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Issue 573
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NORTH EDITION
‘Hole in the wall’ gang arrests
08 - 14 OCTOBER 2010
Drugs network crushed
British drug traffickers supplying a network of dealers along Spain’s eastern seaboard have been arrested in a joint operation between the Guardia Civil and UK police. • p4
EU charter approved A Marina Alta town hall is believed to be only the second council in Spain to adopt Europe’s Fundamental Charter on Human Rights. • p8
Prenuptial agreements in Spain
by Jack Troughton
English and Spanish Solicitors Marc White and Carlos Baos provide general guidelines and steps to consider on signing prenuptial agreements in Spain • p28
Xeriscaping plants in your garden Clodagh and Dick Handscombe continue with their helpful hints and information on watering your gardens in Spain • p48
Delhi diary – week 2
Sports Announcer and Director Andy Kay reports on his second week in Delhi at the XIX Commonwealth Games... • p62
A poster from the campaign
Come to the Costa Blanca! A GRANT of €400,000 has been allocated to attract British tourists to the Costa Blanca area. Posters, taxis and advertising panels will appear in ten cities across the UK. Read the full story on page 5.
See page 17
SEVEN MEMBERS of a gang of violent British robbers who preyed on bank cash dispensing machines on the Costa Blanca are behind bars. Classified by police as “dangerous”, the hoodlums attacked bank staff as they refilled the ATMs with cash – either striking inside the premises or on the street. Last week two of the men were caught red-handed as they tried to smash their way into the branch of Ruralcaixa in Benissa. Acting on intelligence, police officers were waiting to ambush the robbers but despite foiling the robbery two others escaped the cordon. However, five more members of the gang – four men and a woman – and including the pair who escaped from Benissa, were later arrested at a petrol station
near Torrente as the fugitives tried to make a getaway along the AP7 motorway. In a joint investigation between Spanish police and members of Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and Greater Manchester Police, the gang’s moves were being closely monitored. The gangsters would strike quickly at targets – usually at bank ATMs where the machine was not built into the wall and not in the main concourse of the branch. Detectives also discovered the gang had a base in a Javea villa. This was sealed off and finally raided. Police found the home had been abandoned but recovered a revolver, ammunition, a number of other weapons, fake documents and some €8,000 in cash. Continued on page 3