Vox Embarrassed
Police have arrested a local leader of Spain’s emergent far-right party Vox party on suspicion he had committed sex crimes against a person with disabilities, prompting the populist movement yesterday to distance itself from the man and to retroactively delete social media posts involving him.
Local press named the suspect as José Antonio Ortiz Cambray, allegedly the local president of Vox in the city of Lleida in Catalonia.
Wild Fires
Spain continued to battle unseasonal wildfires in its northern regions of Asturias and Cantabria yesterday although authorities hope forecasts of easing winds and some rain will help put an end to days-long battle to rein in a spate of blazes that investigators believed many might have been started deliberately.
A string of wildfires have affected two mountainous areas since the end of last week – at least 350 outbreaks have been recorded in Asturias alone but emergency services said a total of 10 blazes, split evenly between the regions, remained active.
Drug Bust
AN alleged drug gang behind at least thirty robberies has been caught in dawn raids by police across eastern Mallorca.
The Guardia Civil arrested 10 people and seized two kilos of marijuana, as well as a cache of stolen goods.
Police carried out simultaneous raids on three properties on Tuesday followed by a raid yesterday morning on an internet cafe.
Kidnap Victim Arrested
Officers from the National Police in conjunction with colleagues in France, have freed a Venezuelan drug trafficker who had been kidnapped in Paris.
The operation began in Spain as part of an investigation into criminal groups dedicated to kidnapping and extortion.
The investigation discovered that the victim was being held in a residence in the French capital.
It was only when the victim’s identity was fully clarified that the investigators discovered the man was wanted on an arrest warrant in Spain after being arrested in possession of 13 kg of cocaine.
The victim’s relief and release was short lived, as he was arrested in France in order to be returned to Spain to face the charges against him.
Missing People
Authorities are inviting people to send by email any details they have about unrecorded victims of the Civil War and the four decades of dictatorship that followed.
The Justice Ministry announced yesterday that the move aims to help create a reliable census of anonymous burials in unmarked ditches across the country.
The socialist government wants to unearth and identify the estimated 114,000 victims.
Three U.N-sponsored missions to Spain since 2013 have criticized authorities for lacking a plan to search for missing people.
A recent report said that only around a quarter of the estimated victims could be identified and recovered.