period, and the written accusation against him says that in real estate purchases alone he spent more than 136 million € between 1997 and 2005.
The prosecutor’s accusations run into 585 sheets, and have been presented to the Provincial Court in Málaga.
95 people are allegedly linked to the corruption and face charges in the hearings which get underway on September 27.
The Malaya case initially broke back on March 29 2006, when some 20 people were arrested in the first stage, including Roca and the then Mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yagüe. It’s become the largest ever corruption case based in a Town Hall in Spain.
