MARBELLA CLUB

Homes in Spain, a yacht, red E-type Jaguar and a classic Norton motorbike were all bought by Donald Southall from Sedgley who was making a mint out of his part in an international tobacco smuggling plot.He ran the UK side of a smuggling network which brought in cigarettes from Eastern Europe, evading at least £1.7 million of tax.
Customs officials believe that although they seized 11 million cigarettes, many more cigarettes would have gone into the UK black market.Gang member Robert Horton, aged 43, of Church Road, Norton Canes, controlled the European end of the operation from his base in Hungary, Northampton Crown Court heard yesterday.He would meet potential suppliers and arrange for the bulk transportation of the smuggled cigarettes by the lorry load. Southall, of Gospel End Road, Sedgley, operated the UK side of the criminal network and oversaw the arrival and distribution of the cigarettes.Horton’s partner Julie Henworth, aged 42, was said to be “at the heart” of the organised crime gang. She was said to have acted as an administrator and travel agent” by arranging and paying for flights for numerous covert meetings between Horton and Southall in Europe and beyond.Sentencing the defendants, Judge Ian Alexander said: “This was a highly professional operation. You (Southall and Horton) joined together for the mutual benefits you derived from tobacco smuggling.” Southall and Horton were sentenced to four years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of tobacco smuggling.
Henworth, of Church Road, Norton Canes, was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to charges of money laundering.Southall and Henworth were arrested in March 2007 following a series of dawn raids across the Midlands after a two-year operation.Cash, computers and paperwork including bank account details were seized from their home addresses. Horton was arrested in May 2008 when he surrendered to UK authorities.Adrian Farley, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation for Customs, said today: “This was a large-scale international tobacco smuggling plot which took our investigations all over Europe.“With the support of law enforcement colleagues in Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Austria and France, we have broken up this gang and are now working to take away the proceeds of their crime.” The gang operated between 2005 and 2006.

In Spain, Russian criminal groups control 90 percent of the drugs and illegal arms flows and have been involved in the murder of Paddy Doyle, a leading Irish criminal who was operating there. His death and the ensuing trial led to the publication of numerous articles about Russian organized crime.

YOUNG Irishman based in Belgium has become the biggest supplier of drugs and credit to Dublin's gangs.The 25-year-old, who works out of five star hotels in the capital is acting as trafficker Christy Kinahan's eyes and ears here as he serves a prison sentence in mainland Europe.All of the city's main gangs, including deadly rivals are dealing with the young associate of Kinahan.Gardai also have intelligence that Kinahan is working closely to end the feuds between the gangs and create one major drugs organisation in Dublin.
Kinahan is the main drug supplier to the 'Fat' Freddie Thompson gang and a revered figure among all members of Ireland's criminal underworld.Kinahan (53) is currently serving a jail sentence for money laundering in Belgium and as well as running his operations in Dublin, his new commander-in-chief has also been charged with resolving the bloody feuds in the city that are proving "bad for business."The deputy is a younger associate of Kinahan, who is on first name terms with a dozen or so major criminals, who head drug supply gangs across the city.Kinahan has convictions for smuggling heroin and ecstasy in Ireland, and he has based in Belgium, Holland and the favourite haunt of Irish gangland figures, the Costa Del Sol, ever since he was released from jail in Ireland.He arranges massive shipments of guns and drugs from Russian, Turkish and north African cartels into Ireland.He had served a lengthy prison sentence at Ireland's highest security prison in Portlaoise after being convicted of fraud but has been operating actively for the past decade.As part of his attempts to heal the rifts in Dublin's underworld, Kinahan reportedly recently arranged an all expenses paid trip to Puerto Banus for Dublin's major crime bosses.
The summit has been arranged to organise a major shipment of drugs and arms for Ireland, sources say.'Fat' Freddie Thompson is reported to be attending, along with members of Limerick's gangs, as well as Finglas-based crime godfather 'The Don'.
The Mediterranean love-in is Kinahan's latest attempt to cool tensions on the streets of Dublin after he organised a night out for his gangland associates at a boxing bout in Dublin last year.Crime figures like 'Fat' Freddie and 'The Don' were in attendance along with other leading figures."Kinahan's boxing treat was just the start of his charm offensive," a senior Garda source revealed."He knows people like The Don have been killing rivals because they're convinced they're going to be wiped out."But Kinahan is cute enough to realise more violence on the streets brings more detectives on to the streets which is bad for business."He's the main man in Spain, and if he can keep all the gangs sweet with boxing matches and foreign holidays he'll continue to rake in a fortune."Kinahan is a major target of Europol, based in The Hague, Holland and any meeting between the gang bosses would be monitored closely.

