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CRIME

Have you seen these fugitives? They could be hiding out in Spain

Suspected murderers, sex offenders and drugs traffickers are among just 11 fugitives left on the run in a campaign that has seen 84 offenders already caught across Europe.

Have you seen these fugitives? They could be hiding out in Spain
Have you seen these 'most wanted' British fugitives thought to be hiding out in Spain?

On Thursday, the National Crime Agency and the charity Crimestoppers urged the public to help them catch the last fugitives who have escaped justice.

All of them have connections to Spain but may have moved around over the years and will be using false identities. Authorities are re-releasing their details as millions of Brits are enjoying their summer holidays abroad.

“As my fellow Britons know, the success of Crimestoppers, whether in the UK or Spain, is all about the active support of ordinary people for the work of the police, so I would like to appeal to British residents and holidaymakers in Spain to be on the lookout this summer for these 11 fugitives from British justice. Your information, given anonymously, can put these criminals back where they belong: behind bars in the UK,” said Simon Manley, the British Ambassador to Spain.

The 11 include Sarah Panitzke. Panitzke, 45, from Fulford, near York, is wanted by HMRC and is accused of laundering approximately £1bn for a crime group involved in VAT fraud.

To carry out the alleged frauds, she travelled extensively to places including Dubai, Spain and Andorra. She absconded in May 2013 before her trial finished.

Panitzke has a Yorkshire accent and is about 5ft 5in tall. Eighteen members of her crime group received sentences totalling 135 years.

Also on the list is alleged murderer Allan Foster, 43, who has been on the run since May 2006 when David Rice was shot dead as he sat in his car in South Shields, Tyne and Wear.

The NCA works closely with Crimestoppers, the Spanish authorities, UK law enforcement agencies and the British Embassy in Madrid as part of the Operation Captura campaign.

We have seen 84 fugitives returned to the UK out of 96 publicised cases. One case has been dropped.

In June, Christopher Guest More Jr, 41, became the latest fugitive to be arrested and returned to the UK after being on the run for 16 years.

Andy Cooke-Welling, of the NCA’s International Crime Bureau, said: “Operation Captura has been a resounding success.

“But we are still hunting the remaining fugitives on our list and will not stop.

“We urge holidaymakers and expats in Spain and elsewhere across Europe to keep their eyes and ears open this summer.

“There may also be people in the UK with vital information on their whereabouts, and we would urge them to get in touch. Having the public’s attention focused on them makes it so much harder to hide.”

Mark Hallas, Chief Executive at Crimestoppers charity, said: “Members of the public are one of our greatest weapons in the fight against crime. Once again we are asking the public to help track down most wanted individuals who are sought in connection with some violent, sexual and highly organised crimes.

“We’ve always had an overwhelming response to this campaign, to date 84 offenders have been caught across Europe.

“You can view all the appeals on the most wanted section of Crimestoppers website and if you know anything about the individuals please contact the Crimestoppers charity.

“No one will ever know who you are, not even us.”

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of a fugitive should can contact Crimestoppers 100 percent anonymously at crimestoppers-uk.org or call 0800 555 111 from the UK or 900 555 111 from Spain. 

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CRIME

Spain investigates letters ordering companies to not hire foreigners

For five years, numerous companies in Spain's northern Navarre region have been receiving e-mails urging them to not hire foreign workers and threatening them with boycotts if not, correspondence that's now being investigated as a hate crime.

Spain investigates letters ordering companies to not hire foreigners

The email address  from which they were sent was always the same, the wording very similar. As far as authorities know, they continued for at least five years between 2017 and 2023.

A court in Pamplona has now taken the matter on and is investigating these e-mails as a possible hate crime.

Some of these e-mails were sent to the director of a residence in Estella/Lizarra in 2020. He received up to 10 of these from the same sender urging him to “nationalise his workforce”.

He publicly denounced the e-mail and released it. The text read: “In the face of possible economic reactivation after the current pandemic, we encourage you to nationalise your workforce; that is, to replace immigrants (including those who are naturalised) with nationals or, if you were to increase the workforce, to hire only nationals. Internally or externally (clients, neighbours, suppliers, etc.) we already know which companies have too many foreigners, and with that information, lists of companies have been made according to sectors so that people know who they employ with their money. Contracting is free, but so is consumption. This is politically incorrect, but not at all illegal. It is simply necessary”.

Many other companies received similar emails around the same time.

In the summer of 2023 the case reached the Racism and Xenophobia Assistance Service (SARX), which decided to carry out an investigation and finally passed it on to the Prosecutor’s Office.

Now, the first Investigative Court of Pamplona is investigating the size and scale of this situation to see how many companies the letters have actually reached.

Johanna Flores, lawyer and coordinator of the Racism and Xenophobia Assistance Service, has emphasised the importance of these e-mails being investigated as a possible crime: “It is very positive because when there is a person who wants to systematically send emails of this kind, they will think twice, since they know that it could have a criminal nature”.

Almost half of all new workers in Navarra in the last year are foreigners, according to 2024 social security figures.

Spain’s National Security Council warned the government about a rise in xenophobia and racist hate crimes back in 2019. There have also been numerous counts of racial discrimination towards prospective tenants and home-buyers. 

In 2023 Real Madrid star Vinicius was racially abused in Spain’s top flight football league. Writing on Instagram, Vinicius said Spain was viewed as “a country of racists” in his homeland.

READ ALSO: The racism problem that has blighted Spanish football

This type of racial abuse is not new in Spanish football.. In 2004, thousands of Spanish fans shouted racial insults at black players during an England-Spain match at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid. This prompted outrage in the UK and threatened to escalate into a diplomatic row, with both prime ministers at the time – Tony Blair and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero – condemning the actions.

Alba García Martín, a member of the anti-racism NGO SOS Racismo has explained: “The immigration law is racist to its core. It does not allow you to regularise your migration status for three years, it pushes immigrants to employment off-the-books and does not provide you any kind of rights as a citizen. All the other racial issues derive from this law. There is no anti-racist legislation, for example, for crimes related to racism. There are no anti-racist laws,” she adds. 

READ MORE: Spain to debate blanket legalisation of its 500,000 undocumented migrants

It’s hoped that if these e-mails are found to be a hate crime, it will set a precedent and stop others from considering these types of attacks in the future.

READ ALSO: ‘Homologación’ – How Spain is ruining the careers of thousands of qualified foreigners

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