Six people were arrested in Barcelona, Madrid and Alicante, accused of large-scale fraud on the London Stock Exchange, netting more than 450 euros. Behind the swindle were ex-Mossad agent, Abraham Hochman, and Diego Magin Selva, former adviser to the disgraced Spanish banker, Mario Conde.
Read more...David George Hartley, 41, from Mansfield, Notts, was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for the murder in June, 2002, of Danish holidaymaker Paul Pedersen.
He was also sentenced to a further two years imprisonment for stealing 200 euros - then worth about £135 - from his victim after strangling him.Hartley denied the charges.The written sentence was published at the Barcelona provincial court today following Hartley's conviction by a jury of nine at the end of a five-day trial last month.Hartley met Pedersen at a campsite near Barcelona airport in June, 2002. They became friends and shared the same tent, the court heard.
"Witnesses from the campsite said they were always together," says the written sentence.On the night of June 23, the jury heard during the trial, Hartley attacked the Dane while he slept. He was strangled and 200 euros were stolen from his pocket. Hartley fled, first to Benidorm and then back to Britain.
He was arrested in Nottinghamshire in the autumn and extradited to Spain two years later. The court heard when the trial opened that Hartley had been in custody for nearly six years.
The written judgement says that the jury found it had been proved that Hartley had grabbed his tent mate's neck in a stranglehold fully aware that he was likely to kill him.The jury had also believed the testimonies of two British witnesses who said that Hartley had told them about the killing.Former girlfriend Anne Trout said that Hartley, whom the court heard was a drug user and habitual drinker, had told her he believed he had strangled a man in Spain, but was not sure.
Alan Burns told the court how Hartley confessed to him over a drink in a bar in Benidorm. Weeping, Hartley said he had strangled a man at a campsite after "an indecent suggestion" was made, Mr. Burns said.When the trial opened Hartley denied killing Pedersen and stealing his money. But he refused to testify.His defence lawyer said there was no evidence to prove the allegations and asked the jury to acquit Hartley.
Vallejo Guarin was arrested outside a luxury hotel in central Madrid with the collaboration of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Spanish Civil Guard said in a news release.Spanish police announced Friday the arrest of one of the most sought-after narcotraffickers in the world, Edgar Guillermo Vallejo Guarin, also known as "Beto the Gypsy."Vallejo Guarin has a long history of violence, involvement in money laundering of drug funds and corruption of high-level government officials, the release said.Among the nations seeking him was the United States, which had offered a $5 million reward to anyone who helped bring about his capture.
He was also on the U.S. State Department's Most Wanted list.In June 2001, he was accused in Florida of being a principal source of cocaine smuggled from Colombia into the United States throughout the 1990s."He is responsible for the shipment of a multitude of tons of cocaine via ship to the United States (especially the west coast of Florida and Miami) and Europe," the release said.In addition, he is suspected of being linked to various assassinations, it said.It said that, when he was arrested near the hotel, Vallejo Guarin was carrying false identification documentation that identified him as Jairo Gomez.Vallejo Guarin's permanent residence was in a suburb of Barcelona, but he had been moving among a number of hotels in Europe and Venezuela in an apparent attempt to avoid arrest, the release said.
Police in Spain said Sunday they had smashed a drug trafficking ring with the arrest of 13 mostly Moroccan men in Barcelona and the seizure of narcotics worth 41,000 euros (64,000 dollars), AFP informed.
The 13, three Spanish nationals and ten Moroccans between the ages of 18 and 51, were arrested on Thursday following an investigation that lasted several months, police said in a statement.
"The operation remains open and more detentions have not been ruled out," it said.
Police seized cocaine worth 5,000 euros and hashish worth 36,000 euros, as well as scales and tools to prepare the drugs, and machetes and fake guns during searches of five homes.
Spain, with its extensive southern coastline, is Europe's main entry point for Moroccan hashish and cocaine from South America, mostly from its former colony Colombia, the world's biggest producer of the drug.
Spain has announced the arrest of five hackers said to be responsible for attacks on over 21,000 web pages and more over two years.
Back in March, hackers shut down the site of one of Spain’s political parties following an election. The Spanish police began to investigate, and last week announced they’d arrested the culprits, the BBC has reported.
They’ve been accused not only of the Spanish crime, but also with attacking government sites in Asia, Latin America and the US.
Among the fives, who were arrested in Barcelona, Burgos, Malaga and Valencia, were two 16-year-olds.
A private detective has been arrested on suspicion of helping a gang smuggle £25million worth of cocaine. Retired police officer Antonio Jimenez, 53, was remanded in custody on Thursday by a judge investigating the loss of half a ton of cocaine from a container docked in Barcelona in 2005. Jimenez was a business partner of Maria Fernandez Lado, 57, founder of Metodo 3, the agency charging £50,000 a month to search for Madeleine. Spanish police had the container under surveillance following a tip-off. But Jimenez, then a chief inspector with the Drugs and Organised Crime Unit of the National Police, is suspected of providing vital information to the gang. He retired from the police shortly afterwards. The cocaine was smuggled into Spain in 974 packets on the ship Hispanota, which was transporting frozen prawns from Venezuela. It docked in Barcelona in November 2004 and the drugs were taken on January 24, 2005. Five officers from the Civil Guard have also been arrested and remanded in custody. A serving police officer has been arrested and released on bail.
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