The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the UK police’s use of stop and search powers granted under terrorism legislation is illegal.

The case was brought by two people who were stopped and searched under the Terrorism Act of 2000 while on their way to an arms fair.

The law grants police the power to search anyone regardless of suspicion. A senior police officer can grant the power for a defined area; this must then be confirmed by the secretary of state within 48 hours.

Jaume Matas is to be questioned as a suspect by the instructing judge in March

The former Partido Popular President of the Baleares government, Jaume Matas, is due to appear in court on 23rd March next year as a suspect in the ongoing investigation into construction of the Palma Arena Velodrome on Mallorca, and it’s now been revealed what charges he will face when he is questioned by the judge. El Mundo gives the list this Wednesday of his nine alleged crimes: perversion of the course of justice, embezzlement, misappropriation, falsifying documents, influence peddling, money laundering, bribery, and fiscal and electoral crimes.

Alberto Vilalta suffered gunshot wounds when he and his colleagues were taken a month ago

The Foreign Ministry has confirmed in a statement that one of the three Spanish aid workers kidnapped in Mauritania, and now believed to be held in Mali, was wounded when the group was snatched at the end of November and is receiving treatment for his injuries. Barcelona-Acciò Solidaria, the aid group the three were travelling with when they were taken while travelling in a humanitarian convoy on 29th November, names him as Alberto Vilalta, and says he was shot a number of times in the leg.

Spanish police have intercepted a two-tonne shipment of cocaine, smuggled into the country from Colombia.

The drugs, which Spanish media reports say were worth 70m euros (£62.8m), were hidden beneath a consignment of thousands of cut flowers.

They were discovered by police in an operation code-named “Flower Power” at Foronda airport, in the Basque Country.

Spain’s interior ministry has released pictures showing how the drugs were packed into the base of wooden pallets.

Four women are amongst an additional 25 people suspected in the case

National Police swoops across the country have arrested 60 people in 28 provinces in an extensive operation against possession and distribution of child pornography online. A further 25 people are being questioned as suspects, including four women.

More than 200 officers were involved in the 80 property searches which took place as part of the police operation, leading to the seizure of 180 hard discs, 28 computers and close to 1,500 CDs and DVDs containing pornographic images.

More than 200 kilos have been seized at the port in Algeciras and 24 suspects, including port staff, have been taken into custody

The Civil Guard have released details of an anti-drugs operation against a network of smugglers linked to the port in Algeciras which has seen the arrest of 24 suspects and more than 200 kilos of cocaine seized by officers. The total amount is 213 kilos, and Europa Press reports that 13 of the suspects in custody are workers employed at the port.

The consignment was brought into port in Sagunto and 12 suspects are now in custody

A consignment of cocaine with a street value going into the millions has been found hidden amongst a cargo of bananas at the port in Sagunto, Valencia. A total of 228 kilos of cocaine have been seized. The Interior Ministry said all 12 members of the drugs network responsible for smuggling the cocaine into Spain have been taken into custody, with arrests taking place in Murcia, Málaga and Segovia.

One of the suspects is an employee at a juvenile care centre

A Guardia Civil investigation has led to the arrest of 15 people across the country, including an employee at a juvenile care centre, for allegedly swapping child pornography images online. Another four people have been questioned as suspects in the case.

Santiago Mainar was sentenced to 20 years and nine months in prison today for the murder of Miguel Grima, the mayor of Fago, Huesca.

Sr Mainar was found guilty of killing Mayor Grima with a shotgun in January, 2007. He was also ordered to pay 105,000 euros on compensation to the victim’s family.

On hearing the sentence, Sr Mainar said it formed part of a “conspiracy” against the town. He said: “I did not kill anyone; but I prefer to be accused of killing a tyrant than of protecting him politically.”

Following the arrest of the mayor of Polop, sources close to the investigation claim the Guardia Civil are also investigating a councillor.

