Steven Waddington fell to his death from a sixth-floor balcony during his honeymoon in Spain

Bride whose husband fell to his death from a sixth-floor balcony during their honeymoon in Spain is preparing to fly home with his body, it emerged yesterday.
Steven and Sarah Waddington, from Hollin, near Middleton in Greater Manchester, were in Benalmádena on the Costa del Sol. They married six weeks ago after an 18-month engagement.Mrs Waddington, a 28-year-old health worker, was said to have walked into their hotel room on Saturday night to find her husband hanging from the balcony rail, crying for help. Mr Waddington, 35, lost his grip and fell. It is thought that he had spent the night drinking in their hotel."We were in love and I will never ever be able to get over this loss," said Sarah Waddington. "Nobody could ever take away this pain. We don't deserve this, it's so unfair. Steven was so popular. He just brought a ray of sunshine into all our lives. He would do anything for anyone and he was like a big brother to a lot of people." The couple lived with their adopted daughter Caragh, 14, Sarah Waddington's cousin, and her son, Harry, who is three. Caragh, whose mother died of cancer in 2004, said: "Steven was the perfect father figure to me and Harry."Steven Waddington, a former pupil of Langley primary and Queen Elizabeth high school, was a talented amateur boxer. Nicknamed The Whip, he won a British super middleweight title in August. Sarah Waddington's best friend, Clare Lancaster, said: "He was the happiest he had ever been and so in love with his beautiful wife, Sarah, and children Harry and Caragh." Terry Ham, a friend and fellow boxer said: "I'm going to miss our training together and our arguments, even when we were both in the wrong, but the next day we would both be in the pub drinking together the best of mates."Thinking of it all now not only brings a tear to my eye, but also makes me laugh. All the boys and my family are truly upset like you can't believe ... Life will never be the same without my spar."
Waddington was described by his employer, Danny Hornsby, as a "sound" amateur boxer.
"I'd known Steven for a couple of years. He was a popular lad and a sound boxer," he said. A spokesman for the Foreign Office said it was looking into the incident.

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Madrid authorities outlawed the Latin Kings in 2007, liberal Catalonia took the opposite approach, giving them the status of a cultural association.

Spanish branch of the Latin Kings was launched in 2000 by the young Ecuadorian Eric Velastegui, known as King Wolverine, who is now serving a prison sentence for rape.
US leaders of the Latin Kings visiting Spain, however, have downplayed the group's violent reputation, and evidence from the north-eastern region of Catalonia suggests that such gangs have the potential of being transformed into constructive social forces. The Latin Kings' big rival in Spain are the Netas, a gang founded in the prisons of Puerto Rico in the 1970s. Other gangs include Dominican Don't Play (DDP), many of whose members come from the Dominican Republic. The Madrid DDP has begun to sell drugs and acquired firearms, the daily El Pais reported. Recently, evidence has even emerged of the presence in Catalonia of the Mara Salvatrucha and the Mara 18, Central American groups known for their extreme violence. In the Madrid region alone, the number of gang members tripled in three years to about 1,300 by 2007, police estimated. Nearly 300 of them were regarded as violent. The main gangs, which are present in several cities across Spain, are hierarchically structured, tribe-like organizations. They are characterized by mystical symbols, an ethos of religiosity and machoism, and an ideology of defending the Latin American identity against an environment perceived as racist and hostile. The Latin Kings, for instance, wear rap-style clothes and black-and-gold bead necklaces. Their symbol of a five-point crown represents respect, honesty, unity, knowledge and love.
The gangs tend to place women in a secondary role, with the Latin Kings as the only one to have a female section. Many of the gangs have a double nature, with leisure activities such as football alternating with robberies or extortion which new members can be ordered to commit as a kind of initiation rite. Dozens of gang members have been detained on charges ranging from kidnappings and threats to attacks and killings. Most of the violence takes place between rival gangs, but former members have also told courts about the beatings faced by those who break the internal rules. "We were told to pay 1,200 euros (1,700 dollars), or we'd be burned alive," two girls who had tried to leave the Latin Kings told a Madrid judge.
The growth of the gangs is based on the rapid increase of Latin American immigration to Spain. The overall number of immigrants has soared from 1.8 per cent of the Spanish population in 1990 to more than 10 per cent. The largest groups include 420,000 Ecuadorians and 260,000 Colombians. "Immigrants never see their children, because they work 23 hours a day. The kids are on the street, in search of a (new) family," King Mission, a US representative of the Latin Kings, explained during a visit to Spain. Gangs like the Latin Kings also give a sense of purpose and self-esteem to youths who may come from neighbourhoods riddled with gang violence in their own countries, grew up without their parents who emigrated before them, and who are now struggling with the difficulties of adapting to a foreign culture.
In 2007, Latin street gangs did not commit any killings in Spain for the first time in several years. The decline was attributed to police crackdowns and, in some regions, to attempts to integrate the gangs into Spanish society.
While the conservative Madrid authorities outlawed the Latin Kings in 2007, liberal Catalonia took the opposite approach, giving them the status of a cultural association. Representatives of the Latin Kings and Netas even visited the regional parliament, explaining to legislators that they were planning to make joint musical recordings to bury their hostilities. International experts on street gangs have hailed Catalonia's ground-breaking approach, but it has not entirely eradicated inter-gang violence.

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Spanish ABC newspaper reported that during intercepted telephone calls between Tambov gang leaders Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov,

The Tambov gang hails from St. Petersburg and takes its name from the city in southwest Russia that its founders were born in. It is thought to have several hundred active members. Twenty Russians suspected of being members of the gang and involved in laundering the proceeds from organized crime were arrested by Spanish police in June in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Malaga, Valencia and the Balearic Islands.
Spanish ABC newspaper reported that during intercepted telephone calls between Tambov gang leaders Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov, the Russian mafia bosses bragged about paying "some 50 million" to ensure that Zenit would win their games against Bayern and Rangers. Neither the currency involved, nor the exact methods used to 'fix' the games were stated. It is also not clear what the gang had to gain from their alleged fixing of the results.
Accusations of match-fixing are common in Russian soccer, but the claims exclusively involve domestic games. Bayern's goalkeeper in their 4-0 defeat in St. Petersburg was the legendary Oliver Kahn. The German keeper retired from soccer at the end of last season, and had often stated that he dreamt of taking his bow in the UEFA Cup final. "There have been a number of media reports quoting various sources in Spain that concern the reputation of FC Zenit. The performances by Zenit in the games against Bayern and Rangers are the best proof that these victories were achieved in honest and uncompromising battles," a statement on the Zenit website read.
"At the moment, Zenit's lawyers are evaluating the context of the original publications," the statement added. The press secretary for state-run energy giant Gazprom, which has a controlling stake in Zenit, added that there was "no doubt that the victory was honest." He also said that at present, Gazprom lawyers are not involved in the bid to clear the club's name. "We know about this story and it is something that our investigations unit would obviously be keen to look into." "Allegations of this nature are always worrisome to hear. It is important that we find out what is factual and what is only speculation or part of a newspaper story," he added. Zenit's Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, who was also the Glasgow Rangers' manager from 1998-2002, told the Daily Record: "This is incredible. All I can say is, let them play the tapes so we can hear what has been said. Then everyone will know what a big lie it is. Everyone knows the simple truth - we had a better team than Rangers. That's why we won the UEFA Cup." "There is a lot of jealousy about what we have achieved with Zenit in such a short space of time. People don't like the fact that we have been so successful so quickly. But that has nothing to do with bribes or dirty money. It has everything to do with the quality of the players and coaching staff," he added. The vice-president of the Russian Football Union, Nikita Simonyan told the Sport Den Za Dnem website: "We are used to this kind of thing. Even some of our so-called fans have a tendency to see everything negatively. If we lose, we played badly. If we win, that means we bought the game. This is nonsense." "I've even heard stories about how we bought our Euro 2008 victory against Holland - I've been told the exact sum," he added, going on to say that clubs like Bayern Munich "don't play dirty matches." Ordinary Russian fans were also skeptical, with one supporter, Dmitry Dudenkov, telling RIA Novosti that the claims were "rubbish."
"We bought everything of course! The win against Holland, the ice-hockey world championships, and Dima Bilan's Eurovision victory!" he said.

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Case against Michael Dermot McArdle is underway at the Málaga Provincial Court.

