One of Britain’s most wanted men has been arrested in Spain.

Ronald Priestley, 69, was detained in Malaga on Wednesday afternoon in connection with £4.25m of currency counterfeiting offences.

Leeds-born Priestley is the 25th person to be arrested under Operation Captura, an initiative to catch criminals wanted in the UK who are on the run in Spain.

He was detained under a European Arrest Warrant and could face charges in Britain within 10 days.

Customs and the Guardia Civil have found two tons of hashish hidden in a false bottom of a pleasure boat that docked this morning in the port at Roquetas del Mar.

Three men on board and one man from Roquetas have been arrested. The operation was launched after the Guardia Civil tracked a small boat leaving a Morroccan beach and heading straight for Spain.

Next year sees more radar speed traps on Spain’s roads

The State Budget for next year, currently being debated in Congress, envisages a 3.8% increase in income in these tough times from traffic fines.

The Government expects to collect no less than 431.9 million € in infractions next year, and justifies the increase with the higher number of radar traps installed on the nation’s roads. There are currently 500 radars in operation, but that number will increase to 1,500 by 2011, and next year will see also the introduction of 21 more mobile radars in camouflaged vehicles, to add to the 18 acquired this year.

Michael Eddleston, 27, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was wanted in connection with three counts of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

He surrendered to the British consulate in Majorca on Tuesday and was arrested, crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers said.

Eddlestone was one of 10 men featured earlier this month in an appeal as part of a crackdown, known as Operation Captura, on British suspects on the Costa Del Sol.

Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez finally persuaded her to declare again on Monday

A witness called before the National Court in Spain on Wednesday in a case where nine alleged Islamists were in the dock, facing allegations of sending Mujahidin to carry out suicide attacks in Iraq, has been expelled from the court by Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez, after she refused to lift or remove her burka.

35 kilos of the drug were found hidden in the brake system of a lorry in Toledo

National Police in Spain have recovered one of Europe’s biggest hauls of heroin so far this year: 35 kilos of the drug found hidden in the hydraulic brake system of a lorry parked at a service station in Seseña, Toledo.

Spain must end the practice of holding suspects incommunicado, without access to lawyers of their choice and without telling their families, activists say.

Spain’s criminal law allows suspects to be held incommunicado for five days.

Amnesty International says it is among the strictest systems in Europe, facilitates torture and breaches international human rights standards.

The Spanish government says its system is no more restrictive than in other countries, and is overseen by judges.

He was arrested by his colleagues from the National Police force in Ceuta

A National Police Inspector based in Ceuta has been arrested by his own colleagues after he was caught having sex with a prostitute while on duty. He was found with the woman in his official car on the outskirts of the Autonomous City on Wednesday.

The Inspector was only assigned to Ceuta some months ago and is reported by EFE to have allegedly threatened the woman into having sex with him.

Arrests were made in Almería province and Madrid

Five people have been arrested in Madrid and Almería for bringing forged euro notes into the country from Italy and then selling them on to their clients in Spain. The Interior Ministry said regular trips were made to Naples to bring the counterfeit notes back, either hidden inside packages of new clothing or tucked behind photos in photograph albums.

Two local policemen in El Ejido have been arrested for trafficking and selling drugs, mainly hashis. The arrests were carried out Thursday night after a covert operation was carried out, and some 15 kilos of hashis was found in the flat of one of the officers.

The National Police Drugs & Organised Crime Squad (UDYCO) carried out the arrests after an informant passed information to them that police officers were involved in a local drugs ring.

Drink-related incidents also account for a large number of arrests while abroad, as does the need for hospital treatment.

There are currently 22 British nationals worldwide who face the death penalty if convicted over drugs offences, latest figures reveal.

More Britons were arrested or taken to hospital in Spain between April 2008 and March 2009 than in any other country.

However, the Foreign Office points out, it is one of the most popular holiday destinations for Britons.

The Gulf states’ tough stance on drugs, alcohol and indecency mean that more holidaymakers and expats are detained there than in more popular destinations such as France or Greece.

In the past year an unmarried British couple, Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors, were sentenced to three months in jail for having drunken sex on a beach in Dubai.

An English mother, Marnie Pearce, also spent three months behind bars in the Arab state after being convicted of adultery.

3 have died in two separate attacks in Burgos and La Coruña

A 27 year old woman was arrested in Burgos on Thursday for the murder of her three year old son and the child’s grandmother, whose bodies were discovered in separate locations on the outskirts of Burgos. The child is believed to have been drowned before his body was dumped in a pine wood some 4kms from the city.

Police have seized 107 buttons stuffed with cocaine, shipped from Britain to an address in the south of Spain, and detained one suspect in the case, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

The buttons – sent to Roquetas de Mar, a Mediterranean resort town popular with British tourists – contained half a kilogram (1.1 pounds) of Venezuelan cocaine, it said in a statement.

José Campoy spent 275 days in jail after Judge Adelina Entrena forgot to order his release

The Supreme Court has confirmed a one year suspension for the Motril judge who forgot to release a prisoner, but has reduced by more than half the compensation she must pay to José Campoy, the man who spent 275 days behind bars because she forgot to order his release. The amount has been reduced from 103,000 € to 43,000 €.

One of the men arrested had swallowed almost a kilo of cannabis pellets

Three passengers from the Morocco ferry from Nador have been arrested at Almería Port in recent days trying to smuggle cannabis pellets into the country. One, arrested last Friday, was found to have more than 150 pellets inside his stomach amounting to almost a kilo of cannabis.

The teenage moped rider died after being dragged beneath his car for 2 kms

The British driver on trial in Alicante for the death of a teenage moped rider has been sentenced to 13 years in prison in a ruling which, EFE reports, notes that David Walter Cook continued driving knowing that the youngster was trapped beneath his car.

The group brought the money into the country onboard low cost flights

24 people have been arrested in Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida, Girona and Bilbao, for introducing counterfeit Euro notes into Spain. 60,000 € in false 50 and 20 Euro notes has been recovered in the operation.

National Police say that the 24 brought the money into the country from several European countries using the network of low cost airlines, and also took part in drug-trafficking activities in Vizcaya, and prostitution in Bilbao.

They forced the bars on their cell window and reached the street from the prison roof

Police and Civil Guard are still looking for two prisoners from Murcia who escaped from the Castellón prison in the Valencia region between Saturday night and Sunday morning. They shared the same cell and managed to break out by forcing the bars on the window and reaching the street after climbing onto the prison roof.

3,000 will be issued to high risk offenders in a first phase

Courts in Spain are from 24th July this year distributing 3,000 GPS tracking bracelets to those found guilty of domestic abuse, which will alert the authorities if a distancing order is being broken.

A similar programme is already in place in the Community of Madrid, and the 3,000 tracking devices issued in the first phase of the national programme will cover 10% of offenders affected by distancing orders – those seen as the highest risk cases. EFE reports this phase is setting the government back 5 million €.