Police wanted to interview Eddie Lyons Jnr over the gangland hit - and claims that he had been shot by Carroll just days before the murder.
Cops swooped on his mother-in-law's home when it was claimed he had returned to Glasgow and his BMW X5 was seen outside the house.
But there was no trace of Lyons Jnr, who was reported to have fled to Spain after Carroll was killed.
And his wife Joanne, who was visiting her mother, claimed not to know where her husband was.
Underworld sources say Carroll, an enforcer for the rival Daniel crime clan, had shot Lyons days before he was gunned down in an Asda car park.
It is claimed two shots hit Lyons Jnr's bulletproof vest while a third struck him on the arm.
And gangland insiders say that was the trigger for Lyons Jnr to order Carroll's execution.
Cops also want to quiz Lyons Jnr's brother, Stephen, 29, who is based in Spain.
On Friday afternoon, rumours began to circulate that Lyons Jnr had returned to Glasgow to see a close family member who is seriously ill.
Cops were tipped off that a black BMW believed to belong to Lyons Jnr was outside his mother-in-law's home in Milton, north Glasgow.
Members of Strathclyde Police's Gangs Task Force were scrambled to the scene and were joined by detectives probing Carroll's murder.
An underworld source said: "The police were at the house within minutes of being tipped off about the X5 but Eddie was nowhere to be seen.
"There were a number of people in the house, including his wife, but they all pleaded dumb as to his whereabouts.
"Everything points to the Lyons family having a hand in Gerbil's murder and the word on the street is that Eddie Jnr sanctioned the hit.
"The cops are desperate to catch up with him."
Last week, we revealed another leading member of the crime clan, David Lyons, has not been seen at his garage since Carroll, 29, was gunned down outside Asda in Robroyston on January 13.
David Lyons's garage in Lambhill, north Glasgow, has already witnessed a triple shooting which left his nephew, Michael Lyons, dead.
Stephen Lyons and a third man, Robert Pickett, were also shot but survived.
Sources told us David is taking no chances of a repeat of the December 2006 attack, which was likened in court to a scene from The Godfather.
David's son Mark has also not been spotted at Applerow Motors in north Glasgow since Carroll was murdered.
The garage remains operational and sources claim it has been busy in recent weeks.
David has always claimed he is a legitimate businessman but police intelligence revealed in 2007 that he was "involved in serious and organised crime, including the trafficking and supply of Class A drugs".
More than 10 shots were fired at Carroll as he sat in the back of a black Audi outside the supermarket.
The three-man hit squad then sped off in a dark blue Volkswagen Golf, which was found burnt out.
A fortnight after the hit, two guns were found dumped in Coatbridge and tests confirmed they were the murder weapons.

The England football hero told the High Court he was "taken in completely" in a deal that saw him lose £600,000.Sir Geoff, 68, and six others claim they are owed £2million after investing in property near Marbella on the Costa del Sol.They are suing businessman Mark Cordner, claiming he pocketed a large slice of the cash.
Sir Geoff, who scored a hat trick at the 1966 World Cup final, told the High Court: "I feel remorse, allowing my name to be used and abused in this way."The seven thought they were investing in property company Royal Marbella Group, which never owned the land where flats were built by another firm.

