Credit crunch in the wake of the US subprime mortgage market crisis signals the end of the Property Bonanza

The appraisers' association Sociedad de Tasación said Wednesday that while the cost of a new home rose on average by 5.1 percent last year in Spain's provincial capitals, the increase in the last quarter with respect to the first six months of the year was only 1.1 percent.The biggest increases took place in Valencia, Almería and Barcelona where prices rose by over 8 percent. Prices fell in Segovia and Vitoria by 2.7 and 2.5 percent respectively....

El Ejido Owners homeless after discovering beach-front apartments are rental apartments

Owners homeless after discovering beach-front apartments are rental apartments. Judges in Almería have opened a fraud investigation into the former president of a top Spanish football club.Gerardo Martínez Retamero, who was in charge of Sevilla-based club Real Betis between 1983-89, is alleged to have sold apartments in a beach-front complex in El Ejido as homes...

Alleged web of corruption at Marbella town hall and the Xerez Club Deportivo

Secret deal comes to light that saw Roca buy into club. judge investigating the alleged web of corruption at Marbella town hall has turned his attentions towards a top Andalucía football club.Óscar Perez is looking into the secretive 2002 purchase of second division Xerez Club Deportivo by Juan Antonio Roca – the former chauffeur turned urban planning chief...

Airplane, loaded with 600 kilos of hashish had to make an emergency lin rice fields close to the Isla Menor in Sevilla

Members of the National Police and Guardia Civil from Sevilla have caught some drug runners when their light airplane, loaded with 600 kilos of hashish had to make an emergency landing in rice fields close to the Isla Menor in Sevilla. The two crew were arrested despite the fact that when the authorities arrived on the scene the plane had no one inside. Witnesses...

Safe house for illegal immigrants who came into Spain on false documentation.

Moroccan woman who was being held against her will in a house in Estepona was rescued by police on Wednesday, after she managed to contact a friend in Ciudad Real through an Internet web site. She said she was being held by a man and a woman, and had been there for some days.Police in Ciudad Real passed the information onto Estepona, and the 23 year old was...

Spanish tax office confirming that it is joining a growing list of countries investigating citizens with bank accounts, in Liechtenstein

A rapidly expanding international probe into tax evasion centred on Liechtenstein spread to Spain on Tuesday, with the Spanish tax office confirming that it is joining a growing list of countries investigating citizens with bank accounts, companies and foundations in the Alpine principality.The potentially massive case of tax fraud emerged earlier this month when Germany admitted to paying EUR 4.2 million for information on German nationals...

Mari Luz Cortés girl found in Naples could be that of the missing five year old youngster from Huelva

Interpol is reported to be investigating whether a girl found in Naples could be that of the missing five year old youngster from Huelva, Mari Luz Cortés.The Government delegate in Andalucía, Juan José López Garzón, has today said that there was no confirmation of the identity as yet. It seems the investigation started when a Spanish businessman of Italian origin,...

Britons are being scared off buying property

The most spectacular violator of planning laws has been the council in the Costa del Sol town of Marbella. Planning chiefs allegedly took bribes to grant licences to 30,000 houses. In 2006, police arrested 28 people, including the mayor, Marisol Yagüe, and the former head of planning, Juan Antonio RocaNicolás - the alleged mastermind of the fraud. Police investigating...

200 burglaries in the province of Malaga North Africa gang caught

Civil Guard, acting on the results of investigations carried out from Alicante, arrested a score of people accused of being behind 200 burglaries in the province of Malaga. The highly organised gang, mostly from North Africa but including some Spaniards, operated by waiting for the occupants to leave a house before entering and stealing their valuables. Receivers of stolen goods also formed part of the operati...

Trafford Centre España,Trafford Centre for Torremolinos

Peel Holdings, the property and investment giant, is set to take its Trafford Centre shopping mall international with a £500m scheme on the Costa del Sol. After years of planning and negotiations with the Spanish authorities, Trafford Centre España has been given the green light. The development, being led by Lindsey Ashworth, one of Peel founder John Whittaker's key lieutenants, will take place on a 80-acre site in Torremolinos. With planning...

Spanish society’s feelings of insecurity overall have taken off.

