man was arrested in Malaga for allegedly stabbing another man, aged 37, who threatened him with a knife and attempted to mug him

man was arrested in Malaga for allegedly stabbing another man, aged 37, who threatened him with a knife and attempted to mug him, for which he was also arrested. According to the Local Police, the original victim of the crime struggled with the man who was attempting to rob him of his belongings and managed to take the knife from him, after which, he stabbed him several times in the leg, hand and cheek.
The Local Police found the injured man who told them that his attacker had fled the scene. However, he was later found and identified by the officers, and informed them that it was he who had originally been the victim. The 10-centimetre switchblade knife, which had been thrown down after the attack, was also found.

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Alan Dickson lived in Malaga where he took on a job and cared for his ailing mother before coming to the attention of Spanish police.

Alan Dickson fled following his Christmas holiday release from Castle Huntly open prison at Longforgan in 2006.He lived in Malaga where he took on a job and cared for his ailing mother before coming to the attention of Spanish police.Dickson had been jailed for 10 years in March 2002 after being “shopped” by one of his drug couriers.
The 38-year-old, formerly of Falkland, sent the couriers back to Scotland laden with cannabis resin-laden suitcases from his flat in Torremolinos, Spain.He was in business for over nine months before he and four accomplices were trapped in an undercover operation led by Fife Police and the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency.
It was estimated that the drugs involved in the enterprise could have had a street value of over £1 million.Three of his assistants were jailed for a total of 13 years at the High Court in Edinburgh, while a fourth walked free in return for giving evidence.He appeared from custody at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday, where depute fiscal Alan Kempton told the court that Dickson had been faced with at least 22 months’ further imprisonment when he took the decision to flee.He explained that Dickson had been serving the latter part of his sentence at Castle Huntly, having been transferred from HMP Perth on June 20, 2006.“On December 23, 2006, the accused was released from Castle Huntly on temporary licence,” Mr Kempton said.“He was to return no later that 4pm on December 28, but by 7pm on the 28th he has still not returned and a warrant was issued for his arrest.“The accused was subsequently arrested in Spain, having been living in Malaga, on October 13, 2008.”Solicitor Michelle Renton told the court that her client had surrendered himself to the police in Spain after he became aware that they were looking for him.She said, “He was given his release from Castle Huntly for the Christmas holidays.“He decided to abscond because his mother—who along with his father lived in Malaga in Spain—had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.“He absconded to care for her and he did so until she died on May 8, 2008.“While in Spain, together with attending to his mother’s needs, he rented a property and was working.“He was a law-abiding citizen in Spain, for what that is worth.”Miss Renton said her client’s extradition warrant had later come to the attention of the Spanish authorities.She said, “After handing himself in, he co-operated fully with the extradition procedure.”The accused spent two months in a Spanish cell before being extradited back to Scotland and Perth Prison.Dickson, described as a prisoner at Perth, admitted absconding from HMP Castle Huntly, Longforgan, on December 28, 2006 having been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment at Edinburgh High Court on March 5, 2002 in relation to drugs offences.
Sheriff William Gilchrist said, “To abscond from open prison is a serious offence, whatever the motivation.”The sheriff sentenced Dickson to an additional 12 months’ imprisonment.He will also have to serve out the remaining 22 months of his original sentence.

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Arrested eleven young men, aged between 16 and 23 years, who assaulted a 25-year-old Moroccan passenger on a bus travelling from Malaga to Torremolinos.

Local Police officers have arrested eleven young men, aged between 16 and 23 years, who assaulted a 25-year-old Moroccan passenger on a bus travelling from Malaga to Torremolinos. When the gang, who have been described as skinheads, wearing jackets emblazoned with nazi emblems and military boots, threatened the victim, he got off the bus at the next stop and started to run, but ten of the eleven young men chased him, assaulted him and attempted to stab him with a pocket knife.Meanwhile, the bus was hijacked by another of the gang members, who threatened the driver and forced him to wait. When the gang re-boarded the bus and it was on its way once again, the gang broke the seals of the emergency hammers and removed them. They also sprayed tear gas inside the bus, forcing passengers to move to the front of the vehicle.
Local Police from Malaga eventually intercepted the bus and, having identified and searched the gang members, took them all into custody.