Case against Michael Dermot McArdle is underway at the Málaga Provincial Court.
After a delay from Monday because of a bomb hoax at the provincial court building in Málaga, the case against the Irish man accused of throwing his wife to her death off a Marbella hotel balcony, finally got underway on Tuesday.39 year old Michael Dermot McArdle, from Dundalk, denied throwing his wife Kelly-Anne off the fourth floor balcony of the Melia Don Pepe hotel on February 11, 2000 after a row, saying she tripped and fell when she went to attend to her son.However a witness, who was staying in the adjacent room in the hotel, Roy Haines, told the court that he told McArdle to put the mother of two down when he heard noises and saw him lifting her above his head. He said he heard shouts of ‘help’ and that there had been no child on the balcony. Later he said McArdle came to his room with a child with him – the boy said simply ‘My Mummy is dead’.Spanish police said that McArdle first claimed his wife had committed suicide, before later changing his story saying she had fallen by accident.

young son of balcony death mum Kelly-Anne Corcoran told a relative after her death: "Daddy bold; Daddy pushed Mammy", a murder trial heard today.Kelly-Anne’s brother-in-law, Peter Moran, recounted to gardai what the boy said about his mother’s fatal fall from a Spanish hotel balcony. Det Sgt Brian Mohan gave evidence of the interview on the second day of the trial in Spain of Ms Corcoran’s husband Michael McArdle who is charged with her murder. The mother-of-two died after a horrific fall from the balcony of a four star apartment complex in Marbella in February 2000. Mr McArdle from Haggardstown, Dundalk denies his wife’s murder. He insists her fall was an accident. Malaga’s provincial court also heard today that a Spanish police officer who took the accused’s statement noted McArdle seemed calm and not like someone whose wife had just died. The accused was in court today with his sons who are now 10 and 11. His new girlfriend Clare Dollard was also with him and watched proceedings from the back of the mostly empty courtroom. Det Sgt Mohan told the judge and jury through a translator that “everyone was very upset” when he spoke to members of Kelly-Anne’s extended family, the Corcorans and the Morans.
Responding to questions by defence lawyer Luis Casaubon he said he was a friend of the Corcoran family but insisted he acted impartially and properly throughout his involvement in the investigations. Det Sgt Mohan explained he was attached to the crime unit at Dundalk Garda Station. He said he took several statements following requests from Interpol. Kelly-Anne’s sister Caroline Moran had telephoned him on February 12, 2000 and asked him to inform her mother of the tragic events in Spain as she did not want to do so herself. He told Interpol in his report to them that the Corcoran and Moran families had information that would assist the investigation.
Ms Moran’s husband Peter told him in an interview that one of Kelly-Anne’s children said to him a day or two after her death: “Daddy bold; Daddy pushed Mammy”.
Det Insp John O’Mahony, now a Chief Superintendent told the court of a mutual assistance request received by the gardai from the Spanish authorities in relation to the investigation. He said when the Spanish police travelled to Ireland to speak to Mr McArdle he found it “surprising” that the accused “all of a sudden didn’t want to speak”. He was surprised because Mr McArdle had agreed to be interviewed, he said. “His solicitor told me that he had changed his mind, I asked him again would he reconsider as there had been a number of discrepancies found by the Spanish police,” Chief Supt O’Mahony said. “The solicitor went and spoke again to Mr McArdle and he came back a second time and said on legal advice he was not going to speak”.
Supt O’Mahony understood that the Spanish police in subsequent investigations had found a number of contradictions with Mr McArdle’s statement and now wanted to interview him to clarify those contradictions. Supt O’Mahony did not believe that Sgt Mohan had acted improperly adding “in fact it was his duty to have enquiries carried out”.

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Antonio Ordinas, the former head of the islands' public-run Economic Development Consortium (CDEIB), and his wife, the historian and opera singer Isab

Eight people were arrested in Majorca on Monday in the latest investigation of corruption by the previous Popular Party regional government of the Balearic Islands.
Antonio Ordinas, the former head of the islands' public-run Economic Development Consortium (CDEIB), and his wife, the historian and opera singer Isabel Rosselló, were arrested as key suspects in the case. Their home, a two-storey mansion with a seven-car garage outside Palma, was searched by police along with the offices of advertising firms and consultancies connected with Ordinas. The investigation involves illegal contracts, false accounting and theft at the CDEIB until 2007, when the PP administration of former premier Jaume Matas lost power, leaving a EUR 8 million loss in the CDEIB's accounts. The current investigation was started by the Socialist officials who took over the consortium and found EUR 17,000 in unexplained expenses charged by Ordinas. Further examination of accounts revealed false expenses and questionable contracts worth up to EUR 1 million. At least three other corruption cases were opened relating to Matas' rule.

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€16m of unregistered income from town planning licences issued between 2003 and 2004 by Estepona Town Hall

Inspectors working for Hacienda tax authorities in Spain appear to have unearthed around €16m of unregistered income from town planning licences issued between 2003 and 2004 by Estepona Town Hall, Costa del Sol, indicating potential VAT fraud.
The inspectors, who claim to have had their investigation hindered by the Town Hall, have now submitted the documentary evidence to the Prosecutors’ Office. Manuel Reina, a former politician, is responsible for the accounts, and is currently being detained in connection with the Astapa court case.

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The condition of Marvin Herbert who was shot five times in the street in Puerto Banús last week, is making progress

The condition of the British man, Marvin Herbert who was shot five times in the street in Puerto Banús on September 24 last week, is making progress in hospital according to sources at the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella.
Marvin Herbert is thought to have been the victim of a drug related settling of scores. He underwent surgery for the second time on Friday after being shot in his right eye, right leg, right arm, pelvis and genitals.Government sub-delegate, Hilario López Luna, says it’s thought the shooting was a drug related settling of scores. Police have already searched the victim’s home in Cancelada and say they will question him when he is released from hospital.The shooter, described as being young with a strong complexion, is still at large.Meanwhile the alleged shooter at an incident in the Nikki Club discotec has declared in court and been sent to prison on remand. He is also British and in his 30’s.

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Police officer from San Miguel de Salinas arrested for drug dealing on the Costa Blanca and Costa Calida .

court in Torrevieja has imprisoned three out of four people arrested for drug dealing on the Costa Blanca and Costa Calida .
One of the men is a police officer from San Miguel de Salinas . The group distributed the drugs to nightspots across the coast and the National Police described the haul as like a drugs supermarket .They also found all of the things needed for the preparation of the narcotics before sale , including acetone , gas , precision tools and a pill making machine .
All of this was found at the homes of the suspects in Los Montesinos .

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Ray Hegarty who laid carpets for Tony Blair, the Queen Mother and George W Bush has been charged with smuggling £4million of drugs.

Ray Hegarty who laid carpets for Tony Blair, the Queen Mother and George W Bush has been charged with smuggling £4million of drugs. Ray Hegarty enjoyed mugs of tea with the Prime Minister when he refurbished No10 three years ago. ASJ Carpet Planners, based in Mitcham, south London, have employed the 47-year-old for 30 years. He was arrested by Customs officers at Dover a year ago behind the wheel of a truck he had driven from Spain. They have accused him of having 2.5 tons of cannabis hidden inside. He was released on bail but has been charged with importing drugs and will go on trial in March.

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Briton was held in jail on Spain's Costa del Sol yesterday accused of spraying Nikki Beach club with gunfire.

Briton was being held on Spain's Costa del Sol yesterday accused of spraying a disco with gunfire. The man in his 30s, who has not been named, was remanded in custody by a judge in Marbella. He is alleged to have fired during a pitched battle at the crowded Nikki Beach club last month in which a man was shot in the leg.

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Johannes Cornelis Smeding,and 38 other Dutch and Norwegian suspects are alleged to have smuggled 300 kilograms of marijuana into Norway

Johannes Cornelis Smeding, 50, was detained on Thursday afternoon in the seaside resort of Pattaya, which is notorious for crime and prostitution.
He and 38 other Dutch and Norwegian suspects are alleged to have smuggled 300 kilograms of marijuana and other drugs into Norway in Apr 2006. So far 26 alleged members of the gang have been arrested. 'He will be extradited to Norway soon as he faces no charges in Thailand,' Colonel Manad Sriwongsa, of Thai immigration police, said. Col. Manad said Smeding had entered Thailand soon after fleeing Norway in 2006. He married a Thai woman and had set up a bar business in Pattaya

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Bhamian Gayle, , shot Sarah Johnson as she spoke with intended target Jermaine Broughton DJ known as Hurricane Jermaine.

Bhamian Gayle, 23, of Ferndale Road, South Norwood, shot 32-year-old Sarah Johnson as she spoke with intended target Jermaine Broughton – a DJ known as Hurricane Jermaine.
Miss Johnson was hit by three bullets to her chest, arm and buttock but has since recovered.The Old Bailey heard Gayle told Mr Broughton he was a "dead man" at a soccer tournament the day before the August 27 shooting last year. Gayle and accomplice Robert Tate, 25, went looking for Mr Broughton at Virgo's nightclub on the Old Kent Road, where Gayle shot Miss Johnson by mistake.
The pair escaped, but three days later tried to find Broughton at another nightclub. They were arrested following a tip-off the next day.
The pair were convicted of attempted murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life on Monday. Gayle was also convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.A sentencing date has not yet been set.

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Marvin Herbert,attacked in possible revenge attack for the shooting of another Liverpool man in Marbella last month.

Marvin Herbert, head of security for a beachfront bar in the millionaires’ marina playground of Puerto Banus.In his mid-30s, he is said to have spent several hours drinking coffee alone on the terrace of Solly’s Diner in Puerto Banus on Wednesday.
He was joined by a second man, also thought to be British, at around 7.30pm. The pair were talking before the attacker pulled a gun from his pocket and shot Herbert five times as he walked towards his blue BMW across the road.Despite being shot in the eye, twice in the crotch, once in the arm and once in the leg, he survived.
He is said to be in a serious condition in a Spanish hospital.His attacker calmly walked away and got into a waiting vehicle which sped off.Hilario Lopez, the Spanish Interior Ministry’s representative in Malaga, said the victim had a criminal record in Britain and the shooting was believed to be related to drug trafficking.sources suggest the attack could have been a revenge attack for the shooting of another Liverpool man in Marbella last month.Spanish police are investigating links to two other shootings of Irish gangsters believed to be linked to drugs disputes.Several other tit-for-tat shootings have taken place in the resorts in recent months.
One witness told Puerto Banus’s local daily newspaper Sur: “We thought it was a firework going off until we saw the man lying on the ground, his face destroyed and covered in blood. It was like a film, his body was convulsing, although he was able to say something.”Marbella and Puerto Banus have long attracted Liverpool criminals.Budget airlines fly from Manchester and Liverpool to nearby Malaga regularly.Numerous city gangsters are said to be in Spain, including some with links to high-profile murders such as that of Colin Smith, Curtis Warren’s former right-hand man shot dead in Speke last November.As the main gateway into Europe for cannabis smuggled across the Mediterranean from nearby Morocco, a number of Irish drug lords, Eastern European gangs and London criminals also base themselves on the so-called “Costa del Crime”.

