Trusted News Read By Over 50,000 People Every Week ISSUE 092 - Friday 3rd May 2019 South Alicante & Murcia E E Your Weekend Starts Here! R F
PSOE GRAB 123 SEATS
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Human trafficking and drugs network busted
LA PALOMA REVIVED
ONE OF the most infamous “White Elephant” buildings in the southern Costa Blanca is set to be completed at a cost of over three million euros, Pilar de la Horadada council has approved the expenditure to finish off the controversial Mariana Baches Cultural Centre, given the nickname of “La Paloma(The Dove)”. This week´s news comes some 13 years after the building work stopped due to the finishing costs ballooning from over two million euros to 12 million euros.
by Alex Trelinski
The construction contract was awarded in 2001 but work ground to a halt in March 2006, with the deteriorating interiors and exteriors being attended to periodically for safety purposes. La Paloma, which stands next to the rambla on the northern edge of the Pilar town centre, was once described as the “shame of the town”, as it stood as a nationally-reported tribute to the massive overspending of Spanish councils during the prerecession boom time.
Pilar council says that the centre will house the area´s cultural heritage and will display items that the Gratiniano Baches museum has not got the room to do so, as well as providing the correct air conditioning and ambience for displaying artefacts. A new public library will also feature at La Paloma, along with rooms for educational workshops and lectures; studying; children´s facilities; and internet access. It´s unclear when the project is expected to be finished.
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CANNABIS SPRING CLEAN Andy Mansell’s
STARS IN YOUR EYES PAGES 28-29
A MAJOR OPERATION in Torrevieja, which has seen ten cannabis clubs closed down and 38 arrests, including nine different nationalities and two British ringleaders, has been wound up after nearly a year by the Guardia Civil. Operation Mortalek was launched in June 2018 on the orders of the Alicante Province antidrug prosecutor, who
by Simon Russell
had received reports of major criminal activity in Torrevieja. The Guardia Civil carried out five different phases of raids and actions over a ten month period, as they uncovered illegal marijuana plantations and sales points at
the clubs, which had around six thousand members. Operation Mortalek saw over 45 thousand euros in cash seized, in addition to drugs with a street value of over 250 thousand euros. Some of the drugs were made into chocolate spread, muffins, biscuits,
lollipops, and jam. As previously reported by The Weekender, 21 people were arrested earlier this year as part of the Guardia sweep including an unnamed British couple who distributed hashish and marijuana to sell at four cannabis clubs that they ran in Torrevieja.
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