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Kelly-Anne Corcoran was subjected to violence from her husband, Dermot McArdle

Kelly-Anne Corcoran was subjected to violence from her husband, Dermot McArdle, but stayed because she loved him, said Caroline Moran, Kelly-Anne's sister. She said there were "signs of violence" in the relationship and McArdle was aggressive with Kelly-Anne. Caroline Moran said that he sometimes pulled her hair and hit her.
"Kelly-Anne always obeyed him, she did it for a quiet life," Ms Moran said. "She loved Dermot, she was prepared to take it." McArdle denies throwing his wife of five years from the balcony of their Spanish hotel room on February 11, 2000. In an emotional address, Caroline Moran told the court of an incident after her sister's death when she was shopping with a friend in Drogheda and they picked up the accused's children in the car. While they were driving and talking, she said: "Mark [the couple's son] got very distressed and annoyed in himself and then Mark said: 'Daddy is a bold boy, Daddy hit Mammy and pushed Mammy down'.
"I didn't know what to think, I didn't know what happened," Ms Moran said. "I still don't know what happened, eight years later. I want justice for Kelly-Anne, I want to know what happened to her, why she came to Spain on a holiday and never came home." She also said her family had to "fight and plead" with McArdle to be allowed see Kelly-Anne in the coffin. Asked about the defendant's attitude after his wife's death, she said: "I never seen him cry, he showed no emotion, no feelings, no love towards Kelly-Anne." Ms Moran said at the funeral, she put her hand on her sister's head in the coffin and the accused came over and said: "get your effing hand off her head". She said when the accused gave her a prayer to say at the mass, he told her: "If you are going to cry, don't do it, I'll get someone else." In cross-examination, she said the couple were "very tight for money" as they were building a new house. Brigid Lowndes, another sister, told the court Kelly-Anne came to her house one night after a row with the defendant. She showed up in her nightdress, a jacket and no shoes. Ms Lowndes said at the funeral, she was putting a card into the coffin in memory of her other sister Kathy who died in a car accident, when the accused asked her: "what the f**k are you doing?" One night when they met, the accused told Ms Lowndes he was buying a new BMW. "I said why and he said it's what Kelly-Anne would have wanted," she told the court. She said McArdle was "drinking and partying" at the funeral and showed no emotion. Maria Nolan, a friend of Kelly-Anne, said she thought the accused had been "very domineering". Asked if Kelly-Anne ever displayed suicidal behaviour, she said: "absolutely not". She was shocked the accused became "so involved with a new car" after his wife's death. Peter Moran, Kelly-Anne's brother-in-law, said at the hospital in Malaga the accused told him that, "Kelly-Anne did not mean it and that she threw herself over the balcony."
When the couple's child Mark said, "Daddy pushed Mammy," Mr Moran "was confused" and "didn't know whether Dermot was right and the child had misunderstood.
"I phoned Dermot McArdle a couple of weeks later and asked him to explain it to the family. He said to me I am not f**king telling those people, he said you tell them," Mr Moran said. Earlier the court had heard dramatic evidence as five words, uttered by a child hung in the air: "Daddy bold, Daddy pushed Mammy." A hushed Spanish court heard that Mark McArdle, aged just four at the time, spoke these words days after his mother Kelly-Anne's fatal plunge from a Costa del Sol hotel balcony. Members of the Corcoran family and their friends also described the accused as "aggressive" towards his wife during their marriage and unemotional after her death. They alleged he at first said Kelly-Anne "threw herself" off the balcony, then gave different versions of what happened on the night of her fall. McArdle, of Haggardstown, Dundalk, denies murdering his wife Kelly-Anne (28) at the four-star Don Pepe hotel in Marbella, insisting it was an accident. She was rushed to hospital after the horrific plunge but died the following day

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Body of a man found on the motorway in direction of Malaga

Body of a man, estimated to be 38 years old, has been found on the AP7 tool motorway according to the 112 emergency services.They say the man had suffered a blow to the head and was spotted by another driver on the ground in the middle of the road at the 219 km point on the direction Málaga side of the road at 10,30pm last night.
When the Guardia Civil and ambulance crews arrived at the scene they could do no more than certify the victim as dead.There is no news about the victim’s identity as yet.

