11 - 17 January 2018
Stab battle A MAN is to appear in a Vera court after seven people were injured in a petrol station brawl. Police said in a statement that the accused is a 29-year-old man from Mojacar with the initials RVT. He is accused of stabbing a 38-year-old woman in the thigh during a fight involving at least eight people from two families. The scuffle broke out at a petrol station on the N340 road in Los Gallardos, with six others hurt in addition to the stab victim, who was taken to hospital in HuercalOvera.
Lifesavers THE 112 emergency service handled more than 2,000 incidents over the Christmas holidays. It comes as the regional authorities released the official figures for the festive period, which ran from midnight on Christmas Eve until January 8. While the number of emergencies in Andalucia increased by 13.8 per cent on 2016 - to 28,708 - Almeria was among the quietest provinces, with Sevilla (8,298) and Malaga (5,218) topping the ranking.
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Surprise tornadoes strike Several tornadoes tore through hundreds of hectares of greenhouses over the weekend. El Ejido mayor Francisco Gongora says the damage could be as much as €40 million. The first priority is to estimate the damages and help affected farmers and companies file insurance claims, he said. There were no injuries reported after Saturday’s surprise
SPAIN’S Supreme Court has upheld the convictions of six men jailed in one of Almeria’s most notorious drug smuggling cases. The gang include a former officer of the National Police and a security operative with links to the police. They and four other men received lengthy jail sentences for smuggling 3,500 kilos of hashish from Morocco to a warehouse near Viator. They were captured in Operation Hiena six years ago in what was one of the largest drugs busts in history. The Guardia Civil, National Police and tax office all worked together to crack the case. One of the accused was a National Police officer who
tornadoes, which were captured on film destroying warehouses, scrap yards and farmland. But the long term economic impact could be catastrophic, warned the Agricultural Association of Farmers (Asaja) in Almeria. Local president, Francisco Vargas said at least 200 hectares of greenhouses were affected. Many farmers will spend
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CHAOS: A tornado ripped through farmland, destroying crops and warehouses. months restoring their properties, losing valuable time while waiting even longer on insurance payouts, he said. The damage was concentrated almost entirely in the rural areas of Balerma, Matagorda, El Ejido and Guardias Viejas. Sub-delegate of the national government in Almeria, An-
TWISTER: Surprise tornadoes caused mayhem in rural areas.
dres Garcia Lorca, toured some of the devastation on Saturday afternoon and pledged Madrid’s support for the affected farmers.
Dirty half dozen was active in the anti-drug trafficking unit and stationed at Almeria airport. He used criminal connections acquired throughout his career to contact smuggling gangs in Morocco. Another man with ties to the security forces used his inside
knowledge to secure a warehouse to stash the drugs. He coordinated transport as the gang used fishing boats to sail the hash from North Africa. But police were already hot on their tail and raided the warehouse when the drugs arrived. During the ambush
shots were fired on both sides and the policeman-turnedcriminal was hit in the leg. The appeal centred on whether the authorities had used illegal means to trace the gang. The Supreme Court was satisfied that Operation Hiena was completely above board.