Nine people were injured when an apparently mentally unstable driver deliberately drove into a pedestrian zone in the southern Spanish city of Malaga

Nine people were injured when an apparently mentally unstable driver deliberately drove into a pedestrian zone in the southern Spanish city of Malaga, police said Saturday.They said the 50-year-old kept driving through the Costa del Sol city's busy precinct until officers stopped him. The injured included two Italian and two German tourists.Nine people were injured and two German and Italian women tourists, aged 62 and 42, are in a critical condition in hospital after a driver, a 42 year old man from Alhaurín el Grande, named with the initials A.B.M., took his black Rover car down the pedestrianised central Calle Larios in Málaga on Saturday just before noon, it seems by error. All the other injured are recovering well. Witnesses say the driver went down the street and then reversed back....

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Refusal of people to demolish their illegal homes in Mijas is leading some of them to see their assets embargoed.

refusal of people to demolish their illegal homes in Mijas is leading some of them to see their assets embargoed. El País reports that at least 20 people have been affected so far out of the estimated 8,000 irregular homes in the municipality. Some 2,000 owners have been served with demolition orders, and if they do not comply they face a fine of 10% of the value of the property.Most of the demolition orders have been issued against rural properties, often handed down in inheritance.The socialist Mayor of Mijas, Antonio Sánchez, called an extraordinary meeting at the end of July to discuss the problem, with those affected demanding that the fines be suspended until the new PGOU Urban Plan is drawn up for the municipality.Last Wednesday the Mayor agreed that working groups be set up to investigate...

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Grupo Mirador construction group charged

A judge has charged the Grupo Mirador construction group after the company held on to deposits paid for properties which have not been constructed. Under Spanish law such monies should have been kept in a separate bank account. El País reports that the judge was responding to a new denuncia placed by a group of six clients of the company, each of whom paid between 32,805 € and 48,600 € as first payments for properties at the Mirador de la Fortaleza in Vélez-Málaga, which according to the contracts signed in 2004 and 2005, should have already have been completed but where in fact no construction has started. They are claiming fraud. The company has other promotions in Benalmádena, Rincón de la Victoria, Villanueva del Rosario, Fuente de Piedra and Loja in Grana...

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Judge Francisco Javier de Urquía, who had presided over Marbella's second court, was found guilty of bribery and dereliction of duty

Judge Francisco Javier de Urquía, who had presided over Marbella's second court, was found guilty of bribery and dereliction of duty in a case stemming from Operation Malaya, a far-reaching police investigation that led to the arrest of former mayors, councillors and businessmen in the Costa del Sol resort in 2006.The Andalusian High Court concluded that Urquía had accepted EUR 73,800 from Juan Antonio Roca, an urban planning aide at Marbella City Hall, in exchange for legal favours, including assisting Roca in preventing a local television station from airing a report about his vast - and illicitly earned - wealth.In the same trial, Roca, who...

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2,500 Kilos hashish have been seized from a launch in Torrevieja.

2,500 Kilos hashish have been seized from a launch in Torrevieja.The hashish traffic international network used the Torrevieja marina as a entrance point for the drugs into the country. The operation finalised with the arrest of eight alleged drug dealers and the seizure of 2,500 kilos hashish. Among the people arrested, there are people from different nationalities, i.e. Spanish, Lithuanian, Italian and Moroccan. After several investigations and wire taps, the operation was started after it was known a several tones drug cargo was coming this week. The agents stopped the boat when it docked in the Torrevieja marina. This way, 2,500 kilos hashish were seized and eight suspects were arrested on board and another five in solid ground, where they were providing the other ones with covera...

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French cosmetic surgeon accused of having mutilated or endangered the lives of dozens of patients has been arrested in Spain.

French cosmetic surgeon accused of having mutilated or endangered the lives of dozens of patients has been arrested in Spain.Michel Maure had gone missing after standing trial in Marseille in June, accused of false advertising, deception and causing involuntary injury.He was arrested in Rosas, north-eastern Spain, on Tuesday. An international arrest warrant had been issued for him.Prosecutors called for four years' jail and a 75,000-euro (�59,000) fine.He was struck off the French medical register in January 2007 after numerous complaints about his procedures. He had practised illegally since 1995, investigators say.There were 96 complaints from former patients against Dr Maure, 59, including allegations that he had carried out painful procedures under local anaesthetic, in a dirty clinic.He...

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13.8kg of cocaine was discovered concealed beneath a false suitcase bottom.

