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CRIME

Teen holds up Spanish petrol station – but pays for soda

Police in Spain said Friday they had arrested a teenager who held up a petrol station, making off with around 2,000 euros but paying for a soda before fleeing.

Published: 6 January 2024 11:52 CET
File photo of a petrol pump at a petrol station in Pamplona
File photo of a petrol pump at a petrol station in Pamplona. A Spanish teen has been arrested for holding up a petrol station in Estepona, police said on Friday. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP)

The teenager is suspected of having burst into a petrol station in Estepona on Spain’s southern coast on Tuesday, wearing a hoodie and a mask, with a fake gun.

“After threatening the staff, he took the money from the cash register, about 2,000 euros ($2,200), and curiously, before leaving he paid for a soft drink which he took from a display,” police said in a statement.

Officers arrested the youth, as well as his suspected accomplice who is thought to have given him the fake gun, on Thursday.

One of the suspects told police they planned to buy a scooter with the stolen money.

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CRIME

Europol bust cocaine gang with arrests in Marbella and Canary Islands

Europol said Thursday that a crime ring smuggling drugs into Europe had collapsed as the result of an investigation involving 40 arrests and the seizure of eight tonnes of cocaine.

Published: 13 June 2024 14:52 CEST
Europol bust cocaine gang with arrests in Marbella and Canary Islands

The Hague-based European police force said the entire cartel, whose leaders were based in Turkey and Dubai, had been dealt a major blow after a final set of arrests Wednesday.

The vast three-year-long operation involved police forces from a dozen countries and ranged from Brazil to Spain via Turkey.

According to Europol, the final phase of the operation began with the discovery in August 2023 by the Spanish Guardia Civil of 700 kilos (1,540 pounds)of cocaine in a boat off the Canary Islands, crewed by Croat and Italian citizens.

After exchanging their findings with other police forces, the investigators found links with previous seizures which led to the identification of the masterminds.

In all, 40 people were arrested in six countries, including two top Croat members of the network, who were arrested at the end of 2023 in Istanbul, police said.

The last four arrests took place on Wednesday in Spain, according to Europol.

In one operation witnessed by an AFP journalist, heavily armed members of Spain’s Guardia Civil arrested a 40-year-old man at dawn at his home near Marbella, a seaside resort popular with drug traffickers.

The smugglers shipped cocaine from South America to logistical hubs in west Africa and the Canary Islands.

The drugs were then sent on to centres in Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy and Spain for distribution across Europe.

Many of the drug network’s assets, with a total value of several tens of millions of euros, had been seized or frozen, Europol added.

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