Criminal Hutch was intended target in Marbella shooting

 criminal Gary Hutch was the intended target of an assassination attempt in Spain which left an innocent boxer with serious injuries. Boxing coach and respected Sky Sports pundit Jamie Moore was attacked in the Spanish resort of Marbella outside a villa owned by Daniel Kinahan, son of crime boss Christy Kinahan on Saturday night. But gardai have received intelligence that the nephew of former criminal mastermind Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch was attending a party in Kinahan's house and he was the intended target of the shooting. Moore was shot at five times and hit twice - in the leg and the foot. Hutch previously survived after his best pal Barry Doyle was shot dead allegedly by the Russian mafia in February 2008, as part of a feud among traffickers.

Former Manchester boxer Moore had been training Matthew Macklin (32) all summer at Macklin's MGM gym in the Puerto Banus area ahead of a fight at Dublin's National Stadium on August 30. But yesterday it was announced that the fight has now been called off. Macklin, who has no involvement in crime, is the boxer who the feared Christy Kinahan's international crime syndicate supports. Senior members of the mob are regularly seen ringside at his fights. Yesterday in a statement, Macklin said: "I am disappointed to have to postpone my fight but in the light of the circumstances and the disruption to my preparation it is the right thing to do. "Every fight at this stage in my career is of huge importance and being 100pc on the night is vital." Macklin has been photographed with Gary Hutch in the past and sources say that gardai want to question Hutch about a number of serious crimes. Hutch was sitting beside hitman pal Barry Doyle when he was shot dead in 2008.

Doyle was gunned down as he tried to escape in a BMW X5 SUV which had come under fire on the outskirts of Estepona, about 10 miles from Marbella. Sources say that foreign gangs based in Spain have decided that Gary Hutch is a target because of his involvement in the Kianahan mob but detectives in the secretive Crime and Security section at garda headquarters have not yet fully established if this is the case. Hutch is well-known to gardai, having served time for being a getaway driver in a jewellery heist and is a close pal of notorious criminal 'Fat' Freddie Thompson. Before he left for Spain, Hutch was involved in a number of feuds in Dublin's north inner city and has been a target for gardai for years. Meanwhile well respected former boxing champ Jamie Moore used his Twitter account to reveal he was recovering from the gun attack.

Spain: INTERPOL Targets Trafficking Of Stolen Vehicles

In an INTERPOL-supported operation in Spain targeting the trafficking of stolen vehicles, nearly 20 vehicles were recovered and some 15 individuals arrested. Led by the Spanish National Police, Operation Paso del Estrecho (which means ‘crossing the straits’), was conducted from 28 July to 1 August at the port of Algeciras in southern Spain, a known route used by organised criminal networks to smuggle cars stolen from throughout Europe into North Africa.

With the assistance of INTERPOL’s Stolen Motor Vehicles (SMV) unit, police monitored car ferries leaving the port en route to Morocco, with some 5,000 vehicles screened against INTERPOL’s SMV database. INTERPOL coordinated the deployment of 28 experts from seven countries to support the operation. The experts are members of the INTERPOL Stolen Motor Vehicles (SMV) Task Force, comprising police and private investigators who support member countries with operations targeting the theft and trafficking of motor vehicles. The INTERPOL SMV database contains more than 7 million records submitted by 128 member countries. In 2013, countries searched the database more than 125 million times, resulting in 117,000 positive hits. “Operation Paso del Estrecho was very important because it allowed us not only to detect and recover stolen vehicles from Spain and other European countries, but also to obtain crucial information that will allow us to continue our investigations into the organized crime groups dedicated to illegal vehicle trafficking,” said Ángel Arroyo Morales, Head of the vehicle crime investigation unit of the Spanish National Police Central Squad of Organized Crime. “There is no doubt that with strong cooperation between INTERPOL and police across Europe and beyond, we will continue to recover even more stolen vehicles before they can be used for criminal purposes,” he concluded. In addition, 15 people were arrested during the operation, including one Ukrainian and two Spanish nationals arrested in connection with a major investigation of the Central Squad of Organized Crime of the Spanish National Police.

They are suspected of being the masterminds behind a vast trafficking ring transporting stolen luxury cars between Spain and Ukraine, via Poland and Moldova. The stolen vehicles seized came from various European countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden, demonstrating the transnational character of this crime. “The trafficking of stolen vehicles is a crime that knows no borders. The only way to effectively combat the organized criminal networks behind this crime is therefore through coordinated joint actions, as evidenced by this successful operation,” said INTERPOL’s Director of Specialized Crime and Analysis, Glyn Lewis. Operation Paso del Estrecho is an annual initiative conducted by Spanish police in Algeciras – a major gateway between Europe and Africa which sees approximately 4.8 million people and 1.3 million vehicles pass through each year – to prevent stolen vehicles from leaving the country and to identify and disrupt the criminal groups responsible for the illicit trafficking. Highlighting the links between organized crime and the trafficking of stolen motor vehicles – which are often used in the commission of other serious crimes – is a key part of INTERPOL’s global Turn Back Crime campaign. The campaign aims to raise awareness of these hidden links, and of the very real effect these crimes can have on people’s daily lives.