Detectives on the Costa del Sol have charged John White over an alleged scam to defraud dozens of people of their valuable antiques.They are probing whether White, 58, set up a sting which saw dozens of expatriates hand him rare coins and other items, worth an estimated one million euros.Greying White – described as “someone straight off the Antiques Roadshow” – allegedly hoodwinked up to 100 clients over a three-month period.But his game was rumbled in a clever heist after clients were informed by email that Mr White had “suddenly died of cancer” in the US.Far from convinced and fearing the loss of up to 100,000 euros of valuables, two of his victims posed as a potential new client to flush him out.In a clever sting, the pair met White at a Fuengirola cafe, before bundling him into a car insisting they went to get their property.But White still refused to be outdone and, despite his age, pulled a knife on his clients at the luxury 500,000 euro home he was renting in Marbella.
“I was stabbed several times after being kidnapped, tied up and thrown into the boot of a car.”After a scuffle, in which both parties were wounded, his clients, who are from South Africa, fled before police arrived to arrest White.Marbella police had already been investigating White over the auction fraud after a series of reports were filed.But in a cunning twist, White claimed to be the innocent party and insisted he had become the victim of a vicious attack, in which his clients kidnapped him and stole the items scheduled for auction.In a frantic late night phone call from Marbella police station he told an Olive Press reporter: “I was stabbed several times after being kidnapped, tied up and thrown into the boot of a car.“They pretended to be antique sellers at first, but then they bundled me into their car, took me to my home and stole 25,000 dollars and all the antiques.”This claim is completely denied by his clients, a pair of South African businessmen, living on the Costa del Sol.

While they were arrested the following day and accused of ‘illegal detention” and robbery, their lawyer insisted they were completely innocent.
Carlos Vee, of firm GA Lawyers, said: “They were simply trying to get their property back and worked out a clever sting to catch him out.“Where they went wrong was not to get the police involved in advance.”He continued: “It is a case of the conman getting conned. He is a very credible bookish sort of bloke, straight out of the Antiques Roadshow.“He took a lot of people in a plot reminiscent of a Tom Clancy novel. He had apparently done it a few times before and is a seasoned sociopath.”While police confirmed they were investigating a “fracas” outside his home, they also confirmed they were probing the suspected antiques fraud.Police started investigating after two reports were filed against White last week.
This week detectives scoured his three-storey townhouse, which he rented on the outskirts of the celebrated Spanish tourist resort.Cordoning off the house, they eventually emerged with a number of items, including an unidentifiable machine about a metre in length.The auctioneer, who had apparently been renting the home for six months, had arranged a series of ‘bogus’ auctions of rare and historic antiques, which never took place.Advertising the event in local newspapers and through posters, he was inundated with sellers – mostly elderly Britons – keen to cash in on their valuables.
However, after one high profile auction at Marbella’s prestigious Hotel el Fuerte was cancelled twice, his clients grew suspicious.After failing to get through to his phone number or address, they heard he had moved to America, and was “recovering from cancer”.

One concerned client Maria Weldon Weightman, 60, from Glasgow – whose valuables were estimated to be worth over 20,000 euros – has filed an official police report.

“I have been trying to call him for more than two weeks and I have heard nothing,” explained Weightman, who has lived in Estepona for a number of years.
“It is very strange, he guaranteed me that my items would be sold by the New Year.”
Another client Elizabeth Davies, from Birmingham, handed over a priceless Roman broach with three extremely rare Roman coins inside, plus numerous other items.
She said: “I took him at face value, I believed that he as he was older he would be more trustworthy.
“I just feel like such an idiot for having originally agreed to this.”
Our investigators also failed to get hold of White, who eventually sent a string of bizarre emails via a third party, claiming he was in the US recovering from cancer.
At first they claimed he was close to death, but later said he was making a recovery.
They also insisted the terms of the auction had been clearly explained.
The third party, who gave his name as David Harris, insisted that sellers would be paid 60 days after the auction and that clients were made aware of this.
In a spelling-mistake spewed email, he said: “It doesn’t matter what you say or do, we have tried to explain to a few clients here in Marbella but it seems to go in one ear and out of the other,” read the email..”We don’t just sit in an office doing nothing all day.”
However, clients have since refuted the claims, insisting that no sure assurances were ever made.Judy Rosevear, 60, from Cornwall, explained: They didn’t explain any of this to us, he actually never made it clear about how or when he would pay.
“The biggest problem is the very fact you cannot get hold of them.”
While police scoured his home neighbours alleged that he has not paid his rent for several months.A Marbella national police detective confirmed that White had been charged and bailed.He said: “We are still looking into this case but I would hesitate to add much more at this stage.”

The gang had reportedly smuggled cannabis from Morocco, cocaine from the Netherlands and heroin from the Balkans to Italy and worked closely with Apulia's Sacra Corona Unita mafia. and Moroccan-led drug smuggling ring, media reports said on Friday. Suspected gang members had also been arrested in Spain, France and Belgium.
Raids in northern and southern Italy had uncovered 700 kilograms of cannabis and large amounts of heroin and cocaine.The police had 57 arrest warrants, and at least 13 people were put behind bars.

