Spain’s Most wanted woman found

The only woman who was on Spain’s list of top 10 most wanted criminals has said she returned to Paraguay because she was cleared of all charges.

Maria Luisa Espinola, 32, said on the radio from Asuncion, that her Venezuelan former partner was guilty of the murder of a woman of the same nationality, but that she returned to Paraguay in March last year with her daughter with the permission of the Spanish authorities. He is currently in prison.

She said that both she and the victim, Yulmer Josefina Sifontes de Paredes, were pregnant and that her partner introduced her to the woman in a bar, along with several men, one of whom claimed to be her boyfriend.

She said they then went to the couple’s house to a party, where her former partner allegedly forced the victim to drink alcohol.

Espinola claims she went to bet, and that when he woke her the next day, she showed her the body on the terrace and threatened her with a gun, forcing her to help him dump it.

They then went to a bridge from which they threw the body.

She said her partner later handed himself in and claims there were four more people involved. They all allegedly owed the victim money.

She left Spain because she feared for her life and had no-one here to help her. She said that she has handed herself in to the authorities and that she never expected to see her photo on a list of Spain’s most wanted. Her extradition is pending.

Another of the most wanted criminals, Gabriel Alejandro Reyes, 25, was arrested after he was identified taking part in protests against the government in his native Venezuela.

He was allegedly the head of a drug trafficking network bringing cocaine into Spain from South America which was dismantled last year, resulting in 37 arrested and 124 people charged.