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CRIME

Police officer and farmer die in shooting in small Spanish town

A man suffering from psychological problems shot and killed a farmer and a policeman in Spain's Castilla-La Mancha region on Wednesday before being shot dead by police, local authorities said.

Published: 26 October 2022 16:45 CEST
Police officer and farmer die in shooting in small Spanish town
Argamasilla de Calatrava, the small municipality where the shooting took place, has a population of around 5,800 people. Photo: Zarateman/Wikipedia

The 50-year-old barricaded himself in his house in Argamasilla de Calatrava in the south-central Castilla-La Mancha region with a rifle with a telescopic sight and started shooting, a town councillor told media.

The man, who had “psychological problems”, killed a farmer who was in the area and a policeman before being shot dead himself by police who arrived on the scene, the councillor added.

Spanish media reported that the shootings began after the man got into an argument with his 81-year-old father, who was injured.

Two other people were injured in the shooting — a 49-year-old Guardia Civil policeman and another man, believed to be a local police officer, a spokesman for local emergency services said.

All three injured were taken to hospital, he added.

Violent crime, especially gun violence, is fairly rare in Spain.

The country of around 47 million people recorded 290 murders in 2021, a 12.4 percent drop from 2020, according to interior ministry figures.

READ ALSO: What’s the law on guns in Spain?

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CRIME

Spain seizes 1.8 tonnes of Sinaloa Cartel’s crystal meth

Spanish police said Thursday they had seized 1,800 kilos of crystal meth that Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel was trying to sell in Europe, the country's "biggest-ever seizure" of the narcotic.

Published: 16 May 2024 17:07 CEST
Spain seizes 1.8 tonnes of Sinaloa Cartel's crystal meth

Police arrested five people during the raid in the eastern Alicante province, one of them a Mexican running the cartel’s Spanish operation, a statement said.

“This is the biggest-ever seizure of crystal meth in Spain and the second largest in Europe,” Antonio Martinez Duarte, head of the police’s drug trafficking and organised crime unit, told reporters.

“Among those arrested is a Mexican citizen linked to the Sinaloa Cartel,” he added.

READ ALSO: What are the penalties for drug possession in Spain?

He did not give his name but indicated the suspect was responsible for receiving the narcotics in Spain then distributing them within Europe.

The Sinaloa Cartel is one of Mexico’s oldest, largest and most violent criminal groups whose influence remains strong despite the arrest of its founder Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman and his son.

Both have been extradited to and jailed in the United States.

During the operation, police also detained three Spaniards and a Romanian, seizing five cars, documents, a weapon and cash.

But police believe it was a one-off trafficking operation and that “Mexican organisations are not permanently based” in Spain, Martinez Duarte said.

“These organisations send a trusted person who carries out the operation in line with their interests” and once that is over, he goes back home, he explained.

The seized narcotics had been due to be shipped to central Europe.

Although Spain is one of the main drug gateways to Europe, seizures of synthetic narcotics are uncommon as most traffickers usually deal in cannabis and cocaine.

READ ALSO: Why is Spain’s Europe’s cocaine gateway?

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