27-year-old German man was arrested at Barajas airport in Madrid yesterday after 13.8kg of cocaine was discovered concealed beneath a false suitcase bottom. The man arrived on a flight from Lisbon. A Guardia Civil spokesman explained that the drugs were found using a hand-held scanning devi...

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Amy Fitzpatrick:Revealed a camera could have recorded Amy on the track she is thought to have taken on New Year's Day, the day she disappeared

Revealed a camera could have recorded Amy on the track she is thought to have taken on New Year's Day, the day she disappeared. Amy Fitzpatrick disappeared on the evening of New Year's Day 1st January 2008 at approximately 10pm when she left her friends house in the tourist resort of Riviera Del Sol on the Costa Del Sol, Spain to take the 10 minute walk to her house.Amy was 15 at the time of her disappearance; on 7th February Amy turned 16, Amy has black/Brown hair, blue eyes and has a pale complexion. She is 1.65m tall and was wearing brown crushed velvet tracksuit bottoms and a black T-shirt with the word "DIESEL" in various different colours...

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Nikki Beach Club man shot twice in the legs

Nikki Beach in Marbella in the early hours of Saturday morning. Two people were injured in the incident which happened at 0205, with one of them, a 42 year old man, being shot twice in the legs. There are no details as to the extent of the other victim’s injuri...

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Peter Mitchell was shot outside a bar at the Aloha apartment complex in Puerta Banus near Marbella. A masked gunman fired at least five shots

Peter Mitchell (39), who is originally from Summerhill in Dublin's north inner city, was wounded when a masked gunman opened fire outside a bar on Thursday night. News of the shooting reached gardaí in Ireland yesterday. Mitchell was shot outside a bar at the Aloha apartment complex in Puerta Banus near Marbella. A masked gunman fired at least five shots at Mitchell wounding him twice in the arm and shoulder. Two other men, one in his 40s and a pensioner, also sustained minor injuries in the shooting. It was unclear last night if the two injured men were with Mitchell or if they were shot in the crossfire during the suspected gangland attack....

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Spanish connection in a cocaine trafficking case shootout

37-year-old man involved in a cocaine trafficking case was killed in a shootout Wednesday at dawn in Voula, Athens while attempting to avoid arrest. The victim, who was the recipient of 4.5 kilos of cocaine, was fatally wounded by police while trying to get away. The case came to the attention of the Greek Police when a 40-year-old Bulgarian national, who arrived in Athens from Romania, declared his luggage lost in Athens' "Eleftherios Venizelos" International Airport. His suitcase was later found in the airport in Romania and Romanian police discovered 4.5 kilos of cocaine hidden inside. The Bulgarian was arrested in Athens and confessed that he had undertaken to deliver the cocaine, which came from Spain via Romania, to a Greek. The shootout happened when the man arrived in a prearranged...

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Cannabis Palm in Orihuela Costa

National police have arrested a man in the Vega Baja who was selling cannabis which he had grown himself. The man had tried to hide his small plantation of 119 plants by placing palm trees in the same area where he had also installed a sophisticated automatic watering system. He is also said to have improved the quality of his crop by using specialist fertilisers and fungicides.The 37 year old Spaniard has been named with the initials S.V.R. and will appear shortly in court in Orihue...

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Arsonists in Lago Jardin

Peugeot 405 SRD Turbo was burnt out at around 7.30am in the quiet secluded streets of the urbanisation – just metres from an occupied home. The owner was visibly shocked and upset by the events as she awoke to find thick dark smoke billowing outside her bedroom window. She was one of many residents who quickly contacted the fire department whose prompt response undoubtedly prevented further disaster. The car was parked between two others – one received some damage whilst the other, thanks to the quick thinking action of two African gentleman who managed to move it and locate the owner, remained intact. One resident told us, “They are saying the...

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Benalmadena ,Daniel Whelan died at the weekend

Daniel Whelan died at the weekend while in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol. Early reports suggested that the 18-year-old, who was celebrating the end of his A-level exams, had been struck down by meningitis. But the Health Protection Agency has now said it was unlikely his death was caused by the infection. Hugh Lamont, a regional spokesman for the agency, said: “We understand there is currently no evidence the illness was caused by an infection of any sort. We are awaiting the results of further tests." It is understood Daniel was taken ill while on a night out with friends on Saturday. They took him back to where they were staying in the resort and called an ambulance when his condition deteriorated. He died later in hospital. His friends, all pupils at Bolton School, flew home on Monday....

