In this article on eTenerife, I mentioned the ’suckers’ list and how having once fallen prey to the timeshare crooks a person’s name can be added to a list of gullible or vulnerable people for the same bunch of villains to defraud a second time. These lists are even sold on to other gangs who are quite willing to pay top dollar for a collection of names of people who have bought into the timeshare or holiday club scam in the past.

An article on Typically Spanish reports on a group of 50 or more people who have lost a total of €1.5million on a timeshare resale fraud seems to be an example of the the suckers list in action. According to Typically Spanish the investigation into the case resulted in the arrest of seven Tenerife residents.

A gang of Balkan jewel thieves who call themselves The Pink Panthers have been nicking luxury goods and raiding jewellery shops from Tenerife to Timbuktu. One of the gang, Rifat Hadziahmetovic, from Montenegro was arrested as he tried to leave Cyprus on a fake passport and is currently being held pending a hearing regarding his extradition to Spain on March 31st

Inspector Clous… Andreou informed the press that the suspect was “…initially detained on suspicion of possession of forged documents, but further inquiries revealed he was wanted by Interpol for being a suspected part of the Pink Panther gang,”

Apparently the suspect was also identified by a tattoo on his leg though no information is currently available to support the rumour that it was of a large pink cat.

Hadziahmetovic is wanted in Tenerife among many other places for the theft of luxury items including watches and precious jewels, with the watches alone having an estimated value of 660,000 euros (877,000 dollars), according to an Interpol message received by Cyprus police.

According to Typically Spanish, new details have been released of a drug bust that happened last October and resulted in four Brits getting banged up in Spain until their trial in Madrid.

Spanish and Scottish police forces collaborated in an operation codenamed Sendero which resulted in the two Scots and two Londoners getting caught and their assets seized including several properties in Tenerife.

One chap who has not made a glorious start to New Year 2009 is the 32 year old drug mule who came over a bit poorly at Reina Sofia last night. He told the medical services at the airport that he was feeling unwell. A couple of hours later and 78 capsules of cocaine lighter, the Guardia Civil are now keeping him company at the hospital in Santa Cruz.