Three places across the municipality now have chilled drinking water fountains installed by Benidorm City Council. The City Council and Hidraqua, the city’s Integrated Water Cycle concessionaire, are working together on this project as part of a trial project. “Facilitate the availability of tap water to residents and tourists in highly frequented public spaces,” Mayor Toni Pérez said yesterday, Monday 24th March, when describing the project’s objectives.

Together with José Ramón González de Zárate, the councillor for water cycle, local government representatives, and business representatives, the mayor paid a visit to the first of these installed fountains. Since last year, the service has been offered in Alicante, and on Monday, three further fountains were unveiled at l’Alfàs del Pi.

Two more fountains will be placed this week in Séquia Mare Park and Plaza del Torrejó, which is opposite to the Tourist Office. The first fountain in Benidorm is situated on Avenida Armada Española at its intersection with Avenida Racharell. Connected to the municipal drinking water supply network, the three chilled drinking water fountains are designed to provide households with water.

Toni Pérez pointed out that the campaign “promotes the consumption of tap water as a safe and healthy option and, at the same time, reduces the generation of plastic waste associated with single-use water bottles.” The mayor further underlined that doing so “reduces the environmental impact and contributes to building a more sustainable future.”

The pumps in question include a cooling system to give users cold water, and they are directly fed from the municipal drinking water network. They have a drain exit to remove extra water and an electrical connection to run the cooling system. Additionally, they are constructed from materials that are resistant to weather and vandalism and are created to be accessible to those with limited mobility.

Following reports of drug usage by both adult and juvenile students during school hours and playtime, the Santa Pola Local Police, using its canine squad, have stepped up its controls around the municipality’s secondary schools. Five individuals were detected and reported for the possession and use of narcotic substances yesterday morning, Monday 24th March, thanks to the service’s employment of passive detection dogs.

When two officers and a sniffer dog arrived at the two secondary schools on Calle del Mar at 7:30 a.m., they checked students who had arrived by bus but did not discover any drugs. They went to the ravine next to the Santa Pola secondary school’s perimeter fence just before 8:00 a.m., when they saw two minors, ages 14 and 16, smoking cigarettes. They tossed the smokes to the ground as they noticed the officers.

The sniffer dog then found a piece of hashish in their backpacks, indicating positive results. The principal, the girls’ legal guardians, Social Services, and the Alicante Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office were informed, and both girls were escorted to the school.

The policemen returned to the area during break at approximately 10:50 a.m. This time, they pulled over a 17-year-old girl who was in the car park on an electric scooter. When she saw them, she attempted to drive away but was stopped; the dog found two bits of marijuana and hashish in her backpack. She was charged with possessing drugs.
A few minutes later, a 20-year-old El Altet resident who was getting out of a car to go to school received a positive result from the dog. Officers searched him and discovered marijuana in his trousers pocket. They examined the vehicle because they thought it might contain more drugs, and they found a bag of marijuana near the gear stick. They reported the driver.

The canine service resumed their hunt for potential users in La Cruz Park following the break. They found a man smoking what looked to be marijuana there, and once the detection dog recognised him, they found two buds in the pocket of his right trousers. The defendant was charged with both public narcotics possession and consumption.

Officers from the National Police and the Elche Local Police have detained two males, aged 41 and 51, who are accused of scamming multiple customers at a mechanic’s business in the city. One of individuals arrested, the business’s owner, is accused of misappropriating funds granted for repairs without actually finishing them and, in certain cases, selling cars that did not belong to him. The investigation resulted in the recovery of seven cars used in the scheme, some of which had fraudulent documentation.

The complaints uncovered the scheme

The investigation began after a number of complaints were made to the National Police. The victims, auto repair business customers, said that after leaving their vehicles for repairs and advancing the necessary funds, the shop manager stopped replying to them. Furthermore, the complainants stated that he was no longer present at the shop and avoided all interaction with them.

Two of the victims said they had purchased vehicles from the suspect but never got them. In one case, the car was not theirs, and the other was impounded. To pull off the scam, the suspect allegedly faked the vehicle’s documentation and duped the buyers into thinking the transaction was lawful.

Investigation and discovery of cars

Given the gravity of the allegations, National Police officers attached to the Elche Police Station’s Property Crimes Group launched an inquiry to clarify the situation. During the process, they requested assistance from the Elche Local Police’s Establishments and Activities Unit, which led to the finding of both the impacted automobiles and the workshop owner.

The police probe resulted in an inspection of the establishment, when authorities discovered seven cars used in the scheme. These automobiles were transported to the Municipal Vehicle Depot and then returned to their respective owners.

A second individual involved in the plot

A few days after the business owner was arrested, investigators discovered a second suspect in the fraud. This person also profited from the money obtained through fraud, convincing victims to pay for repairs that would never be finished.

In total, the inmates defrauded their clients of around 5,000 euros. The police are continuing their investigation to look for other automobiles that could be connected in the case.