Voted Best Newspaper in Spain 2017 & 2018 Happy New Year
ISSUE NO. 1747
27 Dec 2018 - 2 Jan 2019
COSTA DEL SOL
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM
Drugs payback By Tom Woods A NOTORIOUS drugs runner has been ordered to hand over cash and properties on the Costa del Sol that were paid for through his role in a lucrative smuggling ring. Gordon Ruckledge, 47, of Ashton-under-Lyne in the UK, must pay €440,000 within three months after National Crime Agency investigators obtained a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. If Ruckledge fails to come up with the cash he will have four years added on to his 16and-a-half year jail term. Ruckledge’s assets include 11 properties in the UK and two in Benalmadena, Spain, together with money in bank accounts, and they are all subject to a restraint order. During the confiscation hearing at Leeds Crown Court, the judge found that he had benefited from gener-
STASH GORDON: Police seized a huge haul of illegal drugs. Inset: Gordon Ruckledge. al criminal conduct by almost €1.8 million. National Crime Agency officers raided Ruckledge’s home in Taunton Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, in September 2016 and found more than 1,000 ecstasy pills; a ki-
lo of high purity cocaine and 2,000 tablets labelled as temazepam and tramadol; and €14,000 in cash. Officers also found dozens of mobile phones and specialist stamps used to add brand logos to ecstasy pills.
Ruckledge pleaded guilty to 10 drug and money laundering offences in March 2017. Peter Frain, NCA senior investigating officer said: “This sends out a message that not only are we targeting
and prosecuting criminals involved in this type of offending, but that when we do find them, we have the power to strip assets to ensure they don’t benefit financially or materially from their crimes.”
Cocaine bust NATIONAL POLICE officers have arrested 31 people in Malaga Province, Madrid and Barcelona in connection with an international drugs smuggling ring. Ten of the suspects were detained in Coin. A police raid there resulted in a haul of 2,101 marihuana plants, 13 weapons, more than 600 cartridges of ammunition, four vehicles and €53,000. Officers investigating the alleged trafficking worked with police in Italy and Argentina as part of the operation. Police claimed the group were importing cocaine from the South American country to Europe. More than 100 officers were involved in the investigation in Spain out of 750 who took part in total. Police conducted 25 raids in Spain as part of the investigation which began in 2017. Officers launched their probe after more than one ton of cocaine was seized in Argentina, with Europe the suspected destination.