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new whistleblowers' hotline to help catch benefit cheats living it up on the 'Costas' was launched today in Spain.

new whistleblowers' hotline to help catch benefit cheats living it up on the 'Costas' was launched today in Spain. In the first trial of its kind, ex-pats in Alicante who suspect benefit fraud will be able to report their concerns on a local number. Cases will be passed by the operator to investigators in the UK, who will also be able to draw on the team's on-the-ground intelligence. Anti-Benefit Fraud Minister, James Plaskitt said: "Most ex-pats are law-abiding and outraged by people who abuse the system. Helped by this hotline, the sun will now set on the cheats."
The cost of benefit fraud committed abroad is an estimated £93 million a year. It involves a range of scams such as people on means-tested benefits going abroad but not declaring their absence, an individual working while "sick" and legitimate payments taken over after the rightful recipient dies. The pilot will test the usage and quality of information provided and posters advertising the line will appear across Alicante from today. The initiative is part of a growing relationship between Spain and the UK on social security issues that already includes agreements to data-match and share death notifications. Later this week James Plaskitt will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to cement the Anglo-Spanish partnership. James Plaskitt added: "Benefit fraud is a crime no matter where it happens. We are forging strong relationships with governments across Europe to help us catch the thieves who pick our pockets from beyond our shores." The Spanish benefit fraud hotline number is 900 554 440. It is free and confidential and will initially operate 8am and 4pm, Monday to Friday. Of British ex-pats living in Spain, recent figures suggest seven in ten are based in the "Costas" region, with around 300,000 living in Alicante. The hotline will be run and funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, working with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

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British man with the initials MH is in a stable, but serious, condition following emergency surgery at the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella

British man (MH) is in a stable, but serious, condition following emergency surgery at the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella after being shot several times outside a busy shopping centre on the calle Ramón Areces in the exclusive Puerto Banús district at around 7.30pm yesterday evening. The victim, who is believed to have been in trouble with the police back home in the UK, was hit in the right eye, the genitals, the right leg, right arm and pelvis. It is suspected that the attack may have been drug related. The shooter, who is described as a powerfully built young man, fled the scene after the attack, and remains at large.

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Liverpool Lad survives being blasted in the face, leg, arm, pelvis and genitals

The Liverpool expat,in his 30s , was blasted in the face, leg, arm, pelvis and genitals as he left a restaurant.It was the third shooting in the Costa del Sol resort in five weeks, and took place just yards from packed bars and shops.
The victim was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery but amazingly survived.
He had just left Solly's Diner, a British restaurant in Puerto Banus, and was about to get into his dark blue BMW when he was shot in broad daylight at 7.30pm last night.The gunman approached him, pulled out a weapon and shot him five times before walking calmly away, witnesses said.The victim collapsed on the floor in a pool of blood as panic broke out among people drinking or shopping nearby.Incredibly, he was still conscious and able to mutter a few words when an ambulance arrived 15 minutes later. One witness told a local newspaper: "We thought they were fireworks until we saw the victim on the ground, with his face destroyed, full of blood."It was like a film his body was convulsing, but he managed to utter a few words." A police source said it was "a miracle" that he had survived the shooting.One report said the gunman was also thought to be British.He walked away "in complete calm" then got into a waiting getaway car, a witness said.The shooting is being investigated by police from Malaga's Anti-Drug and Organised Crime Unit UDYCO.Forensic teams spent yesterday evening searching the scene for clues while detectives began studying CCTV footage.Local reports said the victim had lived in Marbella for several years.
One witness said the victim had sat drinking coffee for several hours on the terrace of Solly's Diner before he was shot.He said: "He sat on his own with a coffee. He was talking constantly on his mobile. Once in a while he got up, walked up and down the street and then sat down again."
A spokeswoman for the Costa del Sol hospital said: "The man suffered multiple gunshot wounds in his right leg, pelvis, genitals, right arm and right eye.
"He was operated on during Wednesday night and he in now in intensive care in a serious but stable condition." A spokesman for the National Police in Marbella said: "We are investigating a shooting in Puerto Banus but cannot give out any more information at this stage.Detectives are investigating possible links to two recent shootings in Marbella.Three people were injured in a shootout in the Aloha Gardens restaurant on 21 August.And two more were injured in another shooting at the Nikki Beach nightclub on 22 August.

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Marbella resident in his 30's from Liverpool shot in Puerto Banus

Police and forensic experts inspect the scene of the shooting in Puerto Banús last night The man was shot as he left a cafeteria in Calle Ramón Areces, to walk to his car, a dark blue British registered BMW which he had left illegally parked with the windows open.

The victim was said by witnesses to be a man in his 30's from Liverpool who has been resident in Marbella for some years. A man in his 30’s, first reported to be Eastern European by some sources, but now considered to be British by most media, has been injured in a shooting incident in a cafeteria in Puerto Banús, Marbella. At least five shots were fired in the port at 7,30pm last night, according to emergency service sources, with four of the shots hitting the man in the face after a first shot to the knee. He is reported to be seriously injured. Witnesses described the victim as a tall and athletic blonde man, and say he is British, from Liverpool, and has been living in Marbella for several years. They say the shooter, who is also thought to be British, talked to him for some time before opening fire.
Police think that what was the third shooting in the town in less than a month, was a possible settling of criminal scores.

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Torrevieja Guardia Civil has broken up an international gang which had been pirating British satellite television signals

The group had some 60,000 clients, most of them British, between Benidorm in Alicante and Vera in Almería. The Judicial Police from the Torrevieja Guardia Civil has broken up an international gang which had been pirating British satellite television signals and then distributing them to British clients resident in the provinces of Alicante, Murcia and Almería in an area between Benidorm and Vera.
The group, based in an industrial estate at Algorfa, Alicante, had more than 60,000 clients, most of them British who paid 590 € for the installation of the system and then a monthly subscription of between 18 and 22 €. A total of 500 million € is thought to have been defrauded by the group which made no tax payments to Hacienda.
A total number of 14 people have been arrested, including eight Spaniards, three Britons and a Byelorussian, Rumanian and Russian.Investigations started following a complaint placed by Sogecable, the owners of the Spanish Digital Plus satellite system

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Liverpool man Marbella resident five shots were fired in the Peurto Banus hitting the man in the face

The victim was said by witnesses to be a man in his 30's from Liverpool who has been resident in Marbella for some years.
A man in his 30’s, first reported to be Eastern European by some sources, but now considered to be British by most media, has been injured in a shooting incident in a cafeteria in Puerto Banús, Marbella. At least five shots were fired in the port at 7,30pm last night, according to emergency service sources, with four of the shots hitting the man in the face after a first shot to the knee. He is reported to be seriously injured. Witnesses described the victim as a tall and athletic blonde man, and say he is British, from Liverpool, and has been living in Marbella for several years. They say the shooter, who is also thought to be British, talked to him for some time before opening fire.Police think that what was the third shooting in the town in less than a month, was a possible settling of criminal scores.The man was shot as he left a cafeteria in Calle Ramón Areces, to walk to his car, a dark blue British registered BMW which he had left illegally parked with the windows open.

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Authorities in Fuengirola are to bring charges against the company responsible for carrying out roadworks on the access approach

Authorities in Fuengirola are to bring charges against the company responsible for carrying out roadworks on the access approach roundabout to the popular Miramar shopping centre. The action has been brought following an incident which occurred after two pipes from the drainage system burst open, allowing the outflowing water to mix with sewage material and carry waste and toxic substances into the Rio Fuengirola. This has resulted in the death of numerous fish and animals in the surrounding area.The local council reacted swiftly by banning bathing on the nearby Castillo beach, raising the red flag and restricting access to the coastline for 100 metres on each side of the river. According to the council, the clean-up operation was supervised by the local healthcare authorities, and municipal workers were employed to block the mouth of the river and to recover the dead animals. The councillors responsible for the maintenance of beaches, housing and the environment, Isabel Moreno, Ana Mula and Jesus Pascual, respectively, visited the area to oversee the clean-up operation and assess the environmental impact . Mijas Town Hall expressed concern that the roadworks had caused the pipes, which run parallel to the sewer, to fracture, which subsequently allowed the dirty water to seep in.
The construction company has managed to block one of the pipes and is currently working to cleanse the area and repair the second pipe.

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Two Chileans, about to board a flight to Spain, and one Immigrations inspector were arrested

Two Chileans, about to board a flight to Spain, and one Immigrations inspector were arrested on Friday evening. Yesterday morning, three more arrests were made of another inspector and one customer service officer, as well as an Argentine lawyer.
Airport Security Police (PSA) trustee Marcelo Saín revealed at midday yesterday that the Immigrations customer service officer was the “ringleader” of the drug trafficing group.A separate PSA source revealed how the smuggling operation was carried out: “Immigrations employees made contact with the ‘mules’ after they passed through security checks.