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Jeffrey Michael O'Shaughnessy (32), from Limerick, is alleged to have indecently assaulted the woman in a lift

Jeffrey Michael O'Shaughnessy (32), from Limerick, is alleged to have indecently assaulted the woman in a lift, before trying to strangle her as she attempted to escape. The 45-year-old Spaniard was on her way to work in a law firm, when the alleged attack happened on Wednesday morning in Malaga on the Costa del Sol. She has told police that Mr O'Shaughnessy followed her into the lift as she headed to the lawyer's office where she works, grabbed her by the neck and indecently assaulted her. Colleagues heard her cries for help as the lift reached the third floor of the building in central Malaga – and have told detectives they raced out to find the Irishman trying to strangle her with one hand and forcing her mouth shut to stifle her screams with the other. A police patrol which was near the scene arrived minutes later to take O'Shaughnessy away in handcuffs. The alleged victim has told investigators she had never seen the Irishman before. Today O’Shaughnessy was in custody pending a court appearance before an investigating judge who is now probing the incident. The court hearing will be closed to the press and the public and is expected to conclude with O'Shaughnessy's remand in custody. A spokesman for Malaga's National Police said: “A 32-year-old Irishman is currently being held in custody on suspicion of indecent assault and attempted murder.” A source added: “If it had not been for this woman's colleagues hearing her screams and coming to her aid, we could have had a murder on our hands. “The attack took place in daylight in a public place. It defies logical explanation.
“We're not sure if the attacker had been following his victim or was an opportunist who struck when he got his chance. “An investigating judge will now try to get to the bottom of what has happened.”

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Thousands of holidaymakers trying to reach Malaga Airport were caught in six-mile-long traffic jams as police closed the access road to the airport

Thousands of holidaymakers trying to reach Malaga Airport were caught in six-mile-long traffic jams as police closed the access road to the airport to search for an ETA bomb thought to have been planted along a nearby motorway. Tourists landing this afternoon were also prevented from leaving the airport as security services tried to locate the device. A spokesman for EasyJet said: "No-one can reach or leave the airport at the moment. "We haven't been asked to evacuate the airport at the moment but there's not many people to evacuate. "Everyone's pretty calm at the moment but there's no doubt this is going to cause travel chaos around Europe.
"We have a flight which is supposed to be leaving Malaga Airport for Gatwick at 4.50pm local time but it will have to be delayed. "Even if the passengers were here on time, which they're not going to be, there wouldn't be a flight crew. "The air crew and pilot are currently stuck in a hotel near to where the first bomb went off and they can't leave the building to get to the airport. Authorities received warnings of three devices planted across the southern coast, forming part of the Basque's separatist group's summer bombing campaign.Thousands of holidaymakers were evacuated shortly before the first bomb went off around 1pm local time by the Tryp Hotel in Guadalmar Beach near the popular tourist resort of Torremolinos.
An hour later police were forced to evacuate shops and a beach at Benalmadena Port - along with thousands more bathers at the nearby beaches of Malapesquera and Fuente de la Salud - after being alerted to a second bomb. Police said that more than 10,000 people had been evacuated from the yacht marina and three nearby beaches before the second bomb exploded. The bomb had been left near the harbour's underground car park.
Police are on alert for attacks in the Andalusia area of southern Spain after they arrested members of an Eta unit last month and found evidence that the group were planning attacks in the region. The group often set off mainly small bombs in Spanish resorts during the busy summer holiday season to target the tourist industry as part of its four-decade fight for an independent Basque homeland. Last month they detonated a small bomb in the sand near a bustling promenade in Torremolinos, also on the south coast. It followed four small explosions at holiday resorts on Spain's northern coast on July 20 which local authorities blamed on Basque separatists Eta.

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Spanish lawyer G.J.S., admitted that Malaga public auctions are controlled by ‘mafia-type’ criminal rings

