Violent crime on the up on the Costa del Sol with 14 murders and twice as many kidnappings as a year ago

A total of 14 violent deaths, 29 attempted homicides and murders and twice as many kidnappings as a year ago - these are the shocking crime statistics along the Costa del Sol and across the province of Malaga during the first six months of the year. The data released by Spain's Ministry of the Interior confirms an escalation of violence.

The number of murders in these six months has risen in relation to the same period last year, from 12 to 14. The first happened at the beginning of the year, on 4 January, when a 70-year-old man was arrested after reportedly shooting his flatmate to death in the Maqueda area.

A couple of weeks later, 80-year-old Father Richard Gross from Boston was found dead and with signs of violence in the tourist flat where he was staying, in the heart of Malaga city centre. The National Police arrested the two suspects, accused of killing the tourist with a 'mataleón' technique during a burglary.

To this grim toll must be added the victims of gender violence: Lina, 48, in Benalmádena; Pilar, 53, in Marbella; and Zunilda, 43, in Marbella.

Organised crime has also left a trail of blood in the first six months of the year. At the end of May, Fuengirola witnessed a double execution that took place in a pub. The victims - two Scotsmen - were shot dead while enjoying a football match on the terrace of the bar. The number of eyewitnesses present did not hinder the perpetrators.

These 14 deaths also include victims of gender and domestic violence: the 68-year-old woman reportedly killed by her 46-year-old son with an axe in their home in the Los Prados area of Malaga city; the 70-year-old man reportedly killed by his 45-year-old son in the course of a fight in Caleta de Vélez.

These are some of the tragedies associated with violence that have taken place in the province of Malaga. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, in this period, there have also been 29 attempted homicides and murders (four more than in the same months of 2024).

The increase in kidnappings is also striking. Those in Malaga province have almost doubled in the first half of 2025, compared to the same period of 2024. There have been nine in total, while last year there were five.

One of them happened in Vélez-Málaga in March, when three hooded men armed with handguns burst into an establishment owned by a 58-year-old man. They pointed a gun at the owner and put him in the boot of a vehicle. Everything happened in the presence of his wife. The man was released some hours later, with bruises and contusions, which were the result of a beating.

Another illegal detention included in the statistics of the Ministry of the Interior resulted in four minors being detained in Malaga. It also happened in March, when a group of teenagers threatened a minor with machetes and knives and held him in a flat to make him reveal the whereabouts of his brother, with whom they had had previous quarrels.

The abovementioned types of crimes - the most violent in the statistics - are the ones that have caused the balance of conventional crime in the province to show a slight increase of 0.4%, as the rest of the criminal typologies have experienced a decrease.

The biggest decreases were in property crimes. Burglary of homes, establishments and other premises dropped by 19.3%. In total, the state security forces have recorded 1,712 cases, that is, 415 fewer than in the first half of 2024.

Robberies with violence dropped by 8.4% to 808 cases (74 fewer). Thefts, although still the most reported crimes in the province, have also experienced a decrease - 4.4%, with a total of 12,041.

Sexual crimes remain at practically the same rates, with two reports per day and one case of rape every two. In these six months, the police forces have recorded 382 cases, seven fewer than in the previous year.

What has risen again is cybercrime, which is excluded from the conventional crime statistics, with an increase of 5.3% and a total of 9,842 cases, almost 500 more than in 2024. Once again, the most prominent crime in this category was computer fraud, with 8,439 cases, which implies an average of 47 per day.