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Spain ‘love scam’ triple murder suspect probed for killing cellmate

A Pakistani man facing trial in Spain for the murder of three elderly siblings over debts reportedly linked to an online romance scam is suspected of having killed his cellmate, officials said Saturday.

A view taken on December 10, 2008 of the Estremera prison near Madrid
A view taken on December 10, 2008 of the Estremera prison near Madrid, where a Pakistani man facing trial in Spain for a triple murder is suspected of having killed his cellmate. (Photo by PHILIPPE DESMAZES / AFP)

The 42-year-old, identified only as Dilawar, has been held at the Estremera prison outside Madrid since he turned himself into police last month after admitting involvement in the triple murder of the two sisters and their disabled brother in December in the nearby town of Morata de Tajuna.

He is now under investigation for allegedly killing his cellmate at the jail on Thursday, the Madrid region’s top court said in a statement.

“Dilawar, accused of the death of three elderly people in the town of Morata de Tajuna last December, will be investigated in this new case for the alleged commission of a crime of intentional homicide,” it said without providing further details.

Spanish media said the prisoner, a 39-year-old Bulgarian, had suffered several blows and was found dead in the cell he shared with Dilawar.

READ ALSO: Police in Spain make arrest in ‘love scam’ murder of senior siblings

The bodies of the three siblings, who were in their 70s, were found in January after neighbours raised the alarm because they had not seen them for several weeks.

The authorities suspect the siblings were beaten to death with an iron bar and their bodies were then partially burned in December.

Quoting local residents, Spanish media said the tragedy was likely linked to a fake online love affair, with the two sisters embarking on what they thought was a long-distance relationship with two apparent US servicemen.

They were led to believe one serviceman had died and that the other needed money so that he could send them a multi-million-euro inheritance, causing the sisters to rack up huge debts.

Initially they began borrowing money from neighbours.

During that time, Dilawar had reportedly lent the sisters at least 50,000 euros ($55,000), which they had never repaid, prompting his violent attack on one of the sisters. 

He spent several months in jail for hitting one of the sisters over the head with a hammer last year at their house where he was living as a tenant but he was released from prison in September.

 

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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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