Spain sends police reinforcements to Costa del Sol holiday hotspots after spate of gangland shootings and discovery of torture chamber

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 05:52 EDT, 24 September 2026 | Updated: 05:55 EDT, 24 September 2026 Spain will deploy police reinforcements to the Costa del Sol following a recent spate of gangland shootings and the discovery of a torture chamber used by drug bosses. The announcement came a day after a Turkish 47-year-old identified as football ultra Umit Yalcin was shot in the face as he dined in a Malaga marina eatery after being ambushed by two gunmen.Overnight, Javier Salas, the Spanish government's sub-delegate for Malaga, announced National Police reinforcements for the provincial capital.He insisted that, despite admissions by high-level officials and opposition politicians, a lack of resources is hampering the fight against organised crime and drug trafficking, and gangs are becoming more and more violent: 'Malaga is a safe province with crime rates declining year after year.'Locals and tourists can go about their activities with complete peace of mind.'In the last three years, 100 per cent of all incidents involving firearms have been solved by the National Police.'That doesn't happen anywhere else in the world.'But he went on to reveal that the so-called Plan Costa del Sol, a special law enforcement and security reinforcement initiative deployed by the Spanish government to combat organised crime, drug trafficking and firearm incidents in the province of Malaga, would be reinforced in the capital city 'with more officers and a greater police presence.' Police are pictured at the scene of a shooting in Malaga on Tuesday night Pictured: A chair covered in plastic inside a 'torture chamber' which was dismantled by police in Estepona Mr Salas, speaking as Roberto Rodriguez was sworn in as the province's new police chief, declined to say how many extra police officers would be drafted in as reinforcements.Opposition politicians have become increasingly vocal about the left-wing coalition central government's handling of the Costa organised crime situation.Speaking before Mr Salas' announcement, Antonio Sanz, the right-wing Andalucian region government's vice-president, raged: 'The Government has lost control of the fight against drug trafficking.'He added: 'We are increasingly moving towards a Ministry of Citizen Insecurity'.Chief Commissioner Luis Esteban, head of the National Police in eastern Andalucia, said yesterday: 'We are sitting on a ticking time bomb. We require more material and technical resources.'Police probing the gun attack on Tuesday night at the Lounge Bar Plaza, a Mediterranean eatery and lounge bar on the Muelle Uno waterfront promenade in the port of Malaga, have yet to make any arrests.They are already understood to be analysing images of the suspects from the array of CCTV cameras in the area.The area where the 10.30 pm shooting occurred was busier than normal on Tuesday night because the World Cup Spain won for the second time in July was on show at the Pompidou Centre a minute's walk from Muelle Uno. The Costa del Sol welcomes millions of visitors a year but there are fears over its level of crime. Pictured: Fuengirola city beachThe visiting timetable was 10am to 9pm and many families with children had chosen to dine in the waterfront restaurant and shopping area.The trophy had been on display on Sunday and Monday before being moved onto the Pompidou Centre on Tuesday.The shooting this week came days after a 20-year-old man, named only as Nacho, died after being targeted by three Swedish nationals of Somali origin in a city centre square in Malaga on Friday.The gunmen, who have been arrested and remanded in prison, are thought to have mistaken him for a hitman who was about to attack them.Police have already confirmed Nacho had no links to crime.Meanwhile, a shooting in Marbella on September 8 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.