The Spanish press statement about crime in Spain.For one thing, the downtown areas of the big cities are breaking down at a remarkable rate. In the name of multiculturalism and coexistence, entire neighborhoods are becoming black holes of crime, prostitution, drug trafficking, and consumption, as well as mafia-style contracts. It is no longer about petty theft...

Jesús Gil roller sells for a knocked down price.

The roller was sold for a little over 39,000 € and now becomes the property of the Grupo Franco y Proyectos, which is based in Salzadella. The two other bids presented came from private individuals but were both around 3,000 € below the winning bid. The reserve price was set at 34,650 €.The car has been put up for auction before, twice by the Management Committee...

McCanns spokesman regrets the reaction of Juan Cortés

McCanns spokesman regrets the reaction of Juan Cortés and says that the couple only wanted to help"Is shameful that Mari Luz's father presents complaints"It is "surprising and shameful that Mari Luz's father presents complaints about us in a press release". This was the reaction of Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns when he was informed by the 24 Horas that the father of Juan Cortés does not authorise the distribution of the 18...

A substantial reward is on offer to anyone who can provide reliable information on Amy's whereabouts.

Stepfather David Mahon revealed yesterday he was prepared to pay a "substantial" amount of money to anyone who could help unravel her mystery disappearance.parents of missing expat Amy Fitzpatrick have offered a cash reward for information on her whereabouts.Franco Rey, spokesman for Mr Mahon and Amy's mum Audrey, said: "A substantial reward is on offer to anyone...

No Nos Olvideis ,Don't forget us Cortés family say they are against a poster campaign launched in Spain by the McCann family

The Cortés family say they are against a poster campaign launched in Spain by the McCann family which shows images of four year old Madeleine alongside their daughter, Mari Luz, who disappeared in Huelva on 13th January, and others pictured with Yeremi Vargas, who was seven when he disappeared from Gran Canaria last year. Mari Luz’s father, Juan José Cortés,...

Just returned to Limerick from Paddy Doyle incident on the Costa del Sol. Spain

Siezed bullet-proof BMW worth €100,000 belonging to a leading member of one of the country's most dangerous criminal gangs after a high-speed car chase.The driver of the car, who is a close relation to the vehicle's owner, was arrested following the pursuit after he failed to stop the high-performance vehicle at a garda checkpoint in Limerick city.Officers also...

New biometric tests for the Costa del Sol border surveillance purposes and focusing first on the Mediterranean Sea

Visitors to Europe will face biometric screening and automated security checks under proposals for a shake-up of EU border controls.Under plans to strengthen checks at European borders laid out by the European Commission, international travelers would also have their stay logged and monitored by an electronic system, which could become operational by 2015.The system would alert authorities if the person was recorded as overstaying the length...

Voluntary tax made the payments in the municipal offices

The Partido Popular have demanded that the Junta de Andalucía remove responsibility for town planning away from the Socialist controlled local council in the village of La Viñuela in Málaga province.It follows reports that hundreds of owners of illegally built properties in the municipality have been asked to pay a ‘voluntary tax’ of upto 12,000 € to make their properties legal and that their licences to build have been revoked and their...

Helicopter is being used to fly over Málaga province to search for illegally built properties

Environment Prosecutor for the Costa del Sol has announced that a helicopter is being used to fly over Málaga province to search for illegally built properties. Members of the SEPRONA environment department of the Guardia Civil will man the flights and take photographic and video evidence. The first flight took place on Wednesday, and Diario Sur today shows the craft over the La Viñuela area. SEPRONA is particularly concerned about illegal...

Real estate deals in the most dynamic zones

The Spanish Tax Authority, Hacienda, and the Spanish Social Security System are joining forces in a fight against Tax fraud. New computer links will interchange information to detect any possible frauds, and particular attention is to be made on real estate deals, even more so in areas of the country described as ‘the most dynamic zones’.News of the crackdown was given by the General Director of Agencia Tributaria, Luis Pedroche. The Secretary...

Mari Luz Cortes witnesses saw a girl who answers her description being put into a van

A large demonstration took place in Seville on Monday to call for the safe return of Mari Luz, the five year old gypsy girl who has been missing from her home in Huelva for more than four weeks. It was headed by her parents, Juan José Cortés and Irene Suárez, and they have now contracted the services of a private detective agency to help them find their daughter.Mari Luz was last seen when she left her home in the El Torrejón district of...

