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CRIME

Have you seen these fugitives? They could be hiding out in Spain

Suspected murderers, sex offenders and drugs traffickers are among just 11 fugitives left on the run in a campaign that has seen 84 offenders already caught across Europe.

Have you seen these fugitives? They could be hiding out in Spain
Have you seen these 'most wanted' British fugitives thought to be hiding out in Spain?

On Thursday, the National Crime Agency and the charity Crimestoppers urged the public to help them catch the last fugitives who have escaped justice.

All of them have connections to Spain but may have moved around over the years and will be using false identities. Authorities are re-releasing their details as millions of Brits are enjoying their summer holidays abroad.

“As my fellow Britons know, the success of Crimestoppers, whether in the UK or Spain, is all about the active support of ordinary people for the work of the police, so I would like to appeal to British residents and holidaymakers in Spain to be on the lookout this summer for these 11 fugitives from British justice. Your information, given anonymously, can put these criminals back where they belong: behind bars in the UK,” said Simon Manley, the British Ambassador to Spain.

The 11 include Sarah Panitzke. Panitzke, 45, from Fulford, near York, is wanted by HMRC and is accused of laundering approximately £1bn for a crime group involved in VAT fraud.

To carry out the alleged frauds, she travelled extensively to places including Dubai, Spain and Andorra. She absconded in May 2013 before her trial finished.

Panitzke has a Yorkshire accent and is about 5ft 5in tall. Eighteen members of her crime group received sentences totalling 135 years.

Also on the list is alleged murderer Allan Foster, 43, who has been on the run since May 2006 when David Rice was shot dead as he sat in his car in South Shields, Tyne and Wear.

The NCA works closely with Crimestoppers, the Spanish authorities, UK law enforcement agencies and the British Embassy in Madrid as part of the Operation Captura campaign.

We have seen 84 fugitives returned to the UK out of 96 publicised cases. One case has been dropped.

In June, Christopher Guest More Jr, 41, became the latest fugitive to be arrested and returned to the UK after being on the run for 16 years.

Andy Cooke-Welling, of the NCA’s International Crime Bureau, said: “Operation Captura has been a resounding success.

“But we are still hunting the remaining fugitives on our list and will not stop.

“We urge holidaymakers and expats in Spain and elsewhere across Europe to keep their eyes and ears open this summer.

“There may also be people in the UK with vital information on their whereabouts, and we would urge them to get in touch. Having the public’s attention focused on them makes it so much harder to hide.”

Mark Hallas, Chief Executive at Crimestoppers charity, said: “Members of the public are one of our greatest weapons in the fight against crime. Once again we are asking the public to help track down most wanted individuals who are sought in connection with some violent, sexual and highly organised crimes.

“We’ve always had an overwhelming response to this campaign, to date 84 offenders have been caught across Europe.

“You can view all the appeals on the most wanted section of Crimestoppers website and if you know anything about the individuals please contact the Crimestoppers charity.

“No one will ever know who you are, not even us.”

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of a fugitive should can contact Crimestoppers 100 percent anonymously at crimestoppers-uk.org or call 0800 555 111 from the UK or 900 555 111 from Spain. 

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CRIME

Spanish court shelves Shakira tax fraud case

A court in Spain said Thursday it has shelved a probe into another alleged tax fraud by Colombian pop star Shakira, putting an end to her legal woes in the country where she once lived.

Spanish court shelves Shakira tax fraud case

Prosecutors had opened the case in July, accusing her of using a network of companies, some of them based in tax havens, to cheat the tax office out of €6.6 million ($7.09 million) in 2018, including interest and adjustments. A month later, the so-called Queen of Latin Pop paid €6.6 million to settle the debt.

But on Wednesday prosecutors recommended that the probe be dropped due to “insufficient evidence” and the court investigating the case agreed.

While the court said the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer had committed “irregularities” in her 2018 tax return, it added that “irregularities are not enough to constitute a (criminal) offence against the tax authorities”.

It added that Shakira did not have “the intent to defraud the tax authorities”.

In a separate case, Shakira in November struck a last-minute settlement with prosecutors on the opening day of her trial over a separate tax fraud charge involving income she earned between 2012 and 2014.

In that case prosecutors had sought a jail sentence of over eight years for the singer. They accused her of defrauding the tax authorities of €14.5 million in a case that centred on how much time she was living in Spain.

Shakira denied the charges, saying she only moved to Spain full time in 2015.

By the time the case came to trial, she had already paid €17.45 million to settle her outstanding tax debt, prosecutors said at the time.

‘Emotional toll’

On the day it opened, that trial — which had been due to run for three weeks and hear from some 120 witnesses — was quickly concluded after she agreed to pay a fine of nearly 7.8 million euros.

At the time she explained she had settled “with the best interest of my kids at heart” because she needed “to move past the stress and emotional toll of the last several years” and focus on her career.

Shakira, 47, now lives in Miami with her two sons after splitting from Barcelona star defender Gerard Pique.

He was himself convicted of tax fraud in 2016 and ordered to pay €2.1 million in fines and arrears. Spain’s Supreme Court in 2021 annulled his conviction.

Last year, Shakira’s superstar Argentine producer Bizarrap won the Latin Grammy for song of the year with a track taking a swipe at Pique — who has since retired from football — in which she accuses him of leaving her with a “debt to the tax office”.

“People on my team tried to convince me to change the lyrics, but I’m not a UN diplomat. I am an artist and, above all, a woman,” Shakira told Spanish celebrity magazine ¡Hola!

Spain has in recent years cracked down on celebrities, including football stars such as Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, for unpaid taxes.

Both players were found guilty of evasion and received prison sentences that were waived for first-time offenders.

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