Major crime gang link as Matthew Macklin’s coach survives assassination attempt

Former European boxing champion Jamie Moore is under armed police guard in a Spanish hospital after he was shot in the legs in Marbella at the weekend. 

Moore is currently based in Spain with his wife and two children where he is training Irish boxer Matthew Macklin at the MGM gym in Puerto Banus ahead of his upcoming fight in the National Stadium on August 30. Moore was shot in both legs and the foot when the gunman targeted him after he left a party on Saturday night but his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. “Just to let everyone know Jamie Moore is still in hospital but he should be ok,” Macklin tweeted last night. “He was shot in his legs but the doctors have said there shouldn’t be any serious or permanent damage done.”

The coach and well-respected Sky Sports pundit who has no involvement in crime agreed to become Macklin’s coach last year, but gardai sources have indicated that “special surveillance plans” are in place for the upcoming fight. The villa where Moore was shot is owned by boxing manager Daniel Kinahan, a key member of the Christy Kinahan crime syndicate which operates a sizeable crime operation on Spain’s infamous Costa del Crime. Nicknamed the ‘Tipperary Tornado’, Birmingham-born Macklin has no involvement in crime but has been photographed in the company of major gangsters Gary Hutch and Daniekl Kinahan at major events.

Former British and European champion boxer Jamie Moore has been shot in Marbella

Former British and European champion boxer Jamie Moore has been shot in Marbella - apparently in both legs.

Moore, the former European light-middleweight champion, was in Spain working at a gym owned by boxer, Matthew Macklin, who he is training.

It is understood the 35-year-old Moore, from Walkden, Greater Manchester, has now left hospital after treatment.

Moore, highly regarded in the sport, was on the verge of a WBC title shot, in 2009, but decided to quit the sport in 2010 on medical grounds.

Moore is a former two-time British light-middleweight champion and Commonwealth champion.

A source told the Manchester Evening News: "It would appear he was out and about, not at the gym, when he was shot."

A spokesman for the Foreign Office confirmed that a British national had been shot over the weekend.

Moore was helping prepare Mackin for a fight in Dublin later this month against Argentinian, Jorge Sebastian-Heiland for the WBC international midldeweight title.

As well as a working as a trainer Moore has worked as a TV commentator.

He is a friend of former boxer, Ricky 'The Hitman' Hatton, who told the Manchester Evening News 'battler' Moore would bounce back from the attack.

He said: "I'm devastated by this news. Jamie is a great pal of mine and my thoughts are, of course, today with him and his family.

"He's a great battler and if anyone's going to pull through in hospital it'll be him."

Moore has spoken at several charity events and fundraising dinners for boxers' whose carrers have been cut short by injury.

Moore won a legendary fight with Macklin in 2006 at the George Carnell Leisure Centre in Davyhulme in what was dubbed the 'fight of the year'.

He won 32 of 37 bouts with 23 being knockouts.

Moore boxed an an amateur before turning professional in 1999.

One of Moore's most memorable moments came last year in a three-round knockout victory over Michele Piccirillo for the European belt.

He will also be remembered for his domestic fights with Matthew Macklin, Michael Jones and Ryan Rhodes.

Local Spanish police are investigating the shooting and are likely to alert Britain's National Crime Agency.

So far there have been no arrests.

High Alert in Casablanca Airport After Death of Woman Returning from Mecca

Morocco’s Mohammed V international airport is under high medical alert since a 76-year old woman died immediately upon her return from Mecca. Within the first hours after her death, Moroccan authorities feared the death was caused by the Ebola virus. But a statement from the Ministry of Health said the woman suffered from an acute “pulmonary edema.” It is unclear, however, whether this statement will dispel people’s fears regarding the safety of the 30,000 Moroccans who will go to perform pilgrimage next September. Last June, following the emergence of Ebola or Mers (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) virus in Saudi Arabia, Morocco recommended its pilgrims to cancel their planned trips to Mecca this year. The Moroccan Ministry of health advised Moroccans who decide to go ahead with their pilgrimage to put on masks, which are offered for free by Moroccan authorities.