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Possible compensation for the families of 130,000 people who disappeared in the Spanish Civil War edged closer

Possible compensation for the families of 130,000 people who disappeared in the Spanish Civil War edged closer yesterday as a judge was given the names of victims with the aim of starting a formal investigation. Court officials said 22 church and human rights groups handed to Judge Baltasar Garzon the names of 130,137 people contained in a dozen files, each the thickness of a telephone directory.
Judge Garzon, who tried to exile former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, had earlier requested the names with a view to launching a formal investigation into abuses committed during the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of Gen Francisco Franco. Many of those who went missing were shot and buried in mass graves scattered across the country. If Garzon decides he has jurisdiction and enough evidence to open a criminal investigation to determine the circumstances of the deaths, it could lead to compensation for victims' families.
Prosecutors oppose an investigation due to a statute of limitations and because no charges can be made against former members of Franco's forces due to an amnesty law in 1977. But campaigners say the move is long overdue and that as Spain's Supreme Court has pursued atrocities by military regimes in Chile and Argentina, it should also do so in its own country. "Every crime possible against human rights was committed: genocide, forced disappearances and even war crimes. And it went on until the '50s, after the Nuremberg trials," said Fernando Magon, a lawyer acting for the groups. Although Franco died in 1975, successive governments preferred to forget the past and concentrate on transforming Spain from a poor dictatorship into a modern democracy.

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Royal Dutch Shell to warn it may not be able to meet contractual obligations on shipments of crude from the Niger Delta

Nigeria’s army said on Monday itwould continue to fight criminal gangs in the oil-producing Niger Delta, underlining the fragility of a ceasefire declared by the region’s main militant group.The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)declared a temporary ceasefire on Sunday after a week of attackson oil platforms, pipelines, flow stations and gas plants in theheartland of Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry.The six days of violence cut Nigeria’s oil output by at least 150,000 barrels per day and forced Royal Dutch Shell(RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to warn it may not be able to meet contractual obligations on shipments of crude from the country.The army welcomed the ceasefire announcement but said thatits strategy of fighting a network of criminal gangs involved incrude oil theft and kidnappings for ransom in the Niger Deltaremained unchanged.“We are not at war, so the issue of a ceasefire does notarise,” said Brigadier-General Mohammed Yusuf, spokesman forNigeria’s defence headquarters.
“If the restive youths are actually ready to lay down theirarms, then we will change our tactics. If there is no crime,then we will change our tactics. All we want is peace for thedevelopment of the area,” he said.Security experts say a loose coalition of various armedgroups operate under the MEND franchise in the anarchic delta,where foreign oil firms including Shell, Chevron (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Total(TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Agip (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have interests.

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Boom time for the buccaneers, who can earn €1.5 million a time for their trouble.

Pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and AK-47s control the waters far out to sea; close to shore, the threat of Islamist suicide boats keeps captains watchful."It used to be a good place," says Mohamed Shoaib Siddiqui, the Pakistani master of the MV Golina, a rust bucket of a cargo ship loaded down with food desperately needed by Somalia's starving population."It was like Kenya with disco bars, nice hotels, a good life. Then the security situation changed. None of that is possible now."His 829km (510-mile) voyage from the Kenyan port of Mombasa was possible only by staying close to the guns and missiles of a naval escort.
As the master turns the vast hull of the Golina towards Mogadishu's harbour, a Canadian frigate armed with a 57mm cannon stands guard.Cdr Chris Dickinson scans the shoreline with high-powered binoculars from the bridge of Ville de Québec, watching for high-speed skiffs leaving the harbour. Anything that gets within 500 yards of the cargo ship or escort will be turned to driftwood within seconds."The threat here for us is small boats - a suicide boat or a boat armed with RPGs or small arms," he says.The ship's helicopter has been dispatched to make passes close to Mogadishu's pockmarked villas and bombed-out hotels looking for potential threats.
This is the only way humanitarian aid can be delivered to the world's most dangerous city.An estimated 8,000 people have died in the past year-and-a- half of conflict. Tens of thousands more have fled the capital.Last week, Islamist insurgents ordered the city's airport to close amid intelligence reports they had recently received a shipment of surface-to-air missiles.And it could be about to get much worse for Somalia's embattled population, which hovers close to famine. The Ville de Québec is due to return to Nato duties at the end of the week and aid officials are desperate to find another country to continue the escorts.Denise Brown, deputy Somalia director of the World Food Programme, says using land routes could only deliver about 10 per cent of the aid needed."We currently do not have a firm offer for any naval escort and we have 45,000 tonnes of food which needs to be distributed in October," she says. "We are expecting merchant captains to come back to us and say that they won't go in without an escort. It is crunch time."While almost half of Somalia's population needs emergency food aid, the country's armed entrepreneurs are busy exploiting the anarchy to earn hard currency. On land, they run protection rackets and roadblocks; at sea, they call themselves pirates, although they have little in common with the cutlass-wielding brigands of old.The power vacuum has allowed pirates to launch 55 attacks on vessels as they skirt the Horn of Africa this year. Shipowners are warning they may soon be forced to reroute their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, increasing costs to consumers.
Pottengal Mukundan, director of the International Maritime Bureau based in London, says the frequency of attacks is unprecedented and could only be stemmed with international action."Somalia has no government able to deal with piracy. Neighbouring countries lack the resources to tackle this problem," he says. "The only forces that can do anything are coalition naval forces."A US-led naval taskforce, set up as part of "Operation Enduring Freedom" to tackle terrorism, has been given responsibility for trying to keep the sea lanes open.They have established a series of waypoints marking a safe corridor through the Gulf of Aden, which is patrolled by warships and coalition aircraft overhead.And last week European Union foreign ministers announced plans to set up a co-ordination centre to help tackle the threat.But so far the billions of dollars of warships, with their radar, missiles and helicopters, seem powerless to halt the ragtag bands of pirates in simple, fast-moving skiffs.
The result is boom time for the buccaneers, who can earn €1.5 million a time for their trouble.Today there are thought to be 10 gangs operating around Somalia with as many as 1,000 members. Two years ago there were only 100 or so pirates.
In all, 13 ships are under the control of pirates. Two more vessels - a Greek cargo ship and a Hong Kong-flagged vessel - were snatched last week and attacks are being reported almost daily.

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Pirates attacked a record 17 ships in the Gulf of Aden in the first two weeks of September compared to just 10 in the entire year of 2007