Colombia's Prosecutor General's Office dismantled a drug-trafficking organization that had been smuggling cocaine to Europe, arresting two serving members of the army and five banana company employees, reported W Radio.According to police reports the organization had been hiding quantities of the illegal drug amongst banana exports to various European countries, a process which involved members of the armed forces.
Interception and arrest of the seven narco-traffickers by Colombian authorities took place in the municipalities of Apartado, Turbo, and Cartagena. Authorities have identified all the detained men.In January Lidl supermarket staff in Spain discovered millions of dollars worth of cocaine, thought to have been shipped from Colombia via Africa, hidden in boxes of bananas.

And resident John Toomey has vowed to fight on after branding the latest decision a “huge injustice” as well as “discrimination”.
The retired lawyer, 63, explained: “Our case is identical to a number of properties which have now been legalised.
“They want to reclaim the seafront, but there is no basis for this in law or reality.”
“A top Spanish architect (Angel Dias del Rio) put forward a case in Sevilla to show we were being discriminated against.
“But it was simply swept under the carpet by the Junta.”
Toomey, from London, also criticised the folly of trying to make an example of Banana Beach.
“They want to reclaim the seafront, but there is no basis for this in law or reality,” he added.
“If they really wanted to do this then they would have to demolish half of Marbella.”
On agreeing the new PGOU last week Marbella mayor Angeles Munoz previously declared that “16,000 families will now sleep in peace”.
Spare a thought for those Marbella homes still fighting for their own reconciliation.

JEREZ councillor has told English tourists to stay home.
In an astonishing rant tourism councillor Juan Manuel Garcia Bermudez blasted the English who do “nothing apart from drink all day long”.
Bermudes, 53, also raged that he was only interested in tourism that “enriched the area”.

“We certainly don’t want the English who come over on their cheap flights and do nothing apart from drink all day long.”

The PSOE politician’s bewildering outburst will come as a blow to Andalucia tourist chiefs who have identified English tourism as crucial in overcoming the downturn.
“We certainly don’t want the English who come over on their cheap flights and do nothing apart from drink all day long,” criticised Bermudez.
“I want to make it clear that we only want tourism that will enrich the area.”
Bermudez had earlier been speaking about the need to further support local tourism so that “this economic motor can create jobs by 2011”.
The PSOE politician’s English wish could be granted after it emerged that pay talks between air traffic controllers and the Spanish airport authority broke down.
The failure to reach an agreement before March 31 – when the current pay deal expires – could throw the travel plans of Britons heading to Spain into chaos.
Spain is still recovering from a 16 per cent drop in tourism last yea

Three youths have been arrested in Marbella on suspicion of sexual abuse of a sixteen year old girl. All were friends of the girl.The victim at the apartment of a girlfriend when they were joined by three youths, one of whom was a former boyfriend with whom she had maintained an intimate relationship.The three youths then tied up the girl using computer cables and proceeded to sexually abuse her. The girl had to be treated at the Hospital Costa del Sol for injuries sustained in the attack.The girlfriend of the victim was also charged with the crime of failing to provide assistance.

Guardia Civil has arrested six people of Spanish, Swedish and Bulgarian nationalities, aged between 26 and 54, in connection with a planned express kidnapping of two businessmen on the Costa del Sol. They had rented a van with tinted windows and a house where they planned to hold their victims.The Civil Guard operation was codenamed ‘Golub’ and based in Benalmádena, Mijas and Marbella and six homes were searched as part of the operation. Items such as balaclava helmets and a latex mask complete with hair and ears were found, as well as three pistols and a quantity of ammunition, false number plates and photocopies of 500 € notes.The two businessmen who were the projected targets had already been told so by the gang, but their names have not been released.

arrested two Moroccan men, aged 32 and 38, who were found to be carrying 350 pellets containing 2.7 kilos of hashish in their insides. They were arrested during a routine control of passengers disembarking from the ferry from Nador, Morocco, and have been charged with a crime against public health.According to the officers, the men showed signs of nervousness and they were taken to a separate area to be searched. When nothing was found on their person, they were asked to take a voluntary x-ray, during which foreign bodies were detected in their colon, which they evacuated during the following days.During the month of January, 26 people were arrested at Almeria Port after they were found to be carrying different quantities of hashish in their anal cavities, which is a very dangerous practice and can have fatal consequences if the capsules break inside the body and the drugs are absorbed into the system.

