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File photo of a police checkpoint in Malaga.
Local crime was up last year, official police data shows
malaga

Local crime was up last year, official police data shows

Malaga province, including the Costa, saw 80,174 recorded cases in 2019; a home was burgled almost every two hours

CHARO MÁRQUEZ

Saturday, 7 March 2020, 17:48

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The province of Malaga, including the Costa del Sol, saw 80,174 crimes recorded in 2019, compared to 79,225 the year before, in figures recently released by the ministry of the Interior.

By different category of offence, the number of burglaries, sexual offences and organised crime cases rose in the province.

Burglaries rose 4.8 per cent compared to 2018 to 4,050. This averages at 11 burglaries per day in the province during 2019, one almost every two hours.

The municipality of Vélez-Malaga had the largest rise in burglary cases (61 per cent) and the city of Malaga the largest number (725 cases).

In contrast, Ronda and Alhaurín de la Torre both reduced their burglary rates by 25 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

Minor theft and car theft also fell in the province. Estepona had the biggest drop in car theft.

Cases of rape increased 16 per cent in the province. There was a total of 565 cases of sexual offences and 42 cases of indecent assault. Malaga, Estepona, Marbella and Ronda all saw a rise in the number of indecent assault cases.

Organised crime also shot up in the new figures. The report showed an increase in homicides, drug trafficking and kidnappings.

Marbella had the highest number of homicides. There was a total of 11 kidnappings, with Marbella again being top of the list, registering four cases last year compared to just one in 2018.

Estepona recorded two instances of kidnapping and Malaga, Mijas, Fuengirola and Vélez all had one. Many of these cases involved people who were linked to or in debt to drugs trafficking groups. Drugs trafficking accounted for 1005 cases.

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