Ebola terror at Gatwick as passenger collapses and dies getting off Sierra Leone flight

Airport staff tonight told of their fears of an Ebola outbreak after a passenger from Sierra Leone collapsed and died as she got off a plane at Gatwick. Workers said they were terrified the virus could spread globally through the busy international hub from the West African country which is in the grip of the deadly epidemic. The woman, said to be 72, became ill on the gangway after she left a Gambia Bird jet with 128 passengers on board. She died in hospital on Saturday. Ebola has killed 256 people in Sierra Leone. A total of 826 have died in West Africa since the outbreak began in February. Tests were carried out to see if the woman had the disease. The plane was quarantined as ­officials desperately tried to trace everyone who had been in contact with the woman. Airport workers faced an anxious wait to see if the woman had Ebola. One said: “Everyone’s just ­petrified. “We’ve all seen how many people have died from Ebola, especially in Sierra Leone, and it’s terrifying.”

Fugitive conman, drug dealer and money launderer Martin Evans has been arrested by armed police in South Africa after three years on the run.

Fugitive conman, drug dealer and money launderer Martin Evans has been arrested by armed police in South Africa after three years on the run.

Evans, 52, from Swansea - who was jailed for 21 years in 2006 for conspiracy to supply cocaine and fraudulent trading - was arrested in Johannesburg on Saturday.

His scams included swindling 87 investors out of £900,000 in an ostrich farm fraud in south Wales.

He will appear in court on Monday.

Evans was named by police as one of the UK's "most wanted" in 2012 who said they suspected he was living a life of luxury, probably on Cyprus.

A spokesman for the National Crime Agency (NCA) said Evans was sought as part of Operation Zygos, which was set up to track Britain's 12 most wanted people.

He said: "We knew he had moved to South Africa. We were tracking him down."

Evans disappeared in August 2011 after failing to return from a weekend release from prison in Wiltshire.

He was arrested on Saturday night after an operation involving the NCA and Interpol, and intelligence-led surveillance operations were handled by South African Police.

Hank Cole, the NCA's head of international operations, said: "The exceptional level of collaboration and intelligence sharing with the South African Police Service led to the capture of Evans.

"This arrest shows the NCA and its partners will pursue fugitives wherever they are in the world.

"They can run but they can't hide. We have the capacity to track them down and bring them to justice."

Evans had been known to use the aliases Martin Roydon Evans, Martin Wayne Evans, Anthony Hall and Paul Kelly.

It is not the first time Evans has been on the run.

Before he was jailed in 2006, he had been hiding in Holland and Spain, where he masterminded a drugs and money laundering operation, shipping at least £3m of ecstasy and cocaine into Britain.

Evans began his criminal career in the mid 1990s after his double-glazing firm in Port Talbot failed.

Evans set up his ostrich farm after another business failed

He set up an ostrich-breeding business, promising profits of 70% a year, and targeting newly-retired people for investment by advertising in specialist retirement magazines.

On the day his trial was due to start in Swansea in March 2000, Evans jumped bail and sent a fax to the court saying he would not be attending.

Criminal earnings

He went on the run as the authorities searched for his assets in Jersey and the Bahamas.

 

Detectives are poring over social media for details that might help them arrest new generation of mobsters who have turned their back on traditional code of discretion

Just when police thought they had finally loosened the Mafia's historical stranglehold over Sicily, a new generation of brash mobsters is reclaiming the streets of Palermo - and bragging about it on Facebook. After years when Cosa Nostra luminaries communicated only by hand written notes in code, their youthful successors are making increasingly unabashed online boasts about their wealth, power and contempt for the magistrates hunting them down. One Palermo mobster, Domenico Palazzotto, 28, who created a Facebook page under a false name, posted photos of himself cruising on motorboats, sitting down to sumptuous lobster and champagne dinners and riding in a limousine. The rising boss, who called the shots in the Arenella neighbourhood of Palermo, where he allegedly helped run extortion rackets, listed his liking for Neapolitan music and the US singer Kenny Loggins and name-checked an Italian TV series about the Mafia. Amid crude insults apparently aimed at the police, Mr Palazzotto also swapped messages with an aspiring mobster who asked to be enrolled in his clan

Domenico Palazzotto, a Palermo mobster, has created a Facebook page under a false name, posted photos of himself cruising on motorboats Photo: Facebook

 

Just when police thought they had finally loosened the Mafia's historical stranglehold over Sicily, a new generation of brash mobsters is reclaiming the streets of Palermo - and bragging about it on Facebook.

After years when Cosa Nostra luminaries communicated only by hand written notes in code, their youthful successors are making increasingly unabashed online boasts about their wealth, power and contempt for the magistrates hunting them down.

