A third Brit was critically injured in the gruesome crash in La Manga, said to have happened after a “narco lancha” speedboat came loose from a trailer in front of their vehicle
Spain: Police arrest suspected individuals after the death of two people
A human-trafficking gang has been arrested after two Brits were “decapitated” in a horror car crash at a luxury Spanish resort.
Detectives said today the unnamed Moroccan had been held on suspicion of homicide and attempted homicide over the horror accident. A third Brit was critically injured in the crash, initially said to have happened after a speedboat – described at the time as a suspected ‘narco lancha’ used by drug smugglers – came loose from a trailer on the back of another vehicle in front of them.
Today police said the Volkswagen Touareg pulling the trailer, seized following an investigation culminating in the arrests, had been “blocking the road” late at night on November 16 on a dual-carriage known colloquially as La Manga motorway when the mass pile-up the Brits were caught up in occurred.
They also accused the detainees, who include Spanish nationals as well as suspects from Morocco, Algeria, Ukraine and Colombia, of belonging to a people smuggling gang operating across the Strait of Gibraltar.
Reports at the time of the crash said the two Brits who died, aged 49 and 57, had been beheaded and golf clubs found in the back of their smashed-up Seat Leon had led officials to believe they were heading towards the exclusive La Manga golf and tennis resort in south-eastern Spain.
A total of 11 people were injured in the incident on the RM-12. The car pulling the trailer fled the scene. Confirming the arrests today as the suspects were hauled to court, a spokesman for the Civil Guard said: “Seventeen people have been held for crimes of homicide, wounding, traffic offences, criminal damage, abandoning the scene of an accident, unlawful weapons possession, drugs trafficking, smuggling, fraud and favouring illegal immigration as well as belonging to a criminal gang.
“This criminal gang provoked the deaths of two British citizens on November 16 in a road traffic accident on the La Manga motorway when a vehicle blocked the road with a trailer transporting a speedboat.”
The spokesman added: “Our investigation points to this criminal gang specialising in people smuggling through the use of speedboats crossing to southern Spain from north Africa. They also allegedly used stolen vehicles with false number plates and documentation.”
A well-placed source said: “The detainees include the man believed to have been driving the Volkswagen Taureg that was pulling the trailer. He is a middle-aged Moroccan. He was arrested on suspicion of homicide rather than manslaughter.
“His intention that day might not have been to kill anyone but we believe his actions were so reckless they constitute alleged crimes of homicide and attempted homicide. It will be up a judge now to decide how the investigation proceeds.”
A revolver, a rifle, ammunition, 15 mobile phones, weighing scales, cocaine and cannabis resin were also seized during the operation, codenamed Operation Narbox-Alakman along with cash.
The Civil Guard in Murcia said in a statement: “Investigations carried out by the Civil Guard and National Police enabled detectives to discover the make and model of the vehicle that had been transporting the speedboat the day of the accident, as well as the place where it may be being hidden and the identity of the driver.
“Other suspects and properties linked to the criminal organisation were subsequently identified. A judge authorised searches at the three places where the arrests were made.
“They took place on Tuesday. It turns out the suspects had changed the numberplate of the vehicle used to transport the speedboat involved in the La Manga accident.
“Detectives also discovered the gang were using an electrical system which prevented the back lights from coming on at the same time as the front lights, to hinder their detection by police.”
That system is believed to have been central to the arrest of the driver on a wilful homicide rather than a manslaughter charge. At least two other passengers in the Volkswagen Touareg are also believed to have been held on the same homicide charges pending the continuing criminal court probe.
One of the first emergency responders on the scene told Spanish news website El Confidencial in the aftermath of the crash: “The Zodiac was a ‘narco lancha’ because it didn’t have a number plate and it had been tied to the trailer badly, with the bad luck that it came loose and came off and crashed on top of the car the British men were in behind it at between 100 to 120kms an hour.
“The driver tried to dodge it but couldn’t and the car ended up a write-off. Two of the occupants died instantly. They were decapitated.”
Police said at the time they wouldn’t be formally naming the Brits, although the men who died were identified locally by their initials only as P.D, 49 and J.W, 57 and the survivor as I.P, aged 54.