Euro Weekly News - Costa de Almeria 18 - 24 July 2019 Issue 1776

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EWN 27 June - 3 July 2019 www.euroweeklynews.com NEWS
NEWS EXTRA
Earth moves
AN earth tremor in Puerto
Lumbreras measuring 3.8 on
the Richter scale and some
nine kilometres underground
at 10pm on Saturday was felt
in several areas of Almeria,
including Pulpi, Huercal-
Overa, Vera and Garrucha.
Street sales
ALMERIA Local Police
have charged 52 people with
selling goods on the city’s
streets without authorisation
so far this year, seizing
430 kilos of fruit, meat and
fish and 389 items of clothing,
footwear and accessories.
Huge relief
GUARDIA CIVIL found
five-year-old twins safe and
sound wandering around on
scrubland near the family
home in La Gangosa in Vicar
just half an hour after
their panic-stricken father
reported the little ones missing.
Theft foiled
GUARDIA CIVIL charged
two men in their 20’s with attempted
robbery after catching
them red-handed breaking
into an agricultural
warehouse in La Mojonera,
and recovering an LCD TV, a
chainsaw and an audio power
amplifier.
Six arrests in marihuana raids
SIX arrests and the seizure of more
than 2,000 marihuana plants and
firearms were the result of Guardia
Civil raids on five properties in La Alqueria
in Adra and a greenhouse in
Matagorda in El Ejido.
Guardia launched Operation Guillaume
in Adra to investigate the possible
existence of an illegal plantation
in the area in response to numerous
complaints from local residents about
a strong smell of marihuana and frequent
power cuts. There was also a
fire in an electricity transformer last
month.
Discreet surveillance of the zone
led to the identification of the most
likely locations for indoor plantations.
Officers found more than 630 plants
growing in four properties and clear
signs plants had recently been collected
from a fifth. They also seized two
Royal
recognition
THE headmistress of Huercal de Almeria’s
Clara Campoamor school has received
the Order of Civil Merit from
King Felipe VI for her commitment to
education, her continuous work on educational
investigation and for applying
innovative teaching methodologies.
Sofia Deza was one of 41 people
recognised as examples for society in a
ceremony last week at the Royal
Palace in Madrid on the fifth anniversary
of the king’s accession to the
throne.
LARGE SCALE: Guardia Civil found over 1,400 marihuana plants in an El
Ejido greenhouse (above), and seized simulated and modified weapons
in the Adra operation (right).
simulated firearms, made from a
walking stick and a spearfishing gun,
and a modified firearm.
There were 20 illegal connections
to the power supply.
The Guardia detained four individuals,
all of them from Adra, and said
they were investigating three others.
POLICE arrested two Croatian
women suspected of being part of
an organised gang responsible for a
series of house break-ins as they
were boarding a Granada-bound bus
in Almeria City.
According to police the criminal
organisation specialises in getting
into properties using hard pieces of
plastic or pieces of tin can to open
door latches. If that doesn’t work
they force open doors or windows
using tools like crowbars.
Gang members travel around, targeting
different locations, the police
said.
Investigations into the gang’s activities
centred on the two women in
their 20’s who had been staying in a
hostel in the provincial capital. Police
reported they had been surprised
by the occupant of a property in the
process of trying to force one of the
locks. The description the man provided
led to the identification of the
pair at Almeria bus station.
When officers frisked the women
they found they were carrying €400
in cash, a necklace stolen from one
property and a gold bracelet pinched
from another, which one of the
women had hidden in her private
parts. The women also had a piece of
plastic cut from a shampoo bottle.
In the El Ejido operation the marihuana
plant count was 1,430. Officers
also recovered from the greenhouse a
rifle loaded with five 30mm cartridges,
which had been reported
stolen in Albox, and a shotgun with its
serial number filed off.
The Guardia arrested two suspects
in their 20’s, charging both with illegal
drug cultivation and illegal possession
of firearms.
House break-in gang
members detained
Police warned these kinds of
gangs have a clear hierarchical
structure and division of responsibilities.
Some members focus on
identifying potential targets, marking
them with some kind of sign
like stuffing paper between the door
and the frame.
Others have the job of breaking
into the properties, concentrating on
taking items which are easy to hide
and which can be quickly disposed
of in illegal markets such as jewellery.