Spanish lawyer admitted that public auctions conducted throughout
the Province of Malaga, Spain are controlled by ‘mafia-type’ criminal rings.
The grip on the so-called ‘public’ auction of properties is such that no outsiders, whether in business or as individuals can get near the gavel’s fall. This allegation comes after many attacks on the various Spanish systems. Almost unilaterally, they fail to live up to the expectations of their northern European visitors and residents from whom so much wealth has been derived.The general face of friendliness in Spain, while genuinely displayed by the majority, belies the underlying belly of corruption and belligerence on the part of the judiciary to clear the worst elements from society.Sadly, for the majority, many of whom still live in the shadow of Franco’s regime and the ongoing corruption, the reality is that they turn the other cheek. The burden of combining the ordeals of modern-day life while dealing daily with antiquated bureaucratic systems leaves many with a permanent resignation to life’s troubles, typified by the ‘Spanish Shrug’Over development and underinvestment in basic infrastructure make unhappy bedfellows. Following the boom years, Spain’s property market, despite recent claims to the contrary is visibly collapsing. Consequently more and more properties are coming under the hammer.Many absentee owners may be unaware that auction proceedings can take place without their prior knowledge due in part to the belligerence and outdated practices of officials allied to inadequate communication especially in the rural areas.Those wishing to salvage something from this creeping financial disaster are advised to ensure their property is not sent to auction where the sharks are having a feast and the lawyers dare not tread.

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Malaga prostitution in the city centre

Residents in Málaga are threatening unprecedented protests against prostitution in the city centre. Referring to “the serious situation in which we find ourselves,” the collective ‘Centro Sur’ says it will create road blocks, stage demonstrations and patrol the streets to bring to an end the problems arising from prostitution in the area.
The group’s vice-president, Pedro Pérez, claimed the situation had become “truly unsustainable” around Alameda Principal, Alameda de Colón and Tomás Heredia, adding that, “the residents’ quality of life has notably declined.” Centro Sur is actively seeking the support of other similar collectives in city areas affected by the problem, with the intention of organising “a huge demonstration in the city streets.” But Sr Pérez says that, if necessary, his group will go it alone, “because we can put up with it no longer.”
Members of Centro Sur say they are tired of female residents being stopped in the street to be asked how much they charge, the high levels of noise plus the attacks on many of their private vehicles, which have been broken into and robbed.
The councillor responsible for the area, Rosa Agüera, said that there exists no legal means to prevent the practice of prostitution, although the Law of City Security allows for a series of penalties of as much as 300 euros. Local residents say that part of the problem is the number of derelict buildings in the area and the opening of several sex shops, saying that, little by little, the controls over prostitution have been lost by the authorities and the problem has continued to grow.

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Bulgarians takes control over the security of popular disco clubs in the Costa del Sol

