HAPPY NEW YEAR
28 Dec 2017 - 3 Jan 2018
A XARQUÍA - C OSTA T ROPICAL
Landfill trial goes on THE Ministry of Justice is sending a second judge to assist a probe into an illegal landfill near Nerja. The Junta de Andalucia regional council has said the extra help will be needed due to the “complexity” of the case, which may see it continue for another year. T h e t o w n ’s f o r m e r mayor Jose Alberto Armijo last week denied having anything to do with the dump. The former politician, who was in office from 1995 to 2015, said the Junta “never” told him to shut the site down. Several current and former politicians are among 34 people being questioned by a Torrox court over their roles in allowing the site to remain open for 16 years. Earlier this month Nerja’s current mayor Rosa Arrabal also swore to a judge she knew nothing about the illegal scheme. The site, which is located in the Sierra de Te j e d a , A l m i j a r a a n d Alhama natural park, was previously a working quarry owned by the council. The area was later used as a dumping ground for 16 years, between 2000 and September 2016. The Public Prosecut o r ’s O f f i c e h a s l a belled the landfill “a genuine environmental disaster.”
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION Photo by Policia Nacional
ISSUE NO. 1695
HANDS OFF: Farmers have been tightening security.
‘Avoc wreaker Alleged fruit thief held By Harrison Jones A MAN accused of stealing more than 10,000 kilos of avocados has been arrested. The 31-year-old claimed that all of the fruit - thought to be worth well over €30,000 - came from his father-in-law’s farm, which barely has 100 trees, according to Spanish media reports. National Police seized the huge haul after reportedly becoming suspicious of their inflated price at market. They also linked the four varieties of avocado on offer - some of which are not found on the family farm - to 12 recent robberies. The man allegedly forced
locks, cut barbed wire and took advantage of unguarded farms to steal 10,430 kilos of the fruit. Farmers also reported damage to trees. Axarquia has seen a spate of robberies on avocado farms, with some farmers resorting to hiring private security firms for protection. Drought has also contributed to a worrying year for avocado growers, though the fruit’s popularity has grown significantly. The arrested man was reportedly detained in VelezMalaga, having previously sold avocados in Almayate and Algarrobo. The representative for Axarquía de Asaja Málaga,
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Benjamín Faulí, highlighted the cost of protection but praised the police’s work adding that they had done particularly well in this case given their limited resources. Fauli also told Spanish media that farmers needed to work together to combat thefts. “If you establish private capital systems we all have to be in the same boat. It cannot be the case that a farm located between two involved in surveillance decides to stay out,” he said.
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One arrest in pineapple coke scam POLICE have arrested North Africa’s largest drug smuggler. It comes after a tonne of cocaine was found hidden inside a South American pineapple shipment. Investigators from the National Police and Tax Agency brought down a family allegedly using real estate and financial institutions as a smokescreen for their operation. Officers searched thousands of containers of fruit after 33 kilograms of the drug were found hidden in cylinders coated in yellow wax inside pineapples from Costa Rica, in addition to 960 kilos unearthed in an earlier consignment from Ecuador. A 72-year-old Moroccan man - believed to be the head of the organisation - has been remanded in custody. Police say the accused has been smuggling drugs since the 1970s, starting with hashish before graduating to cocaine and moving to Malaga to evade detection. Detectives say the organisation used its company’s commercial shipments to transport the drug from South America.
Water cuts strike A DOZEN farming communities will receive no water for irrigation until January. It comes as the Junta de Andalucia made new cuts after farmers exceeded their water quotas for December by the middle of the month. All of those affected receive
their supply from the depleted La Viñuela reservoir, as Axarquia continues to suffer an extended drought. The Junta has set aside just 10 billion litres of water from the dam for agriculture to cover the period from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018.