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Lewis Hamiltons driver was cleaning the wing mirrors when two men ran up to the open boot and pinched a rucksack and leather holdall

The World Championship leader was leaving the Malaga Palacio on the Costa del Sol with girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, of music group Pussycat Dolls, when two men snatched a pair of bags from their car."Lewis's driver was cleaning the wing mirrors when two men ran up to the open boot and pinched a rucksack and leather holdall," an onlooker told the English media."The one carrying the rucksack dropped it but the other guy kept hold of his."Hamilton, 23, had attended an MTV concert in Malaga at which Scherzinger, 30, performed.The Formula One season resumes after a break this weekend with the European GP in Valencia. Hamilton is five points clear...

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authorities seized 80 bundles of cocaine on board the fishing boat RÍo Manzanares, registered in Venezuela but flying no flag

The boat was intercepted in the mid-Atlantic off the Canaries and there were eleven arrests. The total weight of the cocaine was 2,500 kilograms or 5,506 pounds.The investigation was part of Operation Hurricane, said the head of the police’s organised-crime unit, Eloy Quiros.“We’re talking about an organised group that already has much experience; about communications in code, via Internet; about continual changes in telephones and use of foreign telephones to make the police work harder,” said Quiros. In all, authorities seized 80 bundles of cocaine on board the fishing boat RÍo Manzanares, registered in Venezuela but flying no flag, making...

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Bombs had been placed in Guadalmar, Benalmadena and on a highway linking Malaga to its international airport.

Two small bombs blamed on Basque separatist group ETA exploded at tourist resorts in southern Spain yesterday. No injuries were reported, but more than 10,000 people were evacuated from a harbour area. It is the height of the summer tourist season in Spain. The first blast occurred on a beach in Guadalmar and a second device exploded at a tourist marina parking lot in Benalmadena Costa. Both towns are around 550km south of Madrid in the Costa del Sol resort area on a stretch of coastline popular with foreign tourists, especially the British.A caller who said he spoke in the name of ETA warned the fire department in the beach resort of Benalmadena that three bombs would explode, the ministry said. He said bombs had been placed in Guadalmar, Benalmadena and on a highway linking Malaga to its...

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Guardia Civil in Huercal Overa have arrested two local residents for dealing cocaine.

Guardia Civil in Huercal Overa have arrested two local residents for dealing cocaine. The attention of the Guardia Civil was drawn to the unusual number of people from outside the area coming and going from the home of the two suspects. Agents watching the dwelling observed the transit of various people to and from the house, where they stayed only brief periods of time. They also observed the suspects frequently leaving the house for brief periods and deduced from the behviour that the dwelling could be a distribution point for drugs, using a method commonly known in Spain as ‘Tele-coca’, that is, ordering cocaine by means of telephone calls...

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Portuguese businessman was detained in Spain accused of being the “main supplier of super-boats” to organized drug trafficking rings

Portuguese businessman was detained in Spain accused of being the “main supplier of super-boats” to organized drug trafficking rings following a joint effort between Spanish and Portuguese police.An investigation carried out by the Guardia Civil de Pontevedra (Galiza, Spain) and the GNR of Valença (Portugal) resulted in the detention of the man who is believed to have supplied powerful boats which were used to ferry drugs between the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Africa.Four Spanish citizens were also arrested in connection with the investigation.Identified as Carlos A.P., the Portuguese businessman has a factory in Cerdal, Valença, and is also believed to be involved with supplying vigilance transportation used during the trafficking and its respective distribution.During the year-long investigation...

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Caught ‘red handed’ with 73 packages of hashish, almost 5 million individual doses, that were to be delivered to Spain.

Judiciary Police arrested three men suspected of drug trafficking in Silves last week, in connection with two tonnes of hashish seized, in the ‘Dom Rodrigo’ operation.According to Judiciary Police, the men, caught ‘red handed’ with 73 packages of hashish, almost 5 million individual doses, that were to be delivered to Spain.Three cars were also seized from the three foreign individuals in their thirties. The men had connections with Seville and were responsible for bringing the hashish into Portugal for distribution throughout Europe. The three detained were still in custody after their first interrogation in Lag...

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Spanish police have arrested D.O.M Team five people suspected of hacking into or outright disabling thousands of Internet pages

Spanish police have arrested five people suspected of hacking into or outright disabling thousands of Internet pages, some of them run by government agencies in the U.S., Latin America and Asia, authorities said Saturday.The National Police said the suspects belonged to one of the most active hacker groups on the Internet and said two of the suspects are 16 years old. The others are 19 or 20.On the Internet, the group calls itself D.O.M Team, police said.One of the group's techniques was to infiltrate Web sites and insert a page of its own, police said.The group attacked some 21,000 Web pages over the last two years, police said in a statement. The five were arrested this week in Barcelona, Burgos, Malaga and Valencia.The statement did not identify which government Web sites the suspects are...

