Three Brits arrested on Costa Blanca in connection with Estepona shooting

Three British nationals have been arrested on the Costa Blanca over a Costa del Sol beach shooting.

The suspects were held in Orihuela Costa south of Alicante nearly 350 miles away from the spot where the gun attack took place.

A Lithuanian man aged 31 was shot four times near a popular beach club called Sonora Beach a short drive from Estepona but survived the attack.

National Police officers based on the Costa del Sol are understood to have travelled to the beach resort of La Zenia on Orihuela’s coastline to carry out raids with back-up from local officers and make the arrests.

Local media reports say false documentation, weapons and a small amount of drugs were seized.

More arrests are believed to have taken place on Spain’s southern coastline near the scene of the gun attack although police there have yet to make any official comment.

Two of the Brits, arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, membership of a criminal gang, drug trafficking and illegal weapons possession among other crimes, have been remanded in custody. The third has been released on bail.

Bar staff from Sonora Beach assisted the gunshot victim following the 28 July incident around 5.30pm.

The beach club clarified afterwards the incident had happened nearby but not inside the venue.

The gunmen sped off afterwards in a dark car.

Police sources had linked the incident to a gangland-related feud before the arrests.

One man has been killed and three injured in three separate shootings in the past week in the province of Malaga.

A 20-year-old man was shot dead last Friday in a square in the city of Malaga in a suspected case of mistaken identity. Three Swedish nationals of Somalian origin with links to organised crime have been arrested.

On Tuesday a Turkish football ultra was shot in the face in a restaurant in Malaga's Muelle Uno port area after being ambushed by two gunmen, but survived.

The Spanish government has reacted by sending in police reinforcements following criticism they are not doing enough to tackle organised crime and drug trafficking gangs.

A shooting in Marbella on 8 September near a four-star hotel, which ended with three arrests following a police chase along the resort’s famous Golden Mile and the Dutch victim being hospitalised, has also been linked to gangland crime.

Three days earlier a torture chamber was discovered inside a villa in Estepona near Marbella. Two men were rescued and seven suspected members of a Malaga-based Eastern European gang arrested.

Access the latest 112 emergency and rescue news hub