throwback to 17th century days of Spanish galleons, Barbary pirates and avenging royal navies, pirates attacked a record 17 ships in the Gulf of Aden in the first two weeks of September compared to just 10 in the entire year of 2007, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Center. "This is the highest number of piracy attacks we have seen in the past five years," said Cyrus Mody, manager of the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) which runs the Piracy Reporting Center, the word's nodal anti-pirate organization. Mody estimates that around 1,000 active pirates in the region have increased attacks on shipping after shifting base from theeast coast of Africa to the Gulf of Aden, which yachties call "pirates' alley". The concern reached crisis level on September 18, with leading international shipping associations such as BIMCO, Intercargo and the International Transport Workers' Federation calling for urgent United Nations action, saying the situation is "in danger of spiralling completely and irretrievably out of control".
Shockingly for governments, pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia and Yemen are currently holding 11 ships and nearly 250 crew members hostage. Pirates are demanding and often getting ransoms from US$2 million to $9 million.
Replacing the Malacca Strait as the world's deadliest waters, the Gulf of Aden is spinning its own 21st century pirate story: multi-billion-dollar oil tankers, pirates defying navy patrols to capture ships and crews for fabulous ransoms and even two flourishing pirate towns. An Indian sailor, Maria Vijayan, who was held captive by Somalian pirates for 174 days, told Asia Times Online of the existence of a pirate town called Harardheere, 400 kilometers north of the capital Mogadishu.
Harardheere is a stronghold for hundreds of pirates and their families, and Cyrus Mody of the International Maritime Bureau confirmed its existence.
The other more well known modern pirate town is the port of Eyl in the Somalian region of Puntland, a modern day version of Tortuga, the 18th century Haitian island pirate town made more famous in the movie trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean .
Eyl is an infamous nest for Somali pirate-captured ships as well as a supporting industry feeding off an estimated $30 million in ransom booty that Gulf of Aden pirates bagged in 2007, a staggering indication of the extent of piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Vijayan was chief officer of one of two South Korean ships Mavuno I and Mavuno II that Somali pirates captured off Mogadishu at around 2.30 am on May 15, 2007. The pirates were heavily armed, on a high speed white vessel and began firing before boarding the ships. "We came to know of this pirate town because three South Korean crew members were taken there and imprisoned for 17 days," says Vijayan while narrating details of his harrowing nearly six-month captivity. "The pirates extracted $2 million dollars over a period of time from my company," says Vijayan, now rebuilding his life from his residence in Kanyakumari, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The United States Navy finally rescued Vijayan and his badly traumatized crew on November 4 2007, after keeping continuous surveillance on the pirate-captured ships. The Indian government, Vijayan said, did nothing. The Somali pirates doing the actual daily dirty work are simple, poorly paid unemployed youth recruited from the interiors of civil war-torn Somalia, according to Vijayan. "I think they must be barely paid $20 or $30 for a piracy operation," he laughed, compared to the $2 million or more ransoms the pirate chief masterminds extort.
"The pirates are well-organized in groups of 15 to 20," says Vijayan, who did not rule out involvement of sections of the Somali army or warlords now tearing the country apart. How strongly the Gulf of Aden pirates have entrenched themselves became clear when, despite an American navy presence and successful French commando assault on September 15, Aden pirates the next day brazenly seized a Hong Kong and a South Korean flag-bearing ship. "The world cannot accept this ... today, these are no longer isolated cases but a genuine industry of crime," French President Nicolas Sarkozy had said a day earlier on September 15, after the French navy parachuted commandos to rescue an elderly French-Polynesian couple, Jean-Yves and Bernadette Delanne from Somali pirates. The world pays a high price to pirates terrorizing the Gulf of Aden. "3.3 million barrels of crude oil - nearly 4% of daily global demand - daily pass through the Gulf of Aden waters that is also a crucial access route for cargo ships from Asia to Europe and the US, " said Manoj Joy of the Chennai-based Sailors Helpline. "So going by these figures, the Gulf of Aden is becoming a gold mine for the pirates." A gold mine it is. Aden pirates freed a Spanish fishing boat after receiving a $1.2 million ransom this April. A German piracy victim Niels Stolberg told the weekly Der Spiegel that pirates had seized his ship 'BBC Trinidad' and its crew for three weeks, threatened to blow up the $23 million ship, demanded a ransom of $8 million and finally settled for $2 million. "The governments have to act very fast to save hostages," says Vijayan of the estimated 250 sailors of many countries now suffering hostage trauma. "Having experienced what it is to be held captive by pirates, I know what the victims must be going through." He says the Indian government and navy must get involved as thousands of Indian workers sail the Gulf waters. Indian seafarers are particularly aggrieved, complaining of government inaction even though Indian seamen are among the worst-hit piracy victims. While Vijayan gratefully acknowledges American and South Korean governments for rescuing him and his crew, he says that no Indian government official has met him, and more astonishingly, no one from the Indian Navy has interviewed him. Yet the Indian Navy, sans homework, has sought government permission to intervene after 18 Indian sailors were among the crew of 22 of the MT Stolt Valor, a chemical tanker carrying a Hong Kong flag that Aden pirates hijacked on September 16. Unconfirmed reports say the pirates are demanding a $9 million ransom. The Indian Navy finally announced plans on September 20 to patrol the Gulf of Aden, along with navy forces from other countries. "India is one of the largest suppliers of manpower to the global shipping industry and it is of paramount importance for the government to make sure their lives are safe," said Manoj Joy, of the Chennai-based Sailor's Helpline. "The seafarers are contributing in a big way to the Indian economy." Other Indian sailor associations are threatening to strike if the government does not effectively act soon. War-torn Somalia has allowed foreign warships to enter its territorial waters to tackle piracy, while the UN Security Council has passed a resolution letting naval vessels enter Somalia's territorial waters and repress piracy "by all necessary means". Successful multi-million dollar ransom demands are multiplying "copycat" pirate attacks, say International Maritime Bureau officials, with pirates running amuck in Somalia, which has had no functioning central government since former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was booted out in 1991.
Since trigger-happy, heavily-armed Gulf of Aden pirates also fire rocket-propelled grenades, fears increase of an oil tanker being blown up and throwing the crucial global trade waterway into a oil-spill nightmare. An IMB official said it's a "miracle" that no oil tanker has been hit with rocket fire. The IMB website has published two photographs of three white-painted pirate "mother ships", said to be Russian-made trawlers and a tugboat that pirate gangs use as base to launch fast, inflatable boats for attacking victim ships. Seafarer associations globally also say that ship owners are not doing enough to protect their vessels and crew, and must invest in better security, a few thousand dollars to protect lives and avoid paying million dollar ransoms. The IMB recommends that ship owners use latest security systems such "Secure-Ship", a non-lethal, electrical fence to repel uninvited guests visiting with rocket launchers. Other Inmarsat and other satellite systems-based anti-piracy gizmos include the ShipLoc, which lets shipping companies easily track their vessels, as well as enabling an attacked crew to send a SOS. Though some governments are waking up to the Gulf of Aden piracy threat, there is little coordinated, sustained global action. Yemen and Oman, two Gulf of Aden countries, are discussing establishing a regional center to combat piracy. European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels this month created a crisis group to deal with future hijackings. Spain announced that it is sending a P-3 Orion military aircraft to patrol the waters off the coast of Somalia, while the US Navy and France have made clear they will not be handling pirates with kid gloves.
Cyrus Mody of the IMB says some governments unfortunately try to hide the piracy problem, partly to avoid fears of safety about their ports, fears that could affect trade interests, aid, grants or concessions they get.
"Either governments may accept piracy as a problem and deal with it," says Mody, "or they may try to suppress reports." In which case 21st century pirates have not to much to worry about, while the rest of the world increasingly does.

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Montreal Mafia trafficked drugs through the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport

Montreal Mafia apparently had their hands in half the pots in Montreal- threatening coffee shops that didn’t purchase their beans from their approved wholesalers, threatening non-Montreal contractors who did work in the city, and driving shops that didn’t comply with their demands out of business.They also trafficked drugs through the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport, involving employees in several levels and divisions of the airport. They brought hundreds of kilos of cocaine through the airport into Canada- enough to keep the Navy supplied for a few years, at least.
They also beat, severely, people who owed them money- gamblers and other people who owed them money. Notably, they beat up John Xanthoudakis, the CEO of a Norshield Financial Group, in a law office on Place Ville Marie, where apparently his face “opened like a pancake” and that he “was pissing blood”. Xanthoudakis, they claimed, owed them five million dollars. They also drove insurance broker and financial advisor Magdi Samaan to suicide, and forced his widow to remortgage her home to pay off the mobsters, who claimed that her husband had defrauded. funds from members of the Montreal Italian community. (via)While all of this is sordidly interesting so far, we have to wait until mid-October for the full charges and details, sadly. However, while these six have gone in through plea bargains, many other lower gang members will be working their way through the courts- so hopefully some of this information, and more, can be a part of the legal record.

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"go-fasters " – drug-traffickers who zoom in almost ostentatious convoys of three or four cars from Spain to large French cities

"go-fasters " – drug-traffickers who zoom in almost ostentatious convoys of three or four cars from Spain to large French cities .The drivers, often young men from the troubled multiracial suburbs of French cities, can earn as much as €50,000 (£40,000) for one dash at speeds of up to 200kph (120mph) from southern Spain to Paris, Marseilles, Lyons or Lille. The French police and gendarmerie have developed increasingly sophisticated methods of disrupting the smugglers, including the use of satellite tracking and the creation of fake traffic jams to try to bring the speeding cars to a halt. Twenty-two "go-fast convoys" were intercepted in France last year and four so far this year – but the authorities fear that these represent just a fraction of the total tradeTwenty-two "go-fast convoys" were intercepted in France last year and four so far this year – but the authorities fear that these represent just a fraction of the total trade. A French thriller film, Go Fast, based on the high-speed road smuggling business, will premiere on 1 October. In a book published this week, Au Coeur du Trafic, Bruno di Maio, 32, tells of his experiences as a "go-faster" who was never arrested by the French or Spanish police.
The term go-fast was originally applied by American authorities to the high-powered launches used by drug traffickers in the Caribbean. Similar methods were adopted by smugglers in the late 1990s to dodge customs and naval vessels in the Mediterranean and to move cannabis and cocaine from north Africa to Spain. The idea was extended to the roads about seven years ago and has become one of the principal means of transporting drugs to French cities in the past two years. The method might appear to be absurd. Why would traffickers want to draw attention to themselves by speeding along motorways at 200kph? By travelling at high-speed in convoy, the smugglers hope to make it too difficult, and too dangerous to the public, for the police to intervene. "Go fasters" usually stop dutifully at motorway toll booths but have sometimes smashed through the barriers if pursued by police. Their favoured cars – mostly stolen in Germany but sometimes bought – include Citroë*or Mercedes limousines, or top-of-the-range four-wheel drive "Chelsea tractors", fitted with extra fuel tanks to reduce stops at service stations.
"These people should not be romanticised," said a gendarmerie colonel, Marc de Tarlé. "They are thugs who are interested only in easy cash. They work for a few years, earn a fortune and retire." But there does seem to be an element of bravado or sport involved in the go-fast trade. French police say that many of the drivers are recruited from the young men who hold so-called "rodeos" – impromptu races with stolen cars – on roads close to the poorer tower-block suburbs of French cities.

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Amy Fitzpatrick,Police are now looking for a second car connected to the case, although no description has yet been released.

The 16-year-old vanished from Mijas Costa, in Spain, on January 1 after telling friends she was going to walk home. Amy had been at a friend’s home in the tourist resort of Riviera del Sol, on the Costa del Sol, when she went missing. Mum Audrey Fitzpatrick met with Mr Cowen last week and said the Irish ruler had promised to “do all within his power to help find Amy”.
She said: "Basically he's the boss of the country. He has more contacts than us and more contacts with people who speak Spanish. I'm sure he will do what he can."
Spanish cops issued an appeal for information about a white Ford Fiesta with a UK number plate owned by a family friend, which went missing at the same time as Amy.
A government spokesman in the region said it was “difficult” to believe the youngster left voluntarily. Police are now looking for a second car connected to the case, although no description has yet been released. There has been no sign of Amy despite extensive searches in the region. She has black hair, is 1.65m tall and was wearing black tracksuit bottoms and a Diesel T-shirt when she was last seen.

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Parents of missing teen Amy Fitzpatrick are facing financial problems after being hit with a 10k mobile phone bill.

