There were two savage attacks on British citizens in resorts west of Málaga during September. National Police believe both incidents were related to the settling of accounts by rival British and Spanish gangs in the so-called Fuengirola-Marbella-Estepona “triangle.”
The first victim was named as Craig Moran, a Scotsman who was jailed for 13 years in 2005 following an armed raid on a Nottingham jeweller’s in which the shop owner died. Moran arrived in Málaga by train on September 8 and took a taxi to Marbella.
He is reported to have had an appointment in the town but within an hour of arriving in the province had been attacked under a bridge carrying the A-7 autovía. Moran is reported to have suffered gruesome injuries inflicted by knife and firearm, and was taken to Costa del Sol Hospital after being left for dead in a ditch.
In the second incident 11 days later, a 24-year-old British man was attacked with a knife as he left a hairdresser in Puerto Banús. Police say a man stepped out of a car and, without a word, stabbed him twice in the legs before fleeing in the vehicle. He was taken to the same hospital for treatment to his injuries.
There have been a number of other violent incidents in the same area of the western Costa del Sol this summer which police attribute to a struggle for power between international drugs gangs. Tensions began to rise in May after a suspected dealer, known as “El Maradona” was shot dead outside a church in San Pedro de Alcantara.
