Drugs
Police in four countries have smashed an international drug-trafficking ring in which cocaine was
smuggled aboard commercial jets.
Colombian police say 30 people have been arrested, including the suspected ringleader, Jorge Juan
Merlo of Spain. He was arrested in the Colombian city of Cali.
Other suspects were arrested in Australia, Spain, and the United States. Nearly 800 kilograms of
cocaine, $200,000 in cash, and cars and cell phones were also seized.
Authorities say the drug ring was centered in Colombia from which cocaine was flown to other
countries hidden in luggage aboard regular passenger flights.
Also yesterday, Spanish authorities say they found nearly six tons of cocaine hidden inside a
shipment of bananas. Sixteen people were arrested.
Police also confiscated cash, guns and luxury cars in a raid in Malaga.
Spain says Dutch criminals were behind the ring in which cocaine from South America was
smuggled aboard ships to Portugal, then trucked to Spain and the Netherlands.
Franco
Hundreds of protesters in Madrid are urging the Spanish government and Catholic church
authorities to prevent the remains of dictator Francisco Franco from ending up in the city’s
cathedral.
The Socialist government has promised to exhume the general’s body from a glorifying mausoleum
he had built.
Franco’s heirs have proposed reinterring the remains in a family crypt below Almudena Cathedral, a
move that would thwart the government’s purpose for digging them up.
Protesters yesterday marched to the cathedral waving banners and chanting.
The government says it can remove Franco’s remains from the Valley of the Fallen, but can’t legally
stop his heirs from reburying them in a church.
Self Employed
THE government has signed a landmark deal to protect the rights of self-employed people.
The changes will link the contributions of self-employed workers to their actual incomes.
The changes are part of a government roll-out of fiscal measures to achieve a fairer society and are
part of the propposed 2019 Budget.
The announcement comes as the government also agree to ending so-called ‘false self employment’
before the end of this year by including a law that says workers offering their services for hire are
– in monetary terms – employed by the company hiring them.
Drink Drive
A 42-YEAR-OLD woman died on Wednesday on the Costa Blanca after being run over by an drunk
driver.
The incident took place near the La Zenia roundabout on the N-332 on the Orihuela costa.
The driver of the vehicle a 58-year-old Belgian woman, has since been detained.
A breathalyser test showed she was three times over the drink drive limit and has been charged
with reckless homicide.
She is expected to appear in court today.