Dylan Wagemans
FIVE shootings have taken place on the Costa del Sol this month, with a handcuffed body being found and a young Brit getting executed in broad daylight.
On April 2, a man opened fire at four men, with one of them being his target, they were only wounded.
The suspect was arrested 48 hours later, being charged with four counts of murder.
It was the first shooting in a month that would see multiple people dead or injured on the Costa del Sol.
On Holy Thursday, the alarms went off again, this time in the Malaga neighborhood of Portada Alta, with a neighbor hospitalised with a shot in the leg.
Barely a week later, a young Brit was executed in broad daylight in Mijas, with his face hidden, he waited until he was close to riddle him with bullets.
The suspect is still on the run.
The shooter wanted to make sure that he had ended the life of his victim, to do so, he pulled the trigger up to at least 10 times, according to the first results of the autopsy that was performed on the body.
The violence continued to escalate only one day later, with a scuffle in Estepona in which some squatters used firearms, although there were no victims.
24 hours later, Mijas again witnessed a violent episode with the discovery of the body of a man tied up and in an advanced state of decomposition.
“Mijas is the municipality that’s home to the largest mafias in Spain, even more than Marbella and Estepona,” a police expert familiar with these criminal organizations said.
For years, the number of groups linked to drug trafficking based in the area has been increasing.
Many have moved a part of their operations to the Costa del Sol, attracted by its climate, infrastructure and international connections.
Russian, Romanian, Latin American, Swedish, Balkan mafias and especially the Moroccan mafia compete for control of drug trafficking, human trafficking and arms trafficking.
