THE young man found off a cliff in Mijas yesterday was a 20-year-old from Slovenia. 

According to reports, the young man was known to police and had a criminal record.

Investigators believe he was shot at by a submachine gun after finding more than a dozen bullet casings surrounding the corpse.

At least seven bullets hit the young man.

Emergency number 112 received a call at 9.20am yesterday to report that a body had been found laying face down on a steep area of the cliffs behind Penon del Cura beach, situated between Fuengirola and Mijas.

The body was found not far from a popular chiringuito.

Paramedics, Policia Local, Guardia Civil and firefighters were all called to the scene.

The Benemerita Underwater Activities Group (GEAS) was also mobilised to search for evidence in the waters surrounding the body.

The corpse had to be carefully lifted using a stretcher and a series of ropes and pulleys.

There is no official line that this latest death is connected to organised crime but it does fit the modus operandi of a settling of accounts between rival gangs.

2019 has been the bloodiest year for a decade in terms of violent deaths in Malaga.

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