One Palermo mobster, Domenico Palazzotto, 28, who created a Facebook page under a false name, posted photos of himself cruising on motorboats, sitting down to sumptuous lobster and champagne dinners and riding in a limousine.

The rising boss, who called the shots in the Arenella neighbourhood of Palermo, where he allegedly helped run extortion rackets, listed his liking for Neapolitan music and the US singer Kenny Loggins and name-checked an Italian TV series about the Mafia.

Amid crude insults apparently aimed at the police, Mr Palazzotto also swapped messages with an aspiring mobster who asked to be enrolled in his clan.

"Do I need to send a CV?" asked the applicant.

"Yes, brother," replied Mr Palazzotto jokingly. "We need to consider your criminal record. We do not take on people with clean records."

A photo uploaded onto the Facebook page (Facebook)

The boss then adds, "Join my team.. We are the strongest, ha ha ha."

In a brief video also posted online, one of Palazzotto's loyal mobsters yells "I am the Godfather," to which Palazzotto adds the comment, "Well, I am the original."

However, while the online postings, which were revealed by Italianmagazine L'Espresso, are thought to be partly intended to spread fear among the Mafia's host communities, such flagrant disregard for mafia's traditional penchant for discretion could also be the mobsters' undoing.

An investigative source in Palermo told The Telegraph that officers were spending time checking through Facebook to seek out the bosses lurking behind false names.

Salvatore D'Alessandro, a rising mob henchman loyal to Mr Palazzotto, also posted on Facebook under a pseudonym, uploading photos of dinners and boat rides with his boss and described his ambition to move up the organisation's ranks.

Domenico Palazzoto on a motor boat, which he uploaded to his Facebook account which was under a false name (Facebook)

"For the time being I am one of the small sharks hunting in the deep," he wrote. "But the moment will come when I rise to the surface and will have no pity for anyone."

The investigative source, who declined to be named, said the mob was "pushing to make a comeback in Palermo", following years when the ranks of Mafiosi were decimated by arrests. But the new generation, the source added, could not be more different to its predecessors.

"Going online would have been unthinkable for the old guard," the source said. "They lived in farm houses and existed on bread, cheese and vegetables grown there, without using phones and relying on 'pizzini' (handwritten notes) to get their orders out.

"The new generation are using Facebook, texts and WhatsApp to show that they are going to the best discos, beaches and restaurants, because they believe that is key to earning respect. The problem is that makes you traceable and they are getting arrested."

"There is a new generation of Mafiosi in Palermo," said a Sicily-based magistrate who also declined to be named, "but they have yet to prove they have the quality of their predecessors."

Mr Palazzotto was among 95 mobsters rounded up in June in Palermo in an operation dubbed 'Operation Apocalypse' aimed at decapitating the city's new Mafia leadership. Police said they had put a temporary stop to vote rigging, extortion and drug trafficking operations as well as the laundering of ill gotten cash through betting shops. More importantly, officers said they had halted a bid to pull together scrapping clans across the city into a more compact criminal empire, harking back to the leadership of Toto Riina, the "boss of bosses" jailed in 1993.

Investigators alleged a key figure in the rebirth was Mr Palazzotto's cousin Gregorio Palazzotto, 37, who was issuing orders despite being in jail.

The Facebook page which Domenico Palazzoto made under a fake name (Facebook)

A keen user of Facebook, Gregorio used the site to insult Mafia turncoats who gave evidence to get out of jail, writing "I have no fear of handcuffs, but I am afraid of those who start singing to get out of them." In other messages he demanded an amnesty for prisoners to end prison overcrowding.

He also posted loving messages to his wife, pasted onto a background of an image of jail cells, writing in one: "If my heart was a jail, you would be condemned to a life sentence."

His wife wrote back: "My love, I am here to support you," and "When this nightmare is over, you will start to live again."

In another message, in which she superimposed the image of a wedding behind bars, Pallazzotto's wife wrote, "These bars will not divide us and will make our love stronger."

As police get wind of Facebook bragging by Mafiosi, a more time honoured means for the mobsters to show off their power, involving Cosa Nostra's venerable links to the Catholic Church, resurfaced in Palermo last week.

During one of the religious processions that frequently wind their way through the city, volunteers carrying a statue of a Madonna briefly set it down outside a funeral parlour owned by the family of Alessandro D'Ambrogioin, a jailed Mafia boss, what was viewed as a sign of respect.

During the pause outside the shopfront, where D'Ambrogio held mob summits, local children were lifted up to kiss the statue.