The parents of missing teen Amy Fitzpatrick are facing financial problems after being hit with a 10k mobile phone bill.
Distraught mum Audrey Fitzpatrick and Stepdad Dave Mahon are being crippled by the cost of calls in Spain and Ireland but have vowed their search will go on.
And now pals have set up a fund and trust fund to help with the search for Amy before the family are completely BROKE.
Audrey 40 said “The bills are quite overwhelming at the moment, but no matter what we will never give up.
“Were not looking for money to help with the bills it’s the things like Posters and travel and stuff where you always require help. All the little things add up”
“Ideally we would love to hire a private investigator, that would be brilliant, but at the moment we just can’t afford it.”The parents of Madeleine McCann spent more than 1 million on private investigators after their daughter vanished in Portugal.
But Audrey and Dave cannot afford that and are heading back to Spain from Dublin to continue the search themselves.Audrey said “We don’t like being away in case she comes home and were not there”
Amy 16 vanished without a trace on new year’s day this year- and so far Spanish cops have drawn a blank in their hunt for clues.
She disappeared after leaving a friend’s house at about 10pm to walk to her home in Riviera del sol near the village of Mijas in AndalucíaOriginally from Dublin Amy lived in the village with her mother, stepfather and Brother Dean. Her Father Christopher Fitzpatrick lives in Donaghmede Dublin.Last week Audrey and David met with Taoiseach Brian Cowen while visiting Ireland and he vowed to do “all within his power” to help in the search.
The pair met Mr. Cowen for just under an hour at Government Buildings to ask for his help in finding the 16 year old.But now Family and Friends have launched a fund and websitewww.missingamy.com to raise awareness and Money for the struggling Family.
Pal Antoinette McLoughlin said “we are setting up a fund to help out Audrey and David as they are basically going broke trying to keep the campaign alive.”We are trying to highlight the pain and suffering they are going through and raise some money to assist them. “Their last phone bill cost them nearly 10k because of roaming charges and they are suffering from travelling between Ireland and Spain.

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Golf Río Real area of Marbella and the other in Linda Vista Alta in San Pedro to be demolished

Ángeles Muñoz, is about to order the first two empty illegal buildings to be pulled down. One is in the Golf Río Real area of Marbella and the other in Linda Vista Alta in San Pedro.The two demolition orders were approved by a local government commission presided over by Muñoz on Tuesday. Both involve unfinished buildings that did not comply with the 1986 development plan and have not been legalised within the new PGOU as they stand on land reserved as green zone.
The Golf Río Real building, not far from the Costa del Sol Hospital, was put up by the firm Naviro Inmobiliaria SA, owned by the Granada businessman José Ávila Rojas who faces charges in the Malaya case. The project has no planning permission, although this was not detected until 2006 when the local Planning Department investigated work the same firm was carrying out on adjoining land. Construction was then halted by the Town Hall.The second development to be demolished, consisting of six houses, was being constructed by the firm Prosavi in Calle Boreal in Linda Vista Alta, San Pedro Alcántara. The project was given planning permission by the GIL-run Town Hall, based on the 1998 PGOU that was never legal. Municipal sources claim that an agreement regarding the demolition has already been reached with the developer.

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Riviera Invest company five directors were trying to escape on a private jet to Morocco.

The five directors of a real estate company in Alicante, Riviera Invest, have been arrested in connection with an alleged fraud which is thought to have affected between 600 and 1,000 clients.The arrests were carried out by the Economic Crimes Unit of the Judicial Police on the orders of the National Court judge, Santiago Pedraz, and took place at Alicante airport when the five directors were trying to escape on a private jet to Morocco.
Among those detained, the chairman of the company, Claude Roch, a well known businessman in the Benidorm area. The five were taken to the main police station in Alicante, and will appear in court shortly and the possibility of more arrests in the case has not been ruled out.Several clients of Riviera Invest across many Spanish provinces had complained that they had never received the 6 or 7% income promised to them by the company derived from the rental of property they had purchased.

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Gangster Rajesh More alias Raju, 38, of the Karanjikar gang, has been arrested by the Mulund police.

Gangster Rajesh More alias Raju, 38, of the Karanjikar gang, has been arrested by the Mulund police. Acting on a tip-off that More would come to a hotel at Panch Rasta in Mulund, the police laid a trap and nabbed him at midnight on Wednesday. On Thursday, he was remanded in police custody till September 17. More, who had earlier worked as a sharp shooter for underworld don-turned-MLA Arun Gawli, joined Vinayak Dattaram Karanjikar who also parted ways with Gawli and formed his own gang. He has been working for Karanjikar since the late 1990s and has cases of murder, attempt to murder, extortion and kidnapping registered against him at police stations in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane. Police first got clues about More when he and some other members of the Karanjikar gang threatened a builder from Mulund on August 31 last year. When they barged into the builder’s office wielding guns and asked the staff to make a call to someone called as Bhai, their act was caught on the CCTV. The builder had lodged a complaint and submitted a copy of the recording to the police. The Karanjikar gang extorted money mostly from builders in the eastern suburbs. Karanjikar, 45, was killed in an encounter with the Mumbai crime branch officials on January 15. Senior inspector Prakash Landge of the Mulund police said, “More has confessed that he was involved in threatening the Mulund builder last year.”

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Villa Loma Five, Michael Owens new home ?£12million wonderland theme park on the Costa del Sol.

High stone walls totally surround the huge estate of 16,000 square metres, Mature Egyptian palm trees grace the grounds, which can be entered only through electronically controlled gates specially made of high-quality Arabic ironwork, lavishly adorned in gold leaf. A sentry will stand guard in a box outside the property night and day.
Named Villa Loma Five, it is a mere five minutes from southern Spain’s biggest international horse-riding stables and livery, the Escuela de Arte Ecuestre.
It seems an obvious major attraction for Owen, a huge racing fan, racehorse owner, and also owner of a new state-of-the-art training complex.
Property expert Paul Grimshaw believes the estate’s main villa resembles a set from the film Lawrence of Arabia, and revealed that it contains several hand-carved Portuguese marble pillars to support a three-story Arabic palace that comprises a cinema, gymnasium, sauna, massage suite, spa baths and physio rooms.Michael Owen has taken delivery of confidential plans for a massive £12million wonderland theme park on the Costa del Sol.So if he is down in the mouth about missing out on England duty in Croatia last night, striker Owen can console himself with the retreat he has earmarked in the secluded Marbella foothills for his palatial dream home.
Perhaps he needs something to give him a lift. He is no longer walking in a Keegan wonderland, as the fans’ song at Newcastle goes, but his plans for recreation in Spain are impressive.Owen, who could pocket £21m in a fresh Newcastle contract if he decides to stay at the crisis-hit club, received the plans direct from a Walt Disney Corporation insider.

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Simels represented Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, once the head of a murderous Queens drug gang, against allegations in 2005 he funneled $1 million

Defense attorney Simels has represented the mobster immortalized in "Goodfellas," a drug kingpin with ties to hip hop and other notorious clients in his long career.Now a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn puts Simels in their company: It accuses him of plotting to silence prosecution witnesses against an alleged drug trafficker by, in his words, "eliminating" them.Simels, 61, was arrested Tuesday on charges of witness tampering and obstruction of justice and was released on $3.5 million bond. His attorney, Gerald Shargel, has called the allegations false."Bob Simels is well-known as a tenacious, effective and highly capable defense lawyer and he was doing his work," Shargel said.Simels represented Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, once the head of a murderous Queens drug gang, against allegations in 2005 that he funneled $1 million in drug proceeds into Murder Inc., then a chart-topping rap music label. McGriff eventually switched lawyers and was jailed for life last year after being convicted of paying $50,000 for the 2001 killings of an aspiring rapper and another man.According to his Web site, Simels has also represented former football star Marc Gastineau and Henry Hill, whose exploits were the basis of the 1990 Martin Scorsese mob film "Goodfellas." The site also names Shaheed "Roger" Khan, the Guyanese businessman whose case has landed the lawyer in trouble.Kahn was arrested and brought to the United States in 2006 on charges he ran a cocaine smuggling operation that was protected by a paramilitary organization in Guyana known as the Phantom Squad.Drug Enforcement Administration investigators allege that this May, with Kahn awaiting trial in Brooklyn, a Phantom Squad member who was cooperating with them learned that Simels wanted to talk to him.The DEA says that during conversations over the summer, some secretly recorded, Simels asked the cooperator to help him locate potential government witnesses and pondered what to do when they were found. The attorney "discussed a range of options, from offering them money to murdering their family members," the criminal complaint says.In one conversation recorded in May about bribing an unnamed witness, the cooperator suggested the witness "might suddenly get amnesia" if paid enough money."That's a terrible thing, but if it happens, it happens," Simels responded, according to the complaint. Later in the same meeting, the lawyer remarked, "Obviously, any witness you can eliminate is a good thing."In June, the complaint says, Simels gave the cooperator $1,000 for expenses in pursuing the same witness, but cautioned that Kahn didn't want the witness's mother harmed."He'd like as much pressure being put on as possible," Simels allegedly said. "But he thinks if (the witness's) mother gets killed ... the government will go crazy."

