Archive news articles

09/09/02

•   In Puerto de la Cruz in the north of Tenerife, National Police officers arrested a man last Tuesday who is accused of making purchases with false credit cards and documents which had been stolen from the inside of cars parked in the town.  The accused is a habitual delinquent with 23 previous arrests for various offences ranging from sexual abuse and drug trafficking to robbery, and is known to police locally as "El Nazi".  He had been buying electronic products at various shops in Puerto de la Cruz, valued at 1,000 euros.  Following a search of his home, several prescriptions were found - presumably stolen from a health centre, and used for buying drugs for subsequent sale.  He has been remanded in prison awaiting a court hearing.

•   In Fuerteventura, Guardia Civil officers detained 75 illegal immigrants and three crew members last Tuesday, who had arrived on 5 separate boats.  The first boat was intercepted off the coast of Gran Tarajal with 23 people on board.  A further 2 boats were seen to arrive at Playa de las Salinas in the Antigua district, where 20 men and a woman were detained, one of whom had injured a leg while climbing some rocks.  The remainder of the passengers ran off, but police expected to detain them within a short time.

Meanwhile, off the coast of Lanzarote, a fishing vessel went to the aid of a boat last Tuesday which had taken in some water, where they found 15 Moroccan passengers, one of whom was a woman.  These were taken on board the fishing boat, but two people refused to leave their boat and returned to Africa.