The incident recalled a similar, suspicious pause in a procession in Calabria last month near the home of jailed Calabrian boss Peppe Mazzagatti, which prompted outrage in the wake of Pope Francis' call for mobsters to be excommunicated.

100 people plus who evacuated their homes as a fire swept across Mijas Costa

100 people plus who evacuated their homes as a fire swept across Mijas Costa on the Costa del Sol started to return in the early hours as the blaze was finally brought under control.

The bush fire that started in the El Chaparral district of Mijas Costa was fought by 12 aircraft and firefighters from towns all along the Costa del Sol. The blaze, first spotted around 7.30pm yesterday (Friday) rapidly spread, fanned by strong winds. Mijas council opened the La Cala sports centre as an emergency shelter for those fleeing the flames. By 8pm the fire around the original hotspot at El Chaparral was under control, but it was spreading quickly from a new hotspot towards the Cerrado de Aguila golf course and urbanisation. It had spread past the lush fairways of El Chaparral golf which may have helped protect the homes on the nearby urbanisation. A firebreak was bulldozed near a secondary school – the flames had come to within 100m of it and were perilously close to a Eucalyptus wood just over the road from the CEIP El Chaparral. INFOCA (forest fire control service) said there were three hotspots, the main one being at El Chaparral, another at nearby La Roza and the third near the hipodromo horse racing track.

The integrated fire plan was put into action to fight the fire, with police and civil protection volunteers blocking off roads while Mijas council water tankers accompanied fireengines from Mijas, Benalmadena, Torremolinos, Fuengirola Manilva and Marbella as they followed narrow urbanisation roads to tackle hotspots and protect property. Firefighters worked through the night to put the fire out. Twenty five INFOCA firefighters were remaining on the scene today to dampen down and control any fresh outbreaks.

France drugs: Policeman seized in massive cocaine hunt

French drugs squad officer has been arrested in the southern city of Perpignan on suspicion of stealing more than 50kg (110lb) of cocaine from Paris police headquarters. The unnamed officer, 34, was picked up while on holiday in the city on the Spanish border, officials say. The theft of the drugs, which have a street value of some 3m euros (£2.4m; $4m), was a major embarrassment.

Spanish police crackdown on organised crime

The Guardia Civil and National Police dismantled 497 criminal organisations in 2013 and detained 6,292 people for drug and human trafficking, said Security Secretary Francisco Martinez last Thursday talking to the media. Police operations to crackdown on organised crime in Spain had a 97 per cent success rate, he added. As much as 83 per cent of all groups dismantled had been operating for less than three years, while seven out of every 10 criminal organisations were made up of nationals from more than two different countries. Most criminal organisations were based in Barcelona and Madrid, followed by Cadiz, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, Sevilla and Murcia. The large majority of them traffic in cocaine (31 per cent) and 21 per cent traffics in hashish, said Martinez. Following the nationwide operations launched last year to crackdown on organised crime, Spanish police seized almost 20 tons of cocaine, 146,708 kilograms of hashish, 103 kilograms of heroin, more than 10,000 ecstasy pills, 2,102 cars, 119 boats, six aircraft, 558 guns, 630 knives, 909 computers, 4,498 mobile phones and €30 million. Data show arrests for human trafficking also increased last year, with as many as 753 people detained or 33 per cent more than in 2012, said Martinez. A total of 1,180 victims - most of them Romanian, Chinese and Spanish nationals - were freed from the clutches of these criminal organisations, he added.

In flight terror as maniac CRACKS plane window at 35,000 feet

holiday jet passenger has been charged with endangering a flight after allegedly cracking a window with a single punch. The pilot of Thomson Airways flight Tom145 radioed a message to police at Manchester Airport after the window cracked as the jet travelled 35,000ft over Ireland. Officers went to the gate and arrested Nicholas Whittaker, 43, from Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, before he disembarked.

The drama happened at about 5.30am as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was coming to the end of its flight from Sanford Airport in Florida on May 25. It is understood it was approaching the coast of Ireland when the incident happened. Nobody was injured. The aircraft was packed with families returning to Manchester from holidays in Florida, with many having enjoyed trips to Disney World in Orlando. Whittaker, of Bentinck Street in Ashton, was charged with recklessly or negligently acting in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft or anyone on board, in accordance with Regulation 137 of the Air Navigation Order 2009.