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Australian and his Thai girlfriend are both recovering from surgery at Bangkok Hospital Phuket after being attacked by a knife-wielding cat burglar

Australian and his Thai girlfriend are both recovering from surgery at Bangkok Hospital Phuket after being attacked by a knife-wielding cat burglar in their home in Rawai early yesterday morning.The Swiss-born Australian, a retired teacher who asked that his name and address not be published, said he and his girlfriend underwent surgery yesterday and were “slowly on the mend”.“Somebody broke into the house – I don’t know how they got into the house – on Wednesday, between three and four in the morning,” the Aussie told the Gazette this afternoon in a telephone interview.“We have two bedrooms. My girlfriend went to bed early and slept in one bedroom. Then I woke up and I could hear shouting. I thought maybe the television was on, but I couldn’t see any flickering.“So I went out and I could see that the door was closed to the second bedroom. So I opened it and there was a man in a mask fighting with my girlfriend. I jumped in, and that’s how it all got started. She gotstabbed and I got stabbed.”A second man spotted outside the home may have been serving as a “lookout” for the burglar, he said.The Aussie was slashed four times and stabbed once in the stomach.His girlfriend, who owns the home they share, was stabbed in the back of the head, punched repeatedly and slashed on one of her hands, he said.From her hospital bed, the 35-year-old girlfriend told the Gazette she awoke when the attacker closed the bedroom door.“We never close the doors when we sleep, so the sound of the door closing woke me. When I tried to scream, the attacker put his hand over my mouth and held a box-cutter to my throat and punched me in the stomach,” she said.The knife cut her neck open, but no major arteries were severed and she is recovering well, though she is still in a great deal of pain in the neck and stomach, she said.“This is the first time anything like this has happened at my home and we have never had any conflicts with anyone before,” she added.Doctors at the hospital said the couple could be released as early as tomorrow, her boyfriend said.The Gazette has thus far been unable to confirm with Chalong Police that evidence collected at the scene included skin tissue of the attacker and his shoes, as reported in a Thai-language newspaper.
One officer was quoted in that report as saying that police believe the attacker was “probably a local youth looking for things to steal”.Investigators were hard at work trying to track him down because the incident could have a bad effect on tourist confidence, the officer was quoted as saying.
However, Chalong Police Duty Officer Thienchai Duangsuwan, who arrived at the crime scene at about 5 am, told the Gazette that evidence from the scene included a fake gun, the cutter used to slice the victim’s throat and the balaclava the intruder was wearing.As nothing was taken by the intruder, police now suspect the attack might not have been a simple case of a bungled robbery, so they will investigate other motives, he said.

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The Costa del Sol will be impacted by increased air taxes

Higher UK airport taxes from February to reduce carbon emissions could impact the prices of properties, according to an international estate agency.‘There has been more discussion and calls for action recently over the impact that air travel is having on the environment,’ they say, ‘And one of the most obvious ways to cut air travel is to raise the price of travelling through taxes. It’s a win-win situation for governments, more tax revenue and being seen combating global warming at the same time. It’s only a matter of time before cheap air fares on the scale we see it today comes to an end’.Owning a second home and a property abroad has shown to be an aspiration for the majority of UK residents by recent surveys, and low cost carriers have opened up new overseas property markets by flying to destinations not covered by other airlines, or forcing flight prices down where they compete directly with more established carriers.Property prices within a one hour drive of regional airports served by the low cost airlines have tended to escalate in recent years, and it is these areas that would be hardest hit by any increased taxes on flying.
The areas which would feel least impact according to the estate agency would be northern France, which many UK second home owners access via ferry and the Channel Tunnel, and areas where owning a property abroad was in vogue long before the new airlines started, and when air fares were proportionately higher than they are today. Access to France from the UK has improved recently with Eurotunnel cutting the journey time by twenty minutes.But there is a warning that the lower priced end of the market could be hit more than the top end.

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Highly contagious sheep and goat plague has hit Morocco and could spread to southern Europe.

Highly contagious sheep and goat plague has hit Morocco and could spread to southern Europe.Agency spokeswoman Teresa Buerkle says the outbreak has reached 29 Moroccan provinces and has largely affected sheep.She says the viral disease is known by its French name peste des petits ruminants (small ruminants' plague), or PPR.The disease is closely related to cattle plague and is transmitted to goats, sheep and wild small ruminants through close contact between animals.Buerkle says it poses no risk to human health.She told a UN briefing Tuesday that there is a concern PPR could reach southern Europe because of the close trade Morocco has with countries including Spain.

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Four youngsters have been hospitalised, two of them in a serious condition

Four youngsters have been hospitalised, with two of them in a serious condition, after they went out in Torremolinos for a night of drinking and drugs.The four, three men and a woman aged between 20 and 33, were found intoxicated on Sunday afternoon outside a well known venue in the Nogalera area of the town and now two of them remain in Intensive Care in the Carlos Haya hospital in Málaga.

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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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The Strait of Gibraltar Natural Park devasted by fire

fire raged across the southernmost tip of mainland Spain had burning more than 480 hectares of cork forest and scrubland by Thursday night in what environmentalists described as the worst ever disaster in the Strait of Gibraltar Natural Park. More than 1,000 people were evacuated as the blaze raged in a forested area between the city of Algeciras and the popular windsurfing resort of Tarifa. Andalusian regional Premier Manuel Chaves said the fire, which began on Wednesday, was probably started intentionally and stressed that authorities will "do all they can to find those responsible".Firefighters, helped by helicopters and water-dumping planes, said they expected to bring the fire under control overnight.
The Strait of Gibraltar Natural Park is a haven for birds migrating between Europe and Africa.

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Futura International Airways Mallorca-based charter firm BUST

Mallorca-based charter firm, Futura International Airways, suspended its flights yesterday and has filed for administration. Futura, which is one of Europe's biggest medium-haul charter flight companies, runs flights between Palma and a number of major British towns and cities, including Belfast, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Glasgow. Like many of its competitors, it has been badly hit this year by rising fuel prices despite posting a 14% increase in turnover in 2007 to €334.6 million euros. Notwithstanding, company directors hope to resume normal operations today, and have been given until the end of the week to present contingency plans to enable the Spanish Transport ministry to make a definitive decision about the company's future. These plans, which will need to be approved by the trades unions, are thought to include a 50% reduction in the total workforce of 1,200 and the same reduction in its high season fleet of 22 planes. Futura was founded in 1989 in a joint venture also involving Aer Lingus, which sold off the balance of its shares last year having offloaded the majority back in 2002.

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Iberian Peninsula is the main entry point for most drugs trafficked across Europe

According to a report issued by the United Nations, the Iberian Peninsula is the main entry point for most drugs trafficked across Europe. Spain is the most used of the two countries for cocaine smuggling, with authorities having seized 50 metric tonnes of the substance in 2006. With tonnage as follows: Holland (11), France (10) and Italy (5) are the countries with most drug apprehensions.The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), based in Vienna, explained that 66% of apprehensions occurred whilst the cocaine was still at sea, 11% via other means and 6% at airports.The most frequent locations for apprehensions in the last couple of years, together with the traditional Atlantic Spanish Ports such as Galiza, were in Andalusia, Barcelona and Valencia, with the drugs arriving by air.The report also confirmed the existence of local cocaine production in Spain, despite authorities having dismantled ten drug laboratories in 2006. All substances apprehended before reaching the Spanish coast were arriving from South America, more specifically from Venezuela (31% of all confiscated drugs), Dominican Republic (8%), Ecuador (6%), Brazil and Argentina (5%) and Colombia (4%). However, gangs trafficking the substances are from Colombia in 23% of cases, Morocco (11%), Dominican Republic (6%), Romania (3%) and United Kingdom, Portugal and Italy (2% each).The report also drew the conclusion that the main reasons for the rising drug consumption in Europe is due to the steady price of cocaine and the level of purity remaining high over the last decade, despite drug apprehensions being more frequent.

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Scrub fire in the Sierra de Mijas was finally brought under control on Friday after affecting some 75 hectares of scrub.

Scrub fire in the Sierra de Mijas was finally brought under control on Friday after affecting some 75 hectares of scrub. The regional Environment Department said that 70% of the land affected would recover naturally, while the Junta de Andalucía said that there were suspicions that the fire was started deliberately. The fire started at 7,10pm close to an urbanisation and that was quickly put out, but then two other centres of fire were seen, indicating that it was started deliberately.Meanwhile police in Algeciras are relating the fire which affected 500 hectares of nature park near Tarifa on Wednesday with drug traffickers. 80 kilos of hashish, in bales, was found in the burnt out area.

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Prince to sell Marbella Villa

Prince home. 3 bedrooms ensuite, posibility to expand to 6 ensuite. Plot of almost 6.000 m2, surrounded by golf courses with sea and mountain view. Located in the hills above the New Golden Mile, only a 5 minutes drive away from San Pedro, surrounded by different golf courses and only 10 minutes away from Puerto Banus and a couple of minutes away from the beach with many beach restaurants.

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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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Achmad Olong, 42, pleaded guilty to a charge of people-smuggling last week.

Achmad Olong, 42, pleaded guilty to a charge of people-smuggling last week.
A Northern Territory court was told Olong arranged the passage of 353 asylum seekers, charging fees of between $US1700 ($2000) and $US3500 each. After two failed attempts, the vessel headed out to sea from Indonesia with its human cargo but was stopped in November 1999 by HMAS Dubbo at Ashmore Reef, about 800km west of Darwin.
Olong's defence lawyer Greg Smith said his client had smuggled the people, who were mostly Iraqis, because he felt sorry for their suffering under Saddam Hussein.
Handing down a five-year sentence today with a minimum non-parole period of 30 months, NT Justice Stephen Southwood said the vessel was overcrowded and rank.
"Some passengers were holding up children and yelling out for assistance," he said.
"The Australian boarding team were confronted with an overpowering stench, rubbish littering the decks, stifling heat, and numerous people were ill, including a woman who was in labour and another woman experiencing a possible miscarriage."
The sentence was welcomed by Federal Minister for Immigration Senator Chris Evans, who called people-smuggling an "abhorrent crime".