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"Fat" Freddie Thompson has been disguising himself against assassination

"Fat" Freddie Thompson has been disguising himself against assassination.Thompson has been wearing a wig based on Oasis star Liam Gallagher’s distinctive mop, sources said. Separately, gardai said today they seized four Glock handguns when they stopped two cars in Dublin. The automatic pistols, which are becoming increasingly popular among city gangs, were found in a search by officers in Clondalkin. Officers said the find was unconnected with recent feuding in the city. Meanwhile, sources today told how Freddie Thompson, whose associates have been involved in the murderous feud in the capital, has also been wearing the wig around his Spanish...

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Cocaine was found in a van near a Barcelona

According to the police, cocaine was found in a van near a Barcelona. shopping center. It's the third major cocaine bust of the summer in Spain. and the biggest carried out in the country on land in all of 2008. Authorities say the drugs would have fetched up to $120 million if peddled by street dealers, or $68 million if sold wholesale. Spanish authorities said last week they seized 2.5 tons of cocaine in a high-seas raid in international waters of the Atlantic on July 26th and arrested 11 people. Spanish police acting on a tip-off from U.S. authorities have seized 1.4 tons of cocaine and arrested eight South American suspects, officials said Tuesday.The drugs were found in a van near a Barcelona shopping center, in the third major cocaine bust of the summer in Spain and the biggest carried...

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Discovered a major factory producing illegal drugs near Barcelona

Spanish police said they had discovered a major factory producing illegal drugs near Barcelona, and arrested six people from three countries.It said the lab, in the northeastern town of Hospitalet de Llobregat "had a major production capacity since, in one single day" for example, "they had sent 24 000 euros" (about R276 000) in profits to Colombia, police said in a statement,It said the six people arrested were from Colombia, Morocco and Bolivia.Officers seized 4,2 kilogrammes of cocaine, 120 kilogrammes of hashish pollen and a "lot of equipment for producing the drugs," the statement sa...

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Spanish police have freed around 600 Russian sex slaves during a series of raids on brothels across the country

Spanish police have freed around 600 Russian sex slaves during a series of raids on brothels across the countryThe women had been lured to Spain by human traffickers promising lucrative work as fruit pickers, but instead had been forced to work in the sex industry, police sources said.“They were fooled into believing they were coming to work in the greenhouses or to pick strawberries,” Jose Nieto, chief inspector of the specialized immigration and criminal networks unit of the national police, told the Spanish newspaper El Pais.But once in Spain, the girls were put to work in the brothels. “The girls were told that the ring would go after their families in Russia, and also put the false notion in their heads that the Spanish police had been bought off and would laugh if they filed a complaint,”...

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Three Spanish men have been arrested on suspicion of burglary in Guardamar del Segura .

Three Spanish men have been arrested on suspicion of burglary in Guardamar del Segura .The Guardia Civil have been on their trail for some time . Jewellery , audio equipment , money were all taken on July 4.During a search of the premises in which they lived , many stolen items were discovered , including a plasma screen TV.They also discovered some quantities of hash and cocaine as well as equipment for preparing the drugs .The police believe that the thefts and the drug business were inter linked...

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50 year old man died after suffering indigestion when swimming at Cabopino near Marbella

A 50 year old man died after suffering indigestion when swimming at Cabopino near Marbella, and a 75 year old drowned on a beach in Mojácar, Almería. In this last case the efforts of his son who was with him on the beach and of the Protección Civil could do nothing to save his life.A body, thought to be of a four to six year old was found on Saturday floating off the Carchuna beach in Calahonda Granada, but decomposition was such that the child’s sex could not be confirmed.An 11 year old boy drowned after rescuing his younger brother who had fallen into a irrigation pond in Orihuela, Alicante, and a seven year old boy drowned in a swimming pool in a summer camp at San Martín de Valdeiglesias in Madr...

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Allen Heard appeared before magistrates in the U.K.

A British man has been charged with the murder of his wife, 58 year old Patricia Heard, who was reported missing in Olivia, Valencia in July 2006.63 year old Allen Heard appeared before magistrates in Nuneaton today charged with perverting the course of justice and was remanded to appear in Crown Court in Warwick on August 15.British and Spanish police have been working together on the investigation. The couple had moved to Spain at the start of 2006.Allen Heard is accused of murdering his wife Pat, who disappeared two years ago.Heard, who used to live in The Raywoods, Nuneaton and also in Leicester Street, Bedworth, before emigrating with his wife to Spain, is also charged with perverting the course of justice. He appeared before magistrates in Nuneaton for the first time yesterday. The couple...

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Discovered 137 kilograms of very pure cocaine at a luxury house in Sotogrande’s Rivera del Emperador zone

Guardia Civil Organized Crime and Drugs Squad (EDOA) agents from Algeciras discovered the 137 kilograms of very pure cocaine at a luxury house in Sotogrande’s Rivera del Emperador zone. It was part of an ongoing EDOA operation based on a long-held suspicion that recreational boats were being used to smuggle cocaine into Spain via Sotogrande’s port. Investigators believed the drugs were then stored in luxury properties close to the port’s moorings.The theory would seem to have been borne out by the raid, in which the cocaine haul was discovered inside the house in numerous bags. Officers also seized a Gibraltar-registered yacht, the ‘Esprite’, in the belief that it was used to transport the drugs. No arrests were made and the Guardia Civil have stated that the people involved are believed to...

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British woman was detained in Torrox Park on Sunday, accused of stabbing her 61-year-old husband.

A 54-year-old British woman was detained in Torrox Park on Sunday, accused of stabbing her 61-year-old husband. The victim, also British, was taken to hospital in Vélez-Málaga where he was treated for 11 stab wounds. Police were called to the El Pino camp site by a security guard at 21.50 on Sunday night and arrested the woman who, they reported, was carrying a blood-covered kitchen knife and showed signs of intoxication. She was immediately transferred to the Guardia Civil headquarters in Torrox where she was detained. The couple, who live in a bungalow on the camp site, are well known in the neighbouring bar where a local Portuguese resident said that it was, "an unusual day which didn't end with them drunk". They are also said to have had frequent arguments and a loud discussion between...

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Dublin crimeboss Freddie Thompson was tracked to a gym near Puerto Banus in Marbella, an area that has become a haven for drug gangs

Rumours that Dublin crime kingpin Freddie Thompson had been murdered in his Spanish hideout have been found to be false after he was spotted leaving a gym on the Costa del Sol.'Fat' Freddie had been told by gardai that his life is in danger and he fled the country after it is believed several criminal gangs and individuals got together to plan to have him murdered.Several plans have been made in recent weeks to shoot and bomb Thompson and his leading associates, and his grandparent's home in the Coombe has even been targeted by gunmen in one of many attacks and shootings.Thompson is known to be at war with a rival criminal drugs gang in the ongoing Crumlin/ Drimnagh feud, as well as with a suspected INLA member.The Thompson/INLA feud developed out of the Crumlin/ Drimnagh feud which began...

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Costa del Sol drug gang arrested

National Police have broken up a gang of medium-scale drug traffickers whose modus operandi was to rob other drug gangs. Nine arrests, most of them Spaniards, have been made with the group acting mainly in Madrid, although also in Málaga, Torremolinos and Marbella.The specialist and violent crime UDYCO police unit took part in the operation which also saw the search of five premises resulting in the recovery of some firearms and drug related equipment.The group sold the drugs they stole in Málaga, Marbella and in Moroc...

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Spain police have made their biggest heroin seizure when drugs with a street value of more than 54 million euros

Spain police have made their biggest heroin seizure when drugs with a street value of more than 54 million euros ($89.6 million) were found in the Mediterranean port of Sitges.The 316.5kg of heroin were taken from a US-flagged ship and loaded on a van with a Dutch licence plate, police said in a statement. Five men, four of Turkish origin and a Romanian were detained.The drugs were in 633 packages.It is one of the biggest heroin busts in Europe and it is the first time that smugglers have been caught by Spanish police trying to bring the drug into the country by ship, the police statement said."We have managed to discover and dismantle a method of introducing heroin, by sea, which was unknown to date, even at the European level, which is especially dangerous," the statement said.Police said...

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Robert Andrew Spiers wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of two boys in a Manchester pub has been caught in Alfaz del Pî.

BRITISH national wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of two boys in a Manchester pub has been caught in Alfaz del Pî. National Police say they have arrested a man who fits the description of the killer, who is said to be armed and dangerous. Robert Andrew Spiers., 40, fled to Spain in March 2006 after a shoot-out in a pub in the northern city in which two youths aged 19 and 20 were killed outright.The victims had allegedly been hired by their killer to murder the ringleader of a known crime racket. But their target, although injured, survived the attempt on his life, a fact that police suspect could be the motive for the boys’ death.After killing the youths, the murderer is said to have gone to watch a football match, police reveal.Two other men arrested in Alfaz del Pi with links...

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