Bulgarian-Spanish organization plans his serial hit with coca. "Such well equipped and structured Bulgarian organization in Spain we detain for the first time.", Eloy Alvares, Director of Drug traffic department in Judicial police in Madrid comments for 168 hours weekly. The project started with the investigation of the Bulgarian group in Barcelona. We discovered that some of their members had taken on houses and offices by the side of the port located between Malaga and Cadis. The rent contracts were signed on behalf of a company headquartered in Gibraltar. We used to watch the group. We understood they are ready to transfer with a yacht a huge quantity of cocaine from Columbia to the sea cost of Costa del Sol. The itinerary, chosen from the Bulgarian is unusual. The seacoast of Costa del Sol is used mainly for trafficking of hashish coming from Morocco through the strait of Gibraltar towards Spain. "Cocaine" yachts sail mainly from Venezuela to Martinique Island, but the fishing ships loaded with a larger quantity of drugs turn to Galicia."
"We've expected the cocaine to move from Malaga towards Barcelona and after towards another European country.", a participant in the police action comments. "All men on the yacht were from Varna. Several times the yacht had changed its name in the open sea.", the same source adds.
The cops loose the yacht's traces. It is discretely laid at Soto Grande, located at 70 kilometers from Marbella.
On February 13 2005 starts
"Portimar" operation
BWM a property of the group is stopped for a check up. The car is with a Spanish registration number and transfers 80 kilos of cocaine from Soto Grande toward Barcelona. Georgi Kosev from Sofia and the Spaniards Juan Palasin and Arantaso Amoros were at the car, all of them are arrested. Later on at 65 Buena Vista Str. 741 kilos of cocaine are detained. According to the Spanish police this apartment had been used many times as a drug depot. The police arrest many people in Barcelona. Five Bulgarians are detained the in the city - Vasil Ugrinov, Violeta Tzekova, Ivailo Haselbart, Ivan Vladimirov and Ivo Andonov. During the same police raid are detained also the Spanish citizens - Ricardo Himenes, Pedro Meliado and Rashid Belgazi who has an Arabic origin. They are caught at different addresses. Some of them are nabbed at cafes, others in their accommodations and on the street. The cops continue the operations also around the port in Soto Grande. They break in a house at Ribera del Emperador Str.
"During the search we found some 137 kilos of cocaine.", Eloy Alvares, Director of Drug traffic department in Judicial police in Madrid says. "We also found keys marked "Esperite", he adds. The accommodation is at 15 meters from the port. At this place has stopped "Esperite" yacht, sailing under English flag. The yacht turns out to be empty, but secret place for drug concealment is discovered. About ten days later on February 21 in Barcelona the cops arrest some other members of the group - Juan Alaval, Alfonso Rees and Maria Segura. In a search at the house more 79 kilos cocaine, 700 thousands Euro and pistols are found out. The arrested in the operation "Portimar" wait and see the lawsuit at
the arrests in Malaga and Marbella.
More 5-6 Bulgarians are still inquired as participants in the cocaine contraband. The main body of the organization is still under investigation both from the Bulgarian and the Spanish police. "We suspect that the main players are shared out in three organized groups from Sofia, Varna, Pleven and Blagoevgrad.", a high positioned police source comments for "168 hours" weekly. "They are engaged with traffic of cocaine, cars, arms and forge of documents. The organizations have stable positions in Madrid, Malaga and Barcelona.", he adds.
"Higher in the hierarchy are positioned Ivan Paunov - Giovanitto from Varna and Petiu Penukov from Pleven.", a top police official says specially for "168 hours" weekly. "They partner with Radoslav - Radeto from Blagoevgrad, who lives in Spain. Radeto had been very close with Vasil Gorchev - The bad-eyed, killed in Blagoevgrad last year. One of the versions for his killing leads to failed shipments of cocaine, as well."
Bullets for Giovanitto
Right after "Portimar" operation in February, Giovanitto incognito comes back in Varna. He appears there after 6 months absence and with a changed name. On March 13 unknown man opens fire on him through the window display of Soho caf? in Varna. Giovanitto's chests, stomach and legs are covered with holes. Slightly injured is also his girlfriend.
After a long treatment Giovanitto rises to his feet. "The main version for the attempt on Giovanitto's life is a hit of the Columbian organization because of 819 kilos of detained cocaine.", a high positioned official from the internal Ministry comments.
On May 14 in front of "Taj Mahal" restaurant in Sofia shoot dead Konstantin Dishliev - a leasing boss, old friend of the late drug smugglers Dimo Jelev and Kuzman Guslekov. The businessman Dishliev had been at the top of the pyramid, where the financial spates come. It is possible that he had not been aware about this specific operation and its failure. "The police operation "Portimar" caused loss to a large Columbian organization. Obviously its partners are not engaged to pay back the money", Eloy Alvares, Director of Drug traffic department in Judicial police in Madrid explains. The killing of Konstantin Dishliev in Sofia is probably part of settlement of partners' accounts.
It is not impossible through Dishliev;s killing the Columbian to try to comer people of his circle to the wall. They demonstrate them what will happen if they do not pay back the money. Despite the police suspicions that the coordinator of the cocaine action is Dishliev's brother in law - Brendo, the investigation hardly will lead to him. Brendo is not arrested at the time of the operation. Some assume that part of the organizers had kept their money in off-shore zones in Caribbean Sea. The investigation for the money laundry marks no significant progress. Just for the time being.
