323 arrests in connection with organised crime

The Civil Guard,estimates that about 550 criminal groups operate in Spain, about half of them foreign. Last year, police made 323 arrests in connection with organised crime. “Criminals are businessmen these days,” says a chief inspector in a unit that fights organised crime. “They want good travel connections, an efficient banking sector, nice weather and anonymity. They get all that in Málaga.”

Interpol report notes

As a sign of the international crime element an Interpol report notes: "There is an exceptionally large number of Estonian and Russian professional criminals carrying out, besides a large scale hashish and cocaine trafficking, remarkable sex business in the numerous hotels and restaurants of Costa del Sol." Meanwhile, according to Online Security, "Italian crime groups' longtime investments in real estate and entertainment enterprises--particularly gambling casinos--in Germany, France, Monaco, Spain's Costa del Sol, and the Caribbean are conduits for money laundering."

Granada-based businessman and his family

The Guardia Civil yesterday announced that it had dismantled what it considered to be ‘an important gang’ of four men and two women in two apartments – one in El Campello and the other in San Juan.

In addition, members of the Corps also confiscated a considerable armory of weapons that included assault rifles, pistols and grenades.

It is believed that it was this gang that carried the armed robbery on a bank in El Campello earlier this month as well as carrying out an armed aggression against a Granada-based businessman and his family in February, making off with 60,000 Euros in cash.

It is also thought that the gang also carried out a series of high-profile robberies in France and the French Police are helping the Guardia Civil as their enquiries continue.