Spanish police have detained four police officers, including three chiefs responsible for fighting organized crime, on charges of several criminal offences, police said Wednesday. The four worked on the southern Costa del Sol coast, which is known for the presence of numerous international criminal rings. The three chiefs were based in Malaga, Marbella and Fuengirola. The officers were suspected of keeping objects they had confiscated from criminals, making illegal house searches and revealing confidential information to outsiders. One of them was already awaiting trial on charges of helping an Italian drug trafficker flee. An entrepreneur and an interpreter were also held. The affair was "painful and delicate," because it affected the reputation of the national police force, government delegate Hilario Lopez Luna said.
Senior official Antonio Camacho stressed that police themselves had discovered the alleged irregularities in their midst. The National Police internal affairs unit has arrested four National Policemen and two other people in Málaga and Fuengirola. The team moved into several offices of the main provincial police station in Málaga yesterday evening, according to El Mundo. The paper says that several police chiefs have complained about ‘the bad way’ in which the arrests were carried out.All those police arrested are Inspectors or Chief Inspectors belong to the specialist drug and organised crime unit UDYCO, and are accused of corruption and the crime of revealing confidential information obtained during police activity.The previous head of the UDYCO unit on the Costa del Sol, Valentín Bahut, was replaced a year ago after being charged with not following uip on certain crimes linked to a police informer, an Italian based in Benalmádena, Marco Torello Rollero. He finally faced 18 months in prison in that case, with an 11 year ban on holding public office.The Internal Affairs Unit in Málaga has arrested four high ranking police officers assigned to the specialist UDYCO (drugs and organised crime) section of the National Police on the Costa del Sol.The arrests have come after a two year investigation into alleged ‘irregularities’ during the conducting of house searches. One of those arrested is a Chief Inspector, the other three are Inspectors and all have long and distinguished careers in the UDYCO-Costa del Sol.Also arrested in connection with the case are two private individuals, one a civilian interpreter for the police, the other a businessman in Marbella.The detainees allegedly appropriated assets during the carrying out of house searches and also leaked confidential information. In addition, the investigators are trying to establish whether the arrested men were connected to a network trafficking in women for the purpose of prostitution.
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