Costa de Almería

ALMOST 730 people in Almeria carry the ‘Heart Card’ – a card given to those who have suffered a heart attack – in order that they receive rapid medical attention in an emergency.

Costa de Almería

Police in Almeria prevented robbers from robbing a cash machine at a Cajamar bank in El Alquian.

Thieves used a butane gas bottle which exploded and firemen were required to put out the fire.

Costa de Almería

RESIDENTS of the village of Benitachell (Alicante) are said to be ‘shocked’ after one of its inhabitants was arrested for suspected links to Islamic terrorism.

Guardia Civil arrested unemployed 26-year-old Moroccan builder, Errai Faical, at his rented accommodation in Benitachell last Friday.

Benitachell’s Mayor, Maria Josefa Ronda, told press Faical man had lived in the small community for seven years and the neighbours were ‘shocked’ at his detention, given that the man was always “cordial and polite” and was “very integrated” in the community, to the extent even that he was a Civil Protection Volunteer. She said he spoke fluent Spanish and Valencian.

It is not the first time that such an arrest has taken place in the vicinity. In 2003 another Moroccan, Sardik Merizak, was arrested by National Police for similar reasons in the municipality following the ‘Operation Datil’ campaign in which an Islamic fundamental terrorist cell was dismantled by Spanish anti-terrorist police.

Costa de Almería

FOR years, El Ejido has suffered from a lack of offers for tourism. When accommodation dropped in the town, protests began, and were placated with the promise of two projects: a spa between Guardias Viejas and Almerimar, and a luxury Sheraton hotel in Ensenada de San Miguel. It would hoped that this would attract tourists to the town.

Talk of the spa started in 2001, the project was completed, and some years later, the SFR Hotel Group announced it on its website. However, not a stone of the €18m project has been laid.

Then, the Sheraton hotel was announced four years back and an agreement was signed between the hotel chain and the owners of the plot. Three hundred rooms, spa, fitness centre, games room, beauty salon, hairdressers, gardens… these are just some of the services which were planned, none of which have yet materialized.

Other hotel groups have also expressed their interest in the area, but the fact remains that El Ejido has the same accommodation on offer now as it did a decade ago.