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FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE: The Karl Largerfeld inledgend of Marbella
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NOVEMBER 2022 See page 16
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END OF THE LINE FOR COCA QUEEN
By Walter Finch
A FORMER Andalucian leader has been given ten days to check himself into prison. Jose Griñán must