He is due to appear before Trafford Magistrates’ Court on August 11. Aviation experts say passengers are only in jeopardy if both the inner and outer pane of an aircraft window are breached. It is understood only the inner pane was cracked. One said: “To break the inner pane is difficult and to break the outer pane is almost impossible. “If it did happen, the cabin will decompress and essentially everything will be sucked out of the aircraft.” A spokeswoman for Thomson Airways declined to comment on the matter in detail because of the criminal charges, but added: “We do have a zero-tolerance approach on all our aircraft. “Passenger safety is our paramount priority.” A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “At about 5.30am on May 25, 2014, police at the airport were informed by a member of the crew that a passenger on an inbound flight from Florida had struck an aircraft window, causing it to crack. “On arrival, a 43-year-old man was arrested on the aircraft.”

Christy Kinahan was celebrating today after being told he will not face trial in Spain on drugs and arms trafficking charges.Police said at the time the gang he is said to have led owned property worth 500 million euros in Brazil and 160 million euros in Spain.

 

Christy Kinahan was celebrating today after being told he will not face trial in Spain on drugs and arms trafficking charges.

The underworld boss feared he would be prosecuted for the crimes after a high-profile police raid on his Costa del Sol home in May 2010,

But a judge investigating the Irishman and a gang of alleged accomplices including his two sons has decided to drop the allegations.

Kinahan, who was hauled back to a court in Estepona yesterday for further questioning, is now being probed only on suspicion of money laundering and membership of a criminal gang.

 

 

 

The dramatic decision, which a state prosecutor decided not to appeal against, will be seen as a major blow for the Spanish police and politicians.

Former Home Secretary Alfredo Rubalcaba branded the Kinahans a “mafia family” when Christy and sons Christopher and Daniel were arrested during a series of dawn raids on the Costa del Sol.

Nearly a dozen suspects were arrested in the UK and Ireland as part of the same Europol-coordinated police operation.

Rubalcaba, who has just been replaced as leader of Spain’s main opposition party, even linked the alleged gang ringleaders to a string of murders when he reacted to news of the arrests during a visit to Poland.

He said at the time: “This was an operation against an important, well-known mafia of organised crime, which has operated in different countries and which is being linked to various murders and with a number of crimes from drug trafficking to people trafficking.

“It is a mafia family relatively well-known in the United Kingdom, a little less known in Spain, but they are established on the Costa del Sol.”

Investigating judge Maria Carmen Gutierrez Henares is understood to have binned her drugs and weapons trafficking probe after finding no evidence linking Kinahan and his alleged accomplices to the crimes.

Christy and his sons and alleged right-hand man John Cunningham will remain on bail along with the other suspects while the secret court probe continues into the money laundering and criminal gang membership allegations.

 

Daniel Kinahan, front wearing shades, carries his mother's coffin

 

 

Sources close to the long-running case predicted last night it could take at least two more years to reach trial - and the number of defendants in the dock would be a fraction of those originally arrested.

One insider said: “All the suspects including Christy Kinahan have been called back to court over the last three weeks to give evidence behind closed doors.

“Most said they had nothing to add to earlier statements.

“Christy KInahan attended court yesterday/on Wednesday but managed to get in and out of the building without anyone cottoning on to the fact it was him.

“He’s not surprised the drugs and weapons allegations against him have been dropped but he’s obviously very relieved.

“The judge took her decision around the same time she called the first of the suspects in for further questioning.

“Their defence lawyers are confident the money laundering charges are not going to prosper either.”

Another well-placed source added: “The suspects weren’t asked a single question about drugs or weapons.

“Most declined to add anything to their original statements.”

More than 20 people including the Kinahans were arrested on the Costa del Sol more than four years ago as part of Operation Shovel.

Christy, arrested at his luxury apartment in a private development near Estepona, spent six months on remand in jail before being bailed.

Armed officers sealed off a residential street after his detention before marching him into court.

Police said at the time the gang he is said to have led owned property worth 500 million euros in Brazil and 160 million euros in Spain.

The suspects had a fleet of expensive cars seized and bank accounts frozen

Christy Kinahan feared he would be prosecuted for the crimes after a high-profile police raid on his Costa del Sol home in May 2010. But a judge investigating the Irishman and a gang of alleged accomplices, including his two sons, has decided to drop the allegations. Kinahan, who was hauled back to a court in Estepona on Wednesday for further questioning, is now being probed only on suspicion of money laundering and membership of a criminal gang.

The dramatic decision, which a state prosecutor decided not to appeal against, will be seen as a major blow for the Spanish police and politicians. Kinahan and sons Christopher and Daniel were arrested during a series of dawn raids on the Costa del Sol, while nearly a dozen suspects were arrested in Ireland and the UK as part of the same Europol operation. Investigating judge Maria Carmen Gutierrez Henares is understood to have binned her drugs and weapons trafficking probe after finding no evidence linking Kinahan and his alleged accomplices to the crimes. Christy, his sons, and alleged right-hand man John Cunningham, will remain on bail along with the other suspects while the court probe continues into money laundering and criminal gang membership allegations. Sources close to the long-running case predicted last night it could take at least two more years to reach trial – and the number of defendants in the dock would be a fraction of those originally arrested.