Guardia Civil in Girona have arrested three of their own number in connection with drugs missing from the frontier post at La Jonquera. Reports indicate that the third man was arrested some days after his two companions who were imprisoned last week.
20minutos quotes sources close to the case as saying that a man has also been arrested in Figueras, accused of buying the cocaine and hashish from the officers who now face charges of drug trafficking and abuse of power. They graduated from the Guardia Civil academy just a few months ago. Investigations started last November when two kilos of cocaine among other substances went missing.

More demolition orders have been issued in Albox despite confusing statements by the Town Hall and the Mayor, Sr. José GarcíaIn an interview published on the English language Arboleasnow website , Sr. Garcia is reported to have denied the rumour that nine houses are affected, saying that only eight demolition orders have been issued "by the courts".This statement belies the fact that on the 15th December another of our members was issued with an order not by the courts, but by Albox Town Council itself!And on January 20th, the Official Bulletin board carried an instruction to demolish a building on a plot of land near Alcantarilla, Albox. However, the plot referred to has two homes on it as well as an uncompleted structure.We notified the owners and met with the Town Hall Secretary, who agreed to review the case file and advise us whether the order referred to one, or all, of the structures on the plot. In spite of repeated attempts we are still waiting for a response. The owners have only fifteen days to lodge an appeal and are very worried. They need this information from the Town Hall, and they need it now.We have been trying to set up a meeting with Sr. Garcia for three weeks. Having cancelled two previous appointments with us, we are now told we cannot speak to him until the middle of February. This, despite the fact that we represent eight of the affected families.It has been because of delays and lack of communication that the legal process in these cases is so advanced it has resulted in people being deprived of their right to defend themselves.Avoiding difficult questions is not an option for the authorities. In order to solve the problem we need ongoing, open and co-operative dialogue to reach a consensual solution involving public bodies, interested associations and all the political parties.

unidentified man has been arrested in La Linea de la Concepción, Cádiz in connection with the stabbing to death of a 27 year old in the town on Monday night.
Local residents say that the stabbing happened at around 11pm and an injured man was found in the area of Calle Sócrates. El País reports that the victim was able to tell local police the name of his attacker before he died.

Paul Lyons,born in 1961 ,was detained at Alicante airport last week and will be extradited to Scotland for an alleged crime committed there.He was allegedly involved in a fatal crash which is thought to have involved road rage.It is said that Lyons drove at a van on the M-74 near Larkhall in Scotland,causing the other vehicle to go off the road.The 32 year old driver was killed and his passenger was seriously injured.Mr Lyons faces a number of charges including causing death by dangerous driving.According to the police he was speeding,over the alcohol limit and driving dangerously.He was also serving a driving ban .Since his extradition he has appeared in court and has been remanded in custody.He had fled to Spain after the incident in Scotland and has been subject to a European arrest warrant.
The Spanish police have been working with the British Serious Organised Crime squad and they were on the look out for the person who was bringing the 2 year old son of Lyons out to Spain to see him.The Lyon family has been linked to organised crime in Glasgow it is alleged.

fraudster who appeared on Britain's most wanted list with his girlfriend after they fled to Spain was jailed on Friday.Anthony Kearney, 45, and Donna McCafferty, 43, were tracked down to the Costa Blanca in November 2008 within 24 hours of a Crimestoppers appeal.The couple, who illegally claimed thousands of pounds in housing benefit, admitted a string of charges at Glasgow Sheriff Court last month. Kearney was sentenced to a total of four years and four months after pleading guilty to three fraud charges and one under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

1,000 cellophane wrapped balls of hashish – enough for 28,000 “joints” – have been recovered from the intestines of seven young Moroccan men who arrived at Almeria port recently.

The Marbella planning office, counted a total of 38,194 buildings which do not comply with the current PGOU Urban Plan guidelines, which was approved in 1986.The list of illegal properties includes homes, hotels, schools, gas stations, golf courses, shopping malls, industrial warehouses and a heliport.90 per cent of the buildings are homes.La Opinión de Málaga published the figures on Monday.