Officers are investigating the 2007 murder of Alejandro Ponsoda, the then mayor of Polop, in Alicante. His successor, Juan Cano, was arrested earlier this week, charged with ordering the murder. Sr Cano traded heavily on the murder of Sr Ponsoda to ensure his victory in elections and also attended his predecessor’s funeral. (Via The Reader)

The mayor of Polop, Alicante, was arrested yesterday in connection with the murder of his predecessor, Alejandro Ponsoda.

Police think Juan Cano arranged the murder after Sr Ponsoda refused to allow a 5,000 home construction project in which Sr Cano was involved. Sr Cano served as councillor for town planning under Sr Ponsoda and was recorded on two separate occasions trying to obtain commissions from promoters.

He fell from the fifth floor when his rope of sheets of gave way

An inmate from the provincial prison in El Acebuche admitted for treatment to Torrecárdenas Hospital in Almería City is in Intensive Care after falling from the fifth floor while trying to escape the building. He made his attempted escape in the early hours of Tuesday, falling when a knot gave way on one of the sheets he had tied together to form a rope.

The 37 suspects arrested obtained an estimated 3 million Euro

Police in Málaga have broken up a network of 37 people arrested for bank fraud amounting to 3 million €. The arrests took place in Málaga, Torremolinos and Antequera, and it’s understood that properties were also searched in Alhaurín el Grande.

Spain plans to introduce pan-European measures to combat domestic violence when it takes over the EU presidency on 1 January, the government announced Tuesday.

The Socialist government, which has made fighting violence against women one of its priorities, plans to promote three initiatives, Equality Minister Bibiana Aido said.

The first is “the creation of a European observatory on domestic violence to gather information, create common tools and be able to make a global diagnostic of the situation,” she told a news conference.

Britain and Spain have agreed to step up their cooperation in the fight against organised crime following the arrest of dozens of British fugitives on Spanish soil, British Home Secretary Alan Johnson said Tuesday.

“We agreed that having spent much of the earlier part of this decade focusing quite properly on counter-terrorism and illegal migration, now is the time to treat the fight against organised crime as an equal priority,” he said following talks in Madrid with his Spanish counterpart Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba.

Spain’s secretary of state for Europe is to be questioned by a judge over allegations he misappropriated public funds, just weeks before Madrid takes over the EU presidency, judicial sources said Friday.

The judge ruled admissible a complaint by a conservative law centre that Diego Lopez Garrido granted tens of thousands of euros of government aid to the Alternatives Foundation, a think-tank close to the ruling Socialist Party and which he used to head.

He was being questioned Wednesday night in Madrid police station after allegedly trying to take works of art out of the country

The ex President of Real Madrid, the businessman Lorenzo Sanz, has been arrested for trying to take works of art out of Spain illegally. Reports indicate he gave a statement to the police in a central Madrid police station at Retiro on Wednesday night, and was allowed to go home afterwards, but with charges outstanding.

A fifth person is charged and more drugs have been found

The judge in Instruction Court 2 in Fuengirola has sent the five people arrested in Mijas, including four local policemen, to prison on charges against public health.

It comes after 15 kilos of cannabis were initially found in one of the patrol cars used by the local force and, now, it’s been revealed that another 150 kilos have been seized.

TWO executives at British bank RBS have been suspended over allegations that they took kickbacks on mortgages awarded for Spanish homes.

The pair, Alan Dawson and Simon Clark, allegedly creamed off tens of thousands of euros from deals done through “trusted” agents.

The bankers, who were responsible for Spanish mortgage lending, would set up customers with these friendly agents and then arrange loans for those interested in buying.

She was in a wheelchair with 4.3 kilos of cocaine strapped to her body

The Civil Guard say they have arrested a 92 year old drug smuggler who was taken into custody at Barajas Airport last Friday after landing at the Spanish capital from Sao Paulo in Brazil. The wheelchair-bound pensioner was found to have 4.3 kilos of cocaine strapped to her body, and was due to fly on with her companion to Tenerife.