One insider said: "All the suspects, including Christy, have been called back to court over the last three weeks to give evidence behind closed doors. "Most said they had nothing to add to earlier statements. "Christy attended court on Wednesday but managed to get in and out of the building without anyone cottoning on to the fact it was him. "He's not surprised the drugs and weapons allegations against him have been dropped, but he's very relieved. "The judge took her decision around the same time she called the first of the suspects in for further questioning. "Their defence lawyers are confident the money laundering charges are not going to prosper either." Another well-placed source added: "

The suspects weren't asked a single question about drugs or weapons." More than 20 people including the Kinahans were arrested on the Costa del Sol more than four years ago as part of Operation Shovel. Christy Kinahan, arrested at his luxury apartment in a private development near Estepona, spent six months on remand in jail before being bailed. At the time police said Kinahan had property worth €500m in Brazil and €160m in Spain.

Spanish police arrest 27 car dealers in ‘rollback fraud’ crackdown

THE Spanish National Police have arrested 27 used car dealers for the oldest trick in the book: dialing back cars’ distance gauges to sell them at a higher price. The investigation was launched after a man bought a car in Toledo thinking it had 87,000 kilometres on it, only to find out it actually had traveled 207,000. Now, some 48 falsified cars have turned up in five provinces, hailing from 24 separate dealerships. But those are only the ones that got caught. Authorities have reported that only a small percentage of falsified cars ever get discovered by their owners.

Christy Kinahan was celebrating today after being told he will not face trial in Spain on drugs and arms trafficking charges.

 

Christy Kinahan was celebrating today after being told he will not face trial in Spain on drugs and arms trafficking charges.

The underworld boss feared he would be prosecuted for the crimes after a high-profile police raid on his Costa del Sol home in May 2010,

But a judge investigating the Irishman and a gang of alleged accomplices including his two sons has decided to drop the allegations.

Kinahan, who was hauled back to a court in Estepona yesterday for further questioning, is now being probed only on suspicion of money laundering and membership of a criminal gang.

 

 

 

The dramatic decision, which a state prosecutor decided not to appeal against, will be seen as a major blow for the Spanish police and politicians.

Former Home Secretary Alfredo Rubalcaba branded the Kinahans a “mafia family” when Christy and sons Christopher and Daniel were arrested during a series of dawn raids on the Costa del Sol.

Nearly a dozen suspects were arrested in the UK and Ireland as part of the same Europol-coordinated police operation.

Rubalcaba, who has just been replaced as leader of Spain’s main opposition party, even linked the alleged gang ringleaders to a string of murders when he reacted to news of the arrests during a visit to Poland.

He said at the time: “This was an operation against an important, well-known mafia of organised crime, which has operated in different countries and which is being linked to various murders and with a number of crimes from drug trafficking to people trafficking.

“It is a mafia family relatively well-known in the United Kingdom, a little less known in Spain, but they are established on the Costa del Sol.”

Investigating judge Maria Carmen Gutierrez Henares is understood to have binned her drugs and weapons trafficking probe after finding no evidence linking Kinahan and his alleged accomplices to the crimes.

Christy and his sons and alleged right-hand man John Cunningham will remain on bail along with the other suspects while the secret court probe continues into the money laundering and criminal gang membership allegations.

 

Daniel Kinahan, front wearing shades, carries his mother's coffin

 

 

Sources close to the long-running case predicted last night it could take at least two more years to reach trial - and the number of defendants in the dock would be a fraction of those originally arrested.

One insider said: “All the suspects including Christy Kinahan have been called back to court over the last three weeks to give evidence behind closed doors.

“Most said they had nothing to add to earlier statements.

“Christy KInahan attended court yesterday/on Wednesday but managed to get in and out of the building without anyone cottoning on to the fact it was him.

“He’s not surprised the drugs and weapons allegations against him have been dropped but he’s obviously very relieved.

“The judge took her decision around the same time she called the first of the suspects in for further questioning.

“Their defence lawyers are confident the money laundering charges are not going to prosper either.”

Another well-placed source added: “The suspects weren’t asked a single question about drugs or weapons.

“Most declined to add anything to their original statements.”

More than 20 people including the Kinahans were arrested on the Costa del Sol more than four years ago as part of Operation Shovel.

Christy, arrested at his luxury apartment in a private development near Estepona, spent six months on remand in jail before being bailed.

Armed officers sealed off a residential street after his detention before marching him into court.

