THE Public Prosecutor’s Office has expressed ‘serious concern’ over the rise in murders on the Costa del Sol.
In 2018 the Malaga institution opened 95 preliminary murder hearings, a 44% rise on the previous year, and 61% more than four years ago.
Meanwhile assassinations or ‘intentional homicides’ in the province rose from 52 in 2017 to 65 last year, a 25% increase.
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The Public Ministry added that criminals, including those involved in the hashish trade with Morocco, act ‘without fear’.
Explosives used by ‘narco terrorists’ in ‘score-settling’ between rival gangs was also highlighted by the Ministry, as a concerning trend.
It comes after a carwash in Marbella and a house in Benahavis were simultaneously bombed back in October in a settling of accounts.
Those attacks followed the death of Brian Martos Carmona a week earlier, who was gunned down in Estepona and bundled into the back of a car.
October was a particularly bloody month, as narco and bombmaker Hamza Ziani was also slaughtered in sushi restaurant in Torremolinos.
While in May, David Avila Ramos was killed in a drive-by shooting in San Pedro a month after his chiringuito was burned to the ground.
