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Police carry out one of the arrests.
Swedish gang responsible for two Costa murders is brought down

Swedish gang responsible for two Costa murders is brought down

Nine have been arrested in connection with the murder of 'El Maradona' and another person shot dead in Estepona

ÁLVARO FRÍAS / JUAN CANO

Friday, 7 December 2018, 12:44

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The National Police, in collaboration with police in Sweden, have brought down a Swedish gang of hired killers linked to two murders on the Costa del Sol.

Nine people aged between 24 and 64 - four in Sweden and five in Malaga- were arrested last week as part of 'Operación Rueda', which started after a gym in San Pedro Alcántara and a beach bar in Estepona were set on fire.

The seven men and two women are suspected of murder, belonging to an organised crime group and falsifying documents.

They are considered to be responsible for the killing on 12 May of 'El Maradona', who was linked to the aforementioned gym and beach bar. He was shot as he left a church in San Pedro Alcántara following his son's communion and the killer fled the scene in a car.

The second killing was on 20 August in the El Campanario area of Estepona. 'Zocato' was shot dead as he arrived back home in the early hours of the morning by an individual who fled the scene on a bicycle.

From the beginning, investigators considered that both killings were related to the settling of scores, linked to the world of drug trafficking. Investigations then found that the same gang of hitmen was behind both attacks.

This gang, they found, was led by two pairs of brothers, aged between 21 and 26, and consisted mainly of Swedes and Danes. They came to the Costa del Sol from the Malmö area of Sweden, attracted by the increasing demand for such services.

Though they specialise in score-settling, the gang also dealt in debt collection, extortion and drug trafficking.

Raids on nine properties also took place as part of the operation and three luxury watches were seized - one was worth a quarter of a million euros.

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