Drug Gang Violence Escalates in Spain’s Costa del Sol Resort Towns

Four shootings were recorded during the year-end periods. On December 7, a 30-year-old man died after receiving several bullets to the head. The incident, which occurred in broad daylight, in the early morning, in Fuengirola (Malaga), marked the end of a period of several months of calm in the region (Estepona, Fuengirola, Torremolinos and Benalmádena) since the April attacks, reports El Pais.

On December 24, a German tourist received three bullets in the leg in front of a pharmacy. Two days later, two other men were targeted by gunfire while traveling in a VTC in Benalmádena. On January 2, a man was shot dead in the parking lot of the Real Club de Pádel de Marbella, a sports center where the police carried out a large-scale operation in the spring that resulted in three arrests.

According to police sources, most of them are settling of scores related to drug trafficking. A phenomenon that is difficult to eradicate in Marbella. The Costa del Sol Plan was adopted in the summer to reduce the impact of organized crime on tourism in the city, said Mayor Ángeles Muñoz (PP). In this framework, police teams have been doubled and daily checkpoints have been set up in sensitive areas such as the Nueva Andalucía and Puerto Banús neighborhoods.

This increased presence of patrols has helped reduce crime in the city, say police sources. But after the summer, the checks have decreased, which explains the return of the shootings. "We need more security, and not just in the summer," business leaders plead. "The common denominator of all the shootings is drug trafficking, but also the fact that all the people involved are foreigners," explains an experienced police officer.