Drugs
Spanish police have blocked the creation of one of the largest Breaking Bad-style drug labs in Europe after 16 people were arrested – including seven in Britain.
The operation saw nearly 15,000 litres of chemical products seized which officers say would have been used to make £5million worth of amphetamines and ecstasy.
Seven people in Spain and two in France have been held alongside the seven in the UK. The operation involved French police and Britain’s National Crime Agency.
The UK arrests took place after a £4million haul of cannabis smuggled into the Port of Liverpool on a ship that had docked from Spain was seized.
Three of the suspects were under investigation in Spain and were described by police here as ‘heavyweights’ in the criminal organisation they smashed.
Just under half of the chemical products set to be used to make the synthetic drugs were seized at two warehouses and a garage in Malaga.
The rest were discovered at Barcelona’s El Prat airport.
Anti Piracy
A Spanish naval ship has stopped an illegal whaling ship off the coast of Somalia as part of ongoing efforts to tackle piracy off the Horn of Africa.
The Castilla assault vessel intercepted the whaler near to Somalia’s coast line on Saturday. A helicopter from the Spanish ship spotted the vessel, and after personnel confirmed it was a whaling ship the Castilla neutralized it.
The Castilla is currently taking part in Operation Atalanta, a European Union effort to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden.
Halloween Warning
A CONSUMER protection body has issued a warning about potentially lethal Halloween costumes for kids.
The group has warned that some costumes on the market may contain flammable components, small pieces that could choke and ropes and cords that could lead to strangulation.
The alert has been issued by the General Directorate for the Protection of Consumers and Users for the Government of Aragon but parents throughout the whole of Spain should be alert to the dangers.
The general director of the group, said parents should verify that the products have the ‘CE’ marking which he said ¨is proof that the manufacturer has taken into account all the safety conditions”.
he added, it’s also “very important to verify that masks have holes wide enough so that the child can breathe easily”.
Football
The fallout of Julen Lopetegui’s sacking as Real Madrid manager raged on in the Spanish papers this morning, with the club and It’s chairman coming in for fierce criticism.
Lopetegui was sacked after a disastrous 5-1 El Clasico defeat to Barcelona on Sunday afternoon to compound a dreadful start to the season.
They lambasted the ‘stuffy’ statement released by the club, saying that the sacking had been carried out in an terrible way.
The appointment of Lopetegui appeared doomed from the beginning, after he was sacked as Spain manager days before the start of the World Cup in the summer after accepting the role in what was a disastrous PR move for president Florentino Perez.