Marbella residents bus pass

Marbella residents will soon have unlimited use of the town’s nine bus routes for only 36 euros a month once the new transport company’s pass comes into force. This means that getting around the town on several buses will cost only 1.1 6 euros a day, as opposed to the 1.15 euros it currently costs for just one bus journ...

Costa del Couscous

Costa del Cous Cous Three friends, all of whom have moved to Essaouira in the past year, are among tens of thousands of European citizens now moving to what is becoming the hottest retirement destination in the world: the "Costa del Couscous".Moroccan port town of Essaouira, 160km west of Marrakesh."Once everyone spoke about the Cote d'Azur, then the Costa del...

Terrorist threat in Southern Spain (update)

Spain’s Pakistani community has grown from a few thousand residents a decade ago to about 70,000 today, as immigrants have been drawn to Spain by easy entry and to Barcelona’s Raval district by cheap rents. They have injected new life into the decrepit neighborhood, opening small businesses, but law enforcement officials say some have engaged in petty crimes...

Mari Luz Cortesa :Police have detained a man who attempted to take a seven year old close to Mari Luz family home.

Spanish press are announcing that a man has been detained in El Torrejón close to the disappearance of Mari Luz on suspicion of attempting to take a young girl from the street. The seven year old was leaving her grandmother house when the attempt was made an aunt rushed to help the child. The police were called and a man was detained.large crowds have gathered...

International drug smuggling network operating in Palma, Madrid and Barcelona.

Guardia Civil’s heavily armed organised crime unit yesterday mounted a major anti-drugs operation in Palma.A series of raids were mounted simultaneously with a number of drugs swoops carried out across Spain as part of a nationwide operation.armed officers wearing ski masks and with air support from a Guardia Civil helicopter stormed at least two properties...

Crumlin in the sun

Dublin criminals are now so frequently spotted in the Alicante city of Torrevieja where it is understood that much of the illegally sourced property investment in Spain has been directed that ordinary Dublin holidaymakers have dubbed it ‘Crumlin in the sun’.Dublin criminals moved substantial amounts of their wealth overseas, with hundreds of millions of euro of ill-gotten gains invested in the burgeoning property market in Alicante.Spain...

Amy Fitzpatrick mother spent the eve of her daughter's 16th birthday yesterday being interviewed by police over an alleged assault.

Local newspapers reported yesterday that Mrs Fitzpatrick refused to turn the music down -- and allegedly struck out following a row, after telling the neighbour the song she was listening to was one of daughter Amy's favourites.Guardia Civil called Audrey Fitzpatrick (36) in for questioning after a neighbour claimed she had been attacked for complaining about...

Mari Luz Cortes

Juan José Cortés spoke of his anger at the lack of progress which has been made, and confirmed that the family will be contracting the services of a private detective agency to help in the investigation. He said two have contacted him, and a third, outside Spain, is ‘interested in the case.’ The family has opened a bank account in the BBVA bank for any donations.He...

Amy Fitzpatrick had apparently been frequently allowed to drive a family friend's Ford Fiesta

police in Spain are searching for a family friend's Ford Fiesta, which disappeared at the same time as the teenager.Amy had apparently been frequently allowed to drive the car.The family and friends of Amy Fitzpatrick are distributing photographs in Morocco today as part of their ongoing search for the missing Irish teenager.The 15-year-old Dubliner hasn't been seen since disappearing in the Costa del Sol on New Year's DayHer family say...

The first of many six times over the alcohol limit

British man is to appear in court in Alicante province after he was found to be driving at six times over the alcohol limit, EFE reported on Tuesday.Quoting information from the Civil Guard, the news agency names him as C.R.N.K., aged 41, and says he was stopped on the N-332 road in Torrevieja last Saturday evening. Officers pulled him over for driving with the incorrect lights and tested him for alcohol after they realised that he had...

Patrick Doyle linked in the Spanish media to 100 kilos of coke.

Murdered gangland figure Paddy Doyle was shot dead in Spain after falling foul of an international drugs gang.Investigators are satisfied the shooting on the Costa del Sol was linked to his drugs activities there rather than his role in a deadly feud at home.Police hunting Doyle's killers yesterday arrested seven men after seizing an €8m cocaine shipment in...