In a square: A brigade
They are brother in arms still in Bulgaria
"The key players in Spain are Giovanitto, Ivo - The Box and Petiu Penukov from Pleven, Ivo - The Little One from Balchik and Nikolay - Radeto from Blagoevgrad", a specialist from the Internal Ministry reveals.
Giovanitto from Varna, Ivo - The Box and Petiu from Pleven know each other from the middle of 90's. Their group finds points of intersections in car trafficking from Bulgaria to the former Soviet Republics, state criminologists working on the case. Ivo - The Box and Petiu Penukov come to live with "their colleagues" in Varna. In the end of 90's they all leave for Spain. Giovanitto, Ivo - The Box and Petukov become leaders of criminal groups in Spain, claim specialist in Spain. In Spain the Bulgarians work together with Englishmen, Frenchmen and Spaniards, positioned on higher levels in the organized criminality. The westerners organize and finance the deals. The Bulgarian bosses assure the escort and the security, the transport and part of the distribution of the good. Close to the core, gravitate satellite groups with floating structure that fulfill the orders. These are boys that travel regularly between Bulgaria and Spain. The bosses replace them every two or three months. Most of the mules do not have police records and their past is clear. "Ivo - The Box is a very powerful and well known person.", says a criminologist from Malaga for "168 hours weekly" and adds: "We were shadowed him. He left for Bulgaria together with his right hand Petio Penukov, investigated for car thefts. They change their residence replacing Pleven with Varna and vise versa. At the present their organization in Marbella takes care about other people."
Ivo - The Box has a forwarding company with 25 trucks for international transport and official and legal business.
Just to the very start of "Portimar" operation Giovanitto is in Spain and controls the business from Marbella and Malaga. For him works one of the strongest groups for car, hashish and cocaine trafficking, police sources claim.
As a main partner of Giovanitto, Ivo- The Box and Petiu Penukov the cops point out Radoslav Radev from Blagoevgrad. He is also with strong positions among the Bulgarian groups in Barcelona and Madrid. At present he is in Spain. Radeto is very close with Vassil Gorchev - The blind one, the financial boss shot dead last years in Blagoevgrad. According to police information the group of Radeto in Spain has received financial support from The Blind one, who from his side has worked with a boss of VIS force group. Part of the investments made by The blind one, comes back legally to Bulgaria as a luxury cars.
Along with the work on "Portimar" operation one more Bulgarian lights up - Ivo - The Little one from Balchik. He lives in Madrid from 10 years. He is an ex culturist. They describe him as a smart man, the split and image of Tom Cruz. Prior his departure to Spain he works at the sports hall of a popular Bulgarian culturist. In Spain he creates a group of 50-60 bodyguards. He fights to take under his control the security of a disco clubs. After a round of street scrimmage with hand to hand fighting he manages to thrust upon the Spanish gypsies, who used to guard the night clubs by then. Under his guidance the Bulgarians takes control over the security of popular disco clubs in Madrid and Costa del Sol. "The Bulgarians have the image of one of the most powerful securities. They groups consist of fighters, judo fighters, boxers, karate players. This is important because at the disco clubs mass beatings often happen provoked by Moroccans, Algerians and Columbians.", says a Bulgarian in Spain.
"The disco clubs in Spain are used as a market and for distribution of drugs.", a police from the department for organized criminality in "Guardia civil" in Madrid says for "168 hours" weekly. Ivo - The Little one buys the drugs wholesale from Bulgarian groups and resell it to the security in the night clubs. Thanks to the connections with the underworld Ivo - The little one makes bigger deliveries to more significant clients. People from his closest circle have bough houses in Madrid, Ibiza and Palma de Majorca.
Part of the drugs detained during "Portimar" operation had to be distributed on the home market in Spain.
In a square: Eloy Alvares, Director of Drug traffic department in judicial police in Madrid:
The Bulgarians are involved in all types of crimes
- Mr. Albares, what is the role of the Bulgarian organized criminality in the cocaine trafficking from Latin America to Europe?
- The Bulgarians are involved in all types of crimes, but less with cocaine trafficking for the time being. During "Portimar" operation we detained a serious organization of Bulgarian criminals with big quantity of drugs. The operation took place thanks to the coordinated work with Bulgarian Internal Ministry and General- Lieutenant Boyko Borisov. For a long time we watched the group in Barcelona with a special devices. We've ascertained that they are preparing to transfer 819 kilos of cocaine from Columbia. Unfortunately the two main Bulgarian organizers escaped before the start of the operation. At the moment they are investigated for drug trafficking. This is the first case when a serious quantity of cocaine is cornered in the region of Malaga and Marbella, ferried with a yacht. Still at the seaside of Costa del Sol come a lot of hashish and little cocaine. Marbella and Malaga are The Mecca of hashish, because they are closely located to Morocco. From here passes the big part of the traffic of joint from Africa to United Kingdom. Usually the hashish is reloaded and stored in Malaga. Recently during a specialized operation we detained a boat with 8 tones of hashish coming from Morocco and going to UK. The drug enters on the territory of Spain mainly with fishing ships or containers. That is why we were surprised that a yacht with cocaine is sailing towards Costa del Sol. This way of trafficking is relatively new. Between 500 and 1000 kilos elite Latin-American drug can be transported with a boat like the "Bulgarian one". The organizers have invented a perfect system to pass by unnoticed and to cover themselves, because along the seaside of Costa del Sol sail a lot of boats.
