Eduardo Dolón, Mayor of Torrevieja, was joined by Sandra Sánchez, Councillor for Urban Services; Concha Sala, Councillor for Parks and Gardens; Diana Box, Councillor for Sports; Jorge Ballesta, Manager and Deputy Manager of AGAMED; and Gemma Cruz to inaugurate the new skate park in the Torrealmendros rolling pond. This facility is part of a larger initiative to develop, improve, and integrate Torreta Florida Floodplain Park into the landscape.

Claudio Pastor, the president of the Puro Skateboard Torrevieja Skating Club, and secretary Silvia Jiménez led a large contingent of members to the opening ceremony. It is worth noting that Valeria Chacón, a young Torrevieja member of this club, is the Valencian Community champion in her category and is currently competing in an Olympic sport. The club’s skating squad complimented and thanked Torrevieja City Council for developing this enormous sports facility, which was created with their input to be as effective as possible for their training sessions.

The mayor congratulated AGAMED on the opening of the sports area located on the storm pond, which required an expenditure of about 700,000 euros, and praised the Puro Skateboard Club for its support and collaboration throughout the development of the park. The park has become a popular location for practicing this sport.

This new sports facility includes a modern skate park with specialised modules such as Quarter+Flat, Hand Rail, Manual Pad+Flat, Flat Rail, and Funbox+Hubba+Spine, allowing skaters to practise numerous modalities and techniques of this urban sport.

The project comprises not only the sports facility but also a callisthenics area, new street furniture, and a thorough landscape integration plan based on planting, all of which contribute to the space’s renaturalisation and the establishment of a new green space for all citizens to enjoy.

This project is a key step towards upgrading Torrevieja’s sports and leisure facilities by providing a modern and multifunctional place for skateboarding and other outdoor activities.

The Guardia Civil has investigated a company in the province of Alicante for many crimes, including illegally selling bananas from Madeira (Portugal) as if they were Canary Island bananas at more than double the price. In addition to the alleged fraud, the company’s authorisation to market bananas of this kind has been cancelled. The Guardia Civil estimate that in 2023 alone, they sold about two tonnes of bananas.

Investigators probed the corporation last April for two crimes against industrial property, one of document fabrication, and a fourth felony involving the market and consumers. The proceedings were transferred to an Investigative Court in San Vicente del Raspeig, and administrative proceedings have been initiated for infringement of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 of the European Parliament and Council, which might result in fines ranging from €4,001 to €3,000,000.

The Guardia Civil’s Seprona (National Police) launched the operation in response to a complaint from an association of Canary Island banana producers, whose trademark has been registered by European authorities and is protected under the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) due to its distinctive characteristics. Only certified operators are allowed to market it.

According to the allegation, a corporation with premises in the Alicante region was distributing Canary Island bananas despite having a suspended trading authorisation. It further warned that it could promote bananas from Portugal and other nations as PGI Canary Island Bananas.

Agents from Alicante Seprona (National Agency for the Protection of Animals) began their investigations and conducted multiple inspections of the company’s storage and ripening chambers. They also conducted additional inspections and verifications at other locations in Alicante, Valencia, Vigo, and Bilbao, where the goods were purportedly marketed by the Alicante firm.

The agents were able to confirm many batches of Madeira bananas sold as Canary Island bananas. They also verified that the company’s marketing licence for selling under this brand had been cancelled.

The Spanish National Police (Seprona) has confirmed that the corporation manipulated paperwork and invoices while concealing the product’s marketing from the certifying company and the government. According to the Guardia Civil, the government had earlier rescinded its marketing authorisation for this product after discovering irregularities in its operations.

The Guardia Civil claims that it has certified the sale of approximately 2,000 tonnes of bananas by the company under investigation in 2023 alone but cannot prove the regularity of the sale of the majority of these goods.

The operation was carried out by the Seprona (National Police) of the Alicante Civil Guard Command, in close conjunction with the Valencian Government’s Agri-Food Quality Control Service, and data was shared with authorities in other countries via Europol.

In the fight against food fraud, Seprona conducts regular inspections of the various types of establishments involved in the various stages of food production and sales to ensure they comply with the necessary and mandatory requirements and guarantees, preventing consumers from being defrauded or exposed to any type of health risk. The programme identifies abnormalities in the counterfeiting, adulteration, labelling, illicit trading or distribution of food goods, as well as financial fraud involved with their sale.

A violent criminal gang that stole costly watches in Valencia and Alicante has been apprehended. The national police have disrupted a violent criminal organisation that specialised in the theft of costly watches. Seven people have been detained, six men and one woman, for alleged robbery with violence and intimidation, assault, and public health. They scared the victims with a firearm, bashing one of them in the head with the rifle’s buttstock before leaving on a motorbike.

During the searches, the firearm used in the robberies was seized, as were various quantities of drugs and a high-end watch.

The inquiry began in February, after a violent robbery of a watch was reported in Alicante. The victim said that while exiting a nightclub, he was struck in the head and fell to the ground, where two males stole his watch and fled the scene.

They committed one robbery every week

As the inquiry developed, authorities discovered two further robberies, including intimidation, conducted within two weeks of the first occurrence in Alginet (Valencia) and Alicante, respectively. In both cases, the victims were threatened with a firearm in order to steal their luxury watches, and they fled the scene on motorbike.

Highly specialised and nomadic criminal organisation

Throughout the inquiry, it was discovered that the members of this criminal organisation were highly specialised. They carried out the robberies quickly and were well-versed in the area. Furthermore, they were exceptionally competent in distinguishing high-end timepieces, which yielded the highest profit. Given their scarcity and high worth, these watches appreciate swiftly in the current secondhand market, allowing you to make more money from a single item.

Following the investigations and identification of the alleged perpetrators, a police operation was launched on April 29th, culminating in the arrest of six people in Madrid and another in Cuenca on charges of belonging to a criminal group, robbery with violence and intimidation, assault, and harm to public health. Following their appearance in court, two of those detained were sentenced to prison.