Police said at the time the gang he is said to have led owned property worth 500 million euros in Brazil and 160 million euros in Spain.

The suspects had a fleet of expensive cars seized and bank accounts frozen

Ryanair plans to launch budget flights to the Middle East and Russia

Forget the Costa del Sol, Ryanair announces plans to launch budget flights to the Middle East and Russia CEO Michael O'Leary said airline wants to use Cyprus as a base Will allow carrier to fly to destinations including Israel and Jordan Has put in bid for Cyprus Airways but is 'not particularly interested'

SHOCK WEATHER FORECAST: Hottest August in 300 YEARS on way as jet stream BOILS Britain

SHOCK WEATHER FORECAST: Hottest August in 300 YEARS on way as jet stream BOILS Britain BRITAIN will roast in the hottest August EVER with temperatures set to hit an unbearable 100F within weeks.

Ebola: UK border staff 'unprepared' says union leader

Border, immigration and customs staff feel unprepared to deal with people coming to the UK with possible cases of the Ebola virus, a union leader says. Immigration Service Union general secretary Lucy Moreton said her members needed more information on the threat. Almost 700 people have died since the first case was detected in west Africa in February. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said the UK government is taking the current outbreak "very seriously".

Savile charity 'to fight against payouts for victims'

A charity set up by Jimmy Savile is to challenge a compensation scheme for victims of the sex attacker. The Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust will take its case to the Court of Appeal later this year, victims' lawyers said. It wants to overturn an agreed scheme, under which the Savile estate, which is separate to the trust, the BBC and the NHS are liable to compensate victims. Liz Dux, who represents 176 of the late DJ's victims, said her clients would be "angry and disappointed" by the move. The charitable trust controls £3.7m and is a separate entity to the Savile estate. Ms Dux said the estate had its own pot of funds, which is where its share of payouts are to come from. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote The victims deserve redress and closure. They have suffered enough” Liz Dux Abuse lawyer She said she could therefore not understand why the charity trustees were taking the legal action. "For one, it's going to mean that more precious funds that should have gone to victims are being spent on legal costs, which is exactly what the settlement scheme was designed to avoid," she told the BBC. "And secondly, the charitable trust is not even responsible for compensating victims - that is for the estate to do." Unrestricted access Savile is said to have abused more than 200 people over a 60-year period. Last month, investigators found the ex-BBC DJ sexually assaulted victims aged five to 75 in NHS hospitals over decades of unrestricted access. The High Court approved a compensation scheme for victims earlier this year. The Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust was granted leave in mid-July by the Court of Appeal to challenge the ruling. Victims' lawyers were informed by the court last week. The appeal is expected to take place between September and January, Ms Dux said. Under the agreed settlement scheme, abuse victims will be able to claim against the BBC, the NHS and the Savile estate. 'In the dark' Ms Dux said all three bodies agreed they would make payouts and that claims to the BBC and the NHS would not deplete the estate's available funds. "The victims, the Savile estate, the NHS and the BBC are all acting on the same side. We all want and support the approved scheme," she said. "The scheme is a pragmatic and sensible solution to what will otherwise be protracted and hugely expensive litigation." The abuse lawyer added: "The charitable trust offered no explanation then as to why it objected to the scheme and even now we and the victims remain in the dark. No money can be paid from the charitable trust to compensate victims. "The victims deserve redress and closure. They have suffered enough. We urge the Court of Appeal to back the original scheme as previously agreed so this process can move towards a much-desired conclusion." Ms Dux said the Savile estate had funds of about £3.2m last year, but had probably been "haemorrhaging" money in legal fees.

British airlines are on alert for cases of the deadly virus, after tests revealed a man died in Nigeria from the disease, having been allowed to board an international flight from Liberia.

 A British man has also been tested for the Ebola virus, putting doctors on red alert that it could be on its way to the UK. A spokesman for Hong Kong's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) will be notified if it is confirmed the patient is suffering from the Ebola virus. In Nigeria health officials said today, they are in the process of tracing 30,000 people at risk of contracting the disease after coming into contact with a Liberian man who died on Friday. Meanwhile, the British man was taken to hospital in Birmingham after complaining of feeling ‘feverish’ on a flight back to the Midlands from West Africa. He had been travelling from Benin, Nigeria via Paris, France when he became unwell on Monday. However, after undergoing a number of tests he was given the all-clear for the virus which has already killed 672 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and infected more than 1,200 since it was first diagnosed in February. In another scare, medical staff at Charing Cross Hospital in London became concerned a man in his twenties had caught the virus this week. But his symptoms were quickly confirmed as not being linked to the bug and doctors ruled out the need for an Ebola test.