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No official statistics are kept for the number of foreigners who have suffered a car accident, heart attack, violent robbery

Pamela Crane, 72, a British citizen and a permanent resident of New Zealand, disappeared last year after visiting Russia with a tour group. Her son went to pick her up at the Auckland Airport on June 10, 2007, but found she was not on the flight.
The British and New Zealand embassies, together with local authorities, conducted an extensive search, and Crane's body was found a week later near Sergiyev Posad, a tourist destination 70 kilometers northeast of the city. Prosecutors said she had left on her own for Sergiyev Posad but are not sure what happened after that. They said she had apparently been strangled with a rope and robbery was a possible motive. No arrests have been made.Korobkov, the police spokesman, said relatives who suspect foul play should turn to prosecutors. "If you are sure that your relative has became a victim of a crime, you should file an appeal with the prosecutor's office," he said.
U.S. citizen Pete Kendrick about $45,000 and hours in the Russian Embassy in Washington to bring his father home after a car crash.But his efforts proved in vain. Lawrence Kendrick, 68, died in intensive care shortly after his return to Kentucky. The son worried for days that the delay might have led to his death.
"The prognosis of Russian doctors was a good bit different than the hospital over here," he said by telephone from Lexington.Later he learned that the head injuries had been so serious that no doctor could have saved his father.No official statistics are kept for the number of foreigners who have suffered a car accident, heart attack, violent robbery or other life-threatening emergency in Russia. But everyday headaches only seem to multiply, leaving anxious relatives scrambling to cut red tape, navigate an unfamiliar bureaucratic system and raise funds to cover costs.If the loved one is in a coma or dead, relatives can wait for weeks to learn what happened.Lawrence Kendrick, a member of a Baptist missionary group, traveled to Bryansk in early June to visit friends he had made on a previous trip to Russia, his son said. A dump truck hit the taxi that he and others were riding in on June 6, striking Kendrick's side of the vehicle.Kendrick, who was left in a coma, suffered brain injuries and fractures to his ribs, pelvis, left hip and leg. One other person was lightly injured in the accident.Kendrick's participation in the missionary group meant his friends relayed the news of the accident back to his family in the United States immediately.Prompt information can be vital in an emergency. U.S. journalist Daniel Nehmad was hit by a car as he was crossing Moscow's busy Leningradsky Prospekt in 2002 -- but his family and friends only found out a week later.
Friends contacted the police and U.S. Embassy after not seeing Nehmad for several days. They found him, however, by calling hospitals in and around Moscow and discovering that an unidentified patient matching Nehmad's description was lying in a coma at the Botkin Hospital. Nehmad, who wrote several articles for The Moscow Times, had no identifying documents with him."It was a miracle that he survived," his mother, Diane Nehmad, said Tuesday by telephone from Maplewood, New Jersey.
"Because he had no documents to identify him, he was placed with homeless people who did not get much attention in the hospital. But one of the doctors realized that he was not just a beggar because he was clean and had wonderful American teeth," she said. "Since he needed expensive antibiotics, which hospital lacked, she bought them with her own money and thus saved him from death."His parents came to Moscow and arranged to have him airlifted to the United States. He has nearly made a full recovery, his mother said.With tougher visa rules introduced last year, it took Kendrick's family a week and more than $1,000 to obtain their Russian visas. "Literally, it took us a whole day just to figure out which form was right," Pete Kendrick said. There is no procedure in place to offer expedited visas for the families of those injured in Russia.The family spent thousands of dollars more for transportation to Moscow and on to Bryansk, located 380 kilometers southwest of the capital. When Kendrick's son and wife, Ramona, arrived in Bryansk, they were told that doctors knew he had suffered brain injuries but were unsure to what extent.
"The thing that was a surprise to us was that it's a pretty big hospital there in Bryansk, but to get his CAT scans done they had to put him in an ambulance and bring him somewhere else," Pete Kendrick said.Because of his critical condition, Kendrick was transferred to the American Medical Center in Moscow nearly a week later.
"Moscow's kind of a big bear to navigate without any help," the son said.He and his mother began making arrangements to have Kendrick flown by air ambulance back to Lexington. With the flight costing $150,000, Kendrick's wife put their home up for sale.Unexpectedly, their travel-insurance company agreed to cover 50 percent of the airlift, leaving $75,000 to raise, Pete Kendrick said.In a twist of fate, the family of a U.S. patient in Italy who had ordered an air ambulance no longer needed it after their loved one died. Not wanting to lose the money they had paid, they donated the flight to the Kendricks.With the flight booked, the doctors began to worry whether Kendrick would survive the trip without undergoing brain surgery first. After a few days of tests, they agreed to let Kendrick fly without an operation. When he finally arrived back in Kentucky on June 23 -- 17 days after the accident -- he was rushed to the University of Kentucky's Chandler Medical Center and placed in intensive care. He died on July 2, never recovering consciousness.
The family wondered whether a misdiagnosis or the delay in flying to the United States might have caused the death. A team of University of Kentucky doctors ran their own tests and determined that Kendrick's injuries had been fatal, said Steve Fegenbush, associate pastor of First Baptist Church in Junction City, where Kendrick was a member.While the Kendricks had no trouble locating their loved one, Nils Kalvatn Schoeyen from Norway was less fortunate. He spent two weeks searching for his uncle, Erling Selmer Larsen, who had failed to return to Oslo from a Christmas vacation in Thailand in 2002. Schoeyen found him lying forgotten in a Moscow morgue.No one contacted Larsen's family or the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow, even though Larsen was carrying his passport. He died of a heart attack on an eight-hour Aeroflot flight to Moscow, where he was supposed to transfer to an Oslo-bound plane.
Officials from the police and the Botkin Hospital morgue, where the body was sent, explained at the time that they had tried to contact the embassy but could not get through because they had the wrong phone number.Under the law, a morgue is only required to hold a body for two weeks. If no one claims the body, it is buried in a grave marked with a number. Cases of exhumation from these graves are rare.
Schoeyen found his uncle, an unmarried retiree with no children, after calling around and stumbling across a passenger who had been on the Aeroflot flight. The passenger said someone had died on the plane. Schoeyen immediately contacted the Norwegian Embassy, which traced Larsen to the morgue. "I'm not angry, just disappointed and very surprised that this could happen," Schoeyen told The Moscow Times at the time. "I just can't see why they should take so long."Moscow police spokesman Vladimir Korobkov refused to discuss any specific cases, but he said the first thing a foreigner should do if someone has disappeared is call the Accident Registration Bureau. Since 2006, every large city has the bureau, which collects information about unidentified people brought to hospitals, drunk tanks, morgues and police stations. Multiple calls to the Moscow bureau (688-2252) went unanswered Tuesday. An operator at the St. Petersburg bureau (812-579-0055) said no one spoke English there.If the bureau cannot provide assistance, Korobkov said, contact the local police station by telephone or in person, and the police officer on duty will fill out a missing persons report. He suggested providing the police with photographs of the missing person, any available identification documents, and items the person touched for fingerprints.Another option is to call the police hotline, 02, if no other phone numbers are available. Operators who speak English are available.By law, police are supposed to open a criminal investigation if a person is not found in 10 days, but in reality, they tend to do so after about a month. As such, people often turn to private investigators."Of course, the earlier we start to search, the more likely we are to find the missing person," said Sergei Igolkin, head the Bureau of Private Investigations, a private detective agency in St. Petersburg.Igolkin said the hardest cases to crack are instances when foreigners are targeted by criminals, such as a prostitute slipping drugs into a foreigner's drink in nightclub and robbing him. Criminals who use barbiturates or other substances can overdose their victims."In this case, the body is hidden in a remote area, and the chances of it being found and identified quickly are low," Igolkin said.

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Charlie Northfield was smuggled across the border to Senegal by agents for a British security firm. He returned to his home in Plymouth

Charlie Northfield was smuggled across the border to Senegal by agents for a British security firm. He returned to his home in Plymouth yesterday, having spent six months in the Gambian Mile 2 Prison or under under house arrest in the capital, Banjul. The father of three was spirited out of Banjul at the weekend and driven 125 miles though the bush before swimming a flood-swollen river to cross the border into Senegal. He was flown from the Senegalese capital, Dakar, to Morocco and then on to Britain. Mr Northfield, 48, had been held on the orders of the Gambian Government, which accused his employers, Carnegie Minerals, of illegal exporting. He was held in prison for ten days before being released on bail of $450,000 (£253,000) to await trial on three charges of “economic crime” and one of theft. He described the escape as being like “something in a film”. Mr Northfield said yesterday: “I was driven in a few different taxis and we passed through several police checkpoints. The driver sorted things out, but I was worried someone would recognise me as my face had been plastered on the front pages of their papers. “Probably the most frightening part was reaching a river that I had been told would be shallow enough to walk through. It was swollen and quite fast-flowing so I had to strip off and swim across. The river was about 50 yards across and I was swept another 100 yards downstream. By the time I reached the other side I was completely knackered. I really have a great sense of relief. The whole thing has been a nightmare.” Mr Northfield said that he had left The Gambia because he believed that he would not be given a fair trial. “I had been to court 13 times but they were no closer to starting the trial and I had a strong sense they never would be,” he said. “The ordeal was not going to end unless we did something. We had tried negotiating but to no avail, and I was feeling desperate.” Mr Northfield's passport had been confiscated by the Gambian authorities and he had to obtain temporary papers to fly home. He is now waiting for a new passport before he can travel to Thailand to be reunited with his wife, Neung, and children, Charles, 18, Thomas, 11, and Natalie, 7. “It has been extremely difficult for them, as it was hard to communicate,” he said.
The escape was organised by Martin McGowan-Scanlon, a former army captain who heads a security consultancy in Torquay, Devon. He said that he had arranged the rescue because he was incensed at Mr Northfield's treatment. “The regime in Gambia used Charlie as a pawn in its disagreement with his former employers,” he said.
Mr Northfield travelled to The Gambia last October to manage the company's operations there. In February the authorities charged him and the company over the alleged understatement of the value and content of mineral exports, and cancelled the company's mining licence. They denied all charges. Crispin Grey-Johnson, the Gambian Foreign Minister, said that 20,000 tonnes of sand with “heavy concentration of uranium” had been exported to Australia and China between 2006 and December 2007.

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