- How the large smugglers of cocaine in Spain act?
- The most powerful organizations import bigger quantities and use fishing ships and then containers. They prefer the seaside of Galisi province. The shore there is too specific; it is broken with many high costs, there are no ways leading to the seacoast and is difficult to be controlled. There are a lot of fishing ships in this area and the smugglers are hiding among them. The observation of the yachts is too difficult because extra motors are assembled on the ships and they become extremely powerful. They move with an incredible speed. A crater slipped out of us and with a lightning speed got out to the ocean. The vessel was out of fuel. Another ship came to help the crew by giving them fuel. Later we arrested the quick carter and found in it 6 tons of cocaine.
- What kind of tricks "the pirates" use trying to outplay you?
- To further complicate the system, the drug smugglers reload the drug in an open sea. There are operations when the cocaine is thrown across through 4-5 ships. This happens with the speed of light in the sea. These organizations are closed societies; it is difficult to be investigated. They know the sea to perfection; they are clear about with our style of work and find a way to oppose us. They install to the drug counterweight and GPS systems. Then they send it to the bottom if they see we are approaching them or when they feel suspicious helicopters over their heads. Later they find the drug by means of a radio signal. Usually we attack the ships with special police forces. They jump on board and for several minutes take possession of the situation prior the drug to stagger to the water. When the drug comes to Galicia they hide it in their homes, caves and storehouses. As a rule there are two places when the drug could be hidden. The first one belongs to the Columbians, but the second is smugglers' one - the people who have to take the money.
- During "Temple" operation you've arrested 52 Columbian drug smugglers starting with the bosses and finishing with the distributors. Could you tell us more about it?
- "Temple" operation took place in 1999 and we detained 13 tons of cocaine. Part of them we caught on a ship, the rest we found in an apartment in Galicia. We detained 52 people. During the investigation we clarified all the structure of the organization. We even reached the bosses. In 2001 we discovered one of the most important drug mafia bosses in Spain - Sito Minianko, who by the way had adopted unique safety measures. It was very hard to keep an eye on him, because he had a counter surveillance. He never used to spoke over the phone. One day he went in one of his shops in Madrid and bought approximately 1000 SIM carts. We decided to secretly introduce in his organization two assistants - the first one from DEA - The American Service for Drug fighting, another one from Canada. They attained to Sito Minianko's partner in Columbia and offered him to transport the cocaine with their ship. He bit to the bite. A judge allowed the ship to go to Latin America. Near by Peru they load the ship with 4 tones of cocaine. All the crew, including the captain, was collaborators of the Spanish police. The ship passed through the seaside of the United States. Over there we get into another 11 special service policemen who had to control the situation. After that all the crew rushed at the Atlantic Ocean. Sito Minianko's organization sent another ship to reload the drug in open sea. When the ships reached their heads, the Spanish special services captured them. We collected evidences and Minianko - the unapproachable one was sentence to 18 years in prison.
- What are the new tendencies in the trafficking of cocaine coming from Latin America?
- During mass police actions, we detained more than 20 fishing ships from Columbia. This leaded to a change of the strategies of the organizations. There is a tendency the drug trafficking to change its itinerary and to pass through the African zone of the Atlantic Ocean. It passes through Morocco, Mauritania, Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, and Togo. These are countries with extremely weak police control. The authorities there do not have enough knowledge and experience to fight with the drugs. Hashish's way is yet used for trafficking of cocaine. The last operations are proving this assumption. Recently near by Alhesiras we detained a fast ship equipped with additional motors. 1 ton of hashish and 500 kilos of cocaine, several Columbians and Moroccans were detained in it. This shipment was the serial proof that the ways of the African and the Latin American drug cuts across.

Bulgarian Investigative Journalism Center (BIJC) is an nongovernmental and uncommercial foundation, whose main goal is to organize and produce journalistic inquiries against the corruption and the organised crime. BIJC popularize the investigative journalism in Bulgaria and in the European Union.The foundation unites bulgarian journalists with experience in the area of the investigative journalism.

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