Suspected Irish drug dealer was shot in Estepona

Patrick Doyle from Portland Row in Dublin has died in a shooting incident in Estepona today. It happened at 2pm in Calle Mejorana in the Bel Air urbanisation in Cancelada, and National Police are still at the scene. The order to remove the body was granted at 3,20pm, and police found a four wheel drive vehicle at the scene with five gunshots, four in the windscreen...

Mari Luz Cortés possibly linked to Yeremi Vargas disappeared in the Canaries

The mother of Yeremi Vargas, the seven year old boy who went missing from Gran Canaria when he was playing in the street outside his grandmother’s house in Vecindario last March, says police investigating her son’s disappearance have been in contact with Spanish police investigating the disappearance of Mari Luz.They are working on the theory that people involved...

The Fitzpatrick family were upset to hear press reports that the Spanish Police had begun to dig on a piece of land

The Fitzpatrick family are upset to hear press reports that the Spanish authorities had begun a series of digs in a stretch of land where the teenager was last seen in the Costa del Sol. "Stories that they are digging in a field are poppycock, absolute rubbish," . The investigation by the Guardia Civil is continuing and that Ms Fitzpatrick has received no new...

Polaris World partner faces corruption charges

The Sunday edition of El País newspaper has revealed some of the content of the part of the case summary now lifted from secrecy in investigations in Murcia into the Town Halls of Torre Pacheco and Fuente Álamo. It concerns telephone conversations recorded by court order, where the constructor, Facundo Armero, is heard saying to the Mayor of Torre Pacheco, Daniel García, ‘I want the Torre Pacheco zoning plans approved now.’Armero is one...

Stabbing Marbella

A woman who was attacked by her husband in Marbella in the early hours of Sunday, and is said to have suffered around 11 stab wounds, has now been released from Intensive Care at the Costa del Sol Hospital and her life is no longer. Her husband is in the same hospital under police custody after turning the knife on himself, and is understood to be in a serious condition, with a wound to his lung.It happened shortly before 5am on Calle Alcornoque,...

Jose Dominguez Prieto,, the father of Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, died

Jose Dominguez Prieto, the father of Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, died in the southern resort city of Marbella after a long illness, the actor's representatives told Efe on Sunday. He was 87. Dominguez, who was a police precinct chief, died Saturday at his son's residence in the resort city, where he spent his last days. He will be cremated Sunday at Marbella's Virgen del Carmen cemetery, the actor's representatives sa...

Police raids five brothels and nine homes in the province of Almeria

Authorities raided five brothels and nine homes in the province of Almeria, arresting 13 people suspected of leading the ring.Police in southern Spain arrested 60 people Thursday in a crackdown on a human trafficking ring that forced an estimated 2,000 Russian women into prostitution, an official said.Authorities raided five brothels and nine homes in the province of Almeria, arresting 13 people suspected of leading the ring, said Juan...

Two Nigerian women have been arrested in Spain accused of stealing a child

Spain has cracked a number of groups smuggling Nigerian women. Two Nigerian women have been arrested in Spain accused of stealing a child and forcing his mother into prostitution to pay their ransom. The mother, also Nigerian, claims her son was snatched from her shortly after he was born four years ago. She said the women demanded 45,000 euros (£31,000) for his return and threatened her with "voodoo". The boy was kept hidden from neighbours...

Property Crash "There is not good news for UK investors in Spain,"

Spain is one of the main destinations for Britons looking to move abroad or buy a holiday home as an investment. Sales of tourist property in Málaga Province have fallen to an historic low. Analysts warned that a crash could spread to the wider Spanish economy The total turnover on the sale of residential tourism property in the province fell by 50% over 2007...

10-kilo stash stolen from a storeroom at the New Mole House police station turns up in Taraguilla

The Guardia Civil recently raided a house in Taraguilla and arrested two Spaniards and seized the drugs, 15,540 euros and several firearms.Gibraltar Police are trying to establish whether there is a link between the find and the drugs that went missing from the exhibits room at police headquarters.Gibraltar detectives are checking whether 350 grams of pure cocaine...

Darli Velazquez-Armas traced him to Spain

Last Friday, police chased him from Vecindario to the capital city Las Palmas. At one point the suspect got out of his car and fled on foot through a cemetery. He later attempted two carjackings before police finally arrested him in an industrial area, and even then he tried to grab an officer's gun, the ministry said.The National Court in Madrid is now processing...