Costa Blanca

Benidorm taxi drivers want more licences

Taxi drivers in Benidorm have been protesting outside of Town Hall for three days now. The Benidorm and Marina Baixa Taxi Workers’ Union got together again today from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. to make their demands to the local government known: more licences for taxis in the town so that people don’t have to wait as long.

This is what Juan Manuel Ruiz, president of the new association, says. He also promises that they will keep protesting every Friday until the City Council finds an answer. To do this, they have a meeting on February 18th that is very important. Other groups in the same field, as well as the Councillor for Mobility, Francis Muñoz, will be there.

Taxi drivers pay attention to two things. On the one hand, there aren’t enough licences to meet the demand, especially during the busiest tourist months. This time frame has grown over time, and they now think that the cars are on the street 24 hours a day for about eight months of the year. In particular, from Easter until after the Major Patron Saint Festivals. Other than these months, they also have busy times at certain times of the year, like around Christmas. In this way, Ruiz says they have been “overwhelmed with work” since 2023.

On the other hand, they stress how “particularly serious” it is for permits for cars that have been modified. Taxi drivers say that people could have to wait up to an hour during the busy season. Because of this, customers complain to the workers “every day,” and the lines that are always full give the business a bad name, as Ruiz says. So, they stress how important it is to get more cabs with these features without changing regular licences into adapted ones. In other words, a step that makes the daily fleet bigger.

The City Council claims they go beyond the rates set by the Taxi Law, even doubling the maximum number of permits. They have 232 licences right now. “We are well above what the law says,” he said. As for permits for people with limited movement, they have 14. What he said was that he wanted to rise because “Benidorm is a city that is very committed to accessibility.” At least 5% of the amount must be paid, and the town has 6.3% so far.

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Costa Blanca

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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Costa Blanca

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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Costa Blanca

Dénia wrestler arrested in connection with a network that smuggled 300 kilos of cocaine from Ecuador

The National Police’s Drugs and Organised Crime Unit arrested a famous mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter from Dénia. He was part of a gang that was partly broken up in August over a shipment of 300 kg of cocaine from Ecuador that came into the port of Valencia. The fighter from Dénia is one of five people who were caught by police. Along with nine other gang members who were already in jail at the time, they are now in jail.

The man who was arrested in Dénia is thought to be the trusted man of the gang’s leader, who is also an MMA fighter, and the person who is said to have worked as a go-between in the operation.

Levante-EMV also says that the broken-down network is linked to another shipment of 490 kg of cocaine that came into the port of Valencia in April of last year.

The five people who were just caught went before Valencia’s Investigative Court No. 20 yesterday, April 3rd.