TheArmChairDetective

A horrible story on page 50 and 51 of a part of the paper called Femail Real Life. written apparently by Lucie Morris in Alicante and Tom Worden in LA Manga.
The piece is entitled Death of a Dream and it is two whole pages about the serious crime rate in the Costa Blanca where criminals are targeting Brits for Burglary, gassing, kidnap gang rapes, rape and serious assault. The worst places to live it says are Javea, La Manga, Torrevieja and in particular the entire Brit population (400) of Hondon de los Frailes is "under attack by the Romanian Mafia".
It goes on to say that the amount of new sales in C.B is falling badly and the number of resales increases daily as the Brits rush to return home to the UK.

Of course the job of a paper is to make money and not necessarily report the whole truth.
This was one area (Murcia) that my wife and I were looking at moving to, does anyone have an idea of the truth in regards to this "Mafia" crime wave" area please?

coralsoft

According to this piece in The Times, there's a large British criminal presence and unlike the good old boys of the past escaping criminal histories in the UK, these guys are active locally in the drug trade.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/...640082,00.html

Whatever the facts, you can be sure that if there are significant (> 10? ) numbers of humans around there's going to be some criminal activity.

TheArmChairDetective

You are right of course.
I do wonder though if these scare stories are as true as they are made out to be.

sibsie

I lived in La Sella which is about 11ks from Javea. I was burgled three times, twice with violence. I was robbed at an ATM in Javea in the actual bank lobby. I was robbed at the Air france check in on my final day when I was leaving to move to the US.

I can honestly say that I don't know a single person over there who hasn't been the victim of crime at some point. When I was at the US Embassy in Madrid sorting out my US visa, the place was full of people who'd been robbed of various possessions. It was definately a deciding factor in my wanting to leave Spain and yes it seems that as many move out of Spain as move in, but whether or not the decisions to leave are totally crime related is doubtful.

Mercedes

It's happening also on the Costa Del Sol, well the gassing/burglary is anyhow. There is a drug trade here and so you get the problems associated with it. There is problems coming from the Eastern Block and I know some of the British criminals who have been here for a while have packed up and hear they are being pushed out by Eastern Europeans criminals. Probably because they really don't **** around. Targeted areas tend to be expat areas. I live in a Spanish community away from it and haven't personally had any problems but know a few have. The moral of the story is probably not to buy in a tourist expat area but head more into the Spanish areas where money is'nt so obvious. Some people from poorer countries tend to think the expats have more money. Some of the targets by the Easterners are specific, ie they're not taking TV and videos but stuff which is worth more, ie art etc. On some of the victims they have known where the CCTV has been, but it is rumoured to be a gang of Russian ex Special forces doing some of the upmarket stuff because they have a different kind of knowledge.

Buy in a low profile area and you probably will be just fine, Money attracts criminals full stop, it doesn't matter where you are in the world. Besides if you buy in a spanish community you will probably find more genuine people, well I have and am glad I don't live in an expat community.

svenskidoo

Torrevieja has had a bad reputation for some time. From what I've heard the situation is on the up as more police resources have been brought in, but now the gangs are moving to areas just outside the town.

A common thing is all the eastern european fruit pickers; when their jobs come to an end, they rob blind the nearest urbanisations on their way home.

Hondon:

A local restaurant began offering a fish and chips night. Most of the local brits flocked there and as they parked up, someone was ticking them off a long list. Of those that spent the evening in the restaurant, 90% of them were burgled whilst they enjoyed their mushy peas.

TheArmChairDetective

I take it the restaurant were ignorant of this fact at the time?

jerry brewer

Hi
a link

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_...Spanish+Costas

try a google search there are plenty of 'hits'
cheers
Jerry

Nige

Obviously the place to go for your idyllic holiday home is Eastern Europe - perhaps Rumania or Bulgaria ? Just leave Torrivieja to the criminals ?

jerry brewer

Hi
an interesting theory.
cheers
Jerry

merlino

Here is the article for anyone who missed it :- :scared:

<<Article removed due to possible copyright infringement - Sue>>

sibsie

I hate to say it but it sounds all too familiar. I posted a while back about the gassing in Javea. My sister has recently moved back to London (in fact, most of my friends are now leaving). She lived next to the Major of Valencia's summer home. They had armed Guardia Civil at all the entrances to the street and it was heavily patrolled. Not even that stopped one of her neighbours being gassed. They had everything, including their car stolen. My sis was robbed while she was in the house with her 6 year old daughter present.

TheArmChairDetective

But sibsie,
Why did you go to spain in the first place please?
I bet it was for the sun.
But then again, you could have gone to Florida......couldn't you?
Do you still have relatives in spain?

Mercedes

But I don't think you are any safer in the UK. If they are using this method in Spain, trust me it won't be long before it is happening in UK. Its about putting measures in to help prevent crime happening to you. You can get biological detectors that you put into your house to detect gasses etc. The trouble with a lot of ex pats is they get pissed and drop their guard, because they think they are safer. I've seen women staggering home in the early hours in the morning pissed out of their head, and they wonder why something happens to them. Same with handbags being nicked, watch around and you will see many people with purses open and them not being aware whats going around them. I have often walked up to a woman and told her to close her purse, change arms etc. I personally think people should put better security measures in and be more aware instead of running home. Because who is to say they will be safer.

TheArmChairDetective

Without sounding prudish, that's one of the reasons we want out of here.