Costa Blanca
With over one million passengers in January, Alicante-Elche airport sets yet another record

The Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport’s passenger flow has been consistently setting new records. This pattern continued at the tail end of January, when the provincial airfield set a new record by carrying more than one million passengers. With 1,057,214 passengers in the first month of 2025, the result reflects a gain of 10.3% compared to the 958,088 passengers reported in the same month last year. Up until then, the most enjoyable January in the series had been 2024.
Aena data shows that, with 891,101 registered passengers, international traffic climbed by 10.6% and remains the leading source of passengers. There were 165,688 passengers recorded for domestic transportation, which represents a 9.5% increase. This is in comparison to business traffic and the corresponding period previous year.
As before, the UK topped the worldwide market with 296,539 tourists; next came the Netherlands with 80,379; Belgium with 67,608; Germany with 66,290; and Poland with 65,387. Similarly, Alicante Airport had 7,123 aeroplane operations in May, a 10.1% increase over the same month in 2024, and a record amount of passengers for the airport overall.
Having reached a new milestone in the first month of 2025, the terminal in the Elche district of El Altet continues to face another set of challenges that started to pile up last spring. Since then, the monthly passenger totals have surpassed one million, and 2024 ended with an all-time high of over 18.3 million passengers. This record showed a 16% rise compared to 2023 estimates and also made it the aerodrome with the fastest yearly growth rate among the five airport facilities in the country, surpassing Malaga airport.
This pattern of behaviour is being repeated using January data, which shows that the Alicante terminal saw a 10.3% increase, which is more than the growth observed by the top five airports in terms of traffic volume. The following airports experienced growth: Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas (8.4%), El Prat (5.4%), Gran Canaria (6.2%), Málaga (1.9%), and Tenerife (6.8%). But as we begin this new year, the provincial airport is in sixth place overall, well below all of them. Tenerife is in fifth place, with 1,287,940 passengers, while Málaga achieved 1,369,837.
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Costa Blanca
Benidorm, police catch man with 600 marijuana plants in his car

A 49-year-old man was caught in Benidorm by the National Police for transporting marijuana plants and other supplies needed for their growth in his own car. A crime against public health has been charged against the man who was caught.
The man was arrested as the last step in an investigation that began when the National Police learnt about his activities in the province of Alicante, which included moving drugs (mostly marijuana) and building infrastructure for future hydroponic crops.
In the beginning, police focused on finding the man and his car. After making sure of both of these things, investigators did a number of surveillance and monitoring operations to confirm how he worked. It was proven that the suspect was carrying drugs and the nutrients needed to grow marijuana hydroponically in people’s houses in the province of Alicante as they drove.
Last but not least, the arrest happened after one of the operations to spy on and track one of the trucks.
When he was arrested, his car was checked, and police found 600 marijuana cuttings, €1,500, two mobile phones, and thirteen five-litre drums of fertiliser and plant growth nutrients.
The arrested man was given to the Benidorm Investigative Court after the police looked into the case.
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21 expensive cars that were stolen in the U.S. were found Valencia port

Together with the US Container Security Initiative, the Guardia Civil and the Tax Agency found 21 high-end cars that were stolen in the U.S. and were on their way to Africa in the port of Valencia. The cars, which were worth a total of €1.1 million, were reported stolen and were being moved in containers.
The cars were stolen in the U.S. and were on their way to different places in Africa, stopping in Valencia’s port. Risk analysis units made up of Guardia Civil and Tax Agency officers were able to find several packages that might not have had the goods that were claimed to have been inside.
With the help of the information gathered, it was confirmed that stolen cars that had been in Valencia on their way to the United States had actually arrived. The groups that ship stolen cars either traded legally declared cars for stolen ones or directly declared the stolen cars as other goods, like furniture or mattresses.
In the past few weeks, 21 vehicles have been found and will be sent back to their home countries to be given to their original owners.
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14 immigrants were saved on a boat 45 miles off the coast of Alicante

On Wednesday, 2nd April, the Maritime Rescue ship Salvamar Leo saved 14 immigrants who were travelling in a boat about 45 miles from Alicante.
In the middle of the afternoon on Wednesday, Maritime Rescue sent out its Helimer 223 helicopter and the Salvamar Leo, which is based in Alicante, to save the people on a small boat.
Their journey began on the Salvamar Leo, which took them to the Temporary Assistance Centre for Foreigners in the port of Alicante. There, the Red Cross took care of them.
The Red Cross says that all of the refugees they saved were men, and two of them were younger than 15 years old. They were all healthy after being treated.
The National Police took over the refugees after getting help from the Red Cross. They are now trying to find the boat’s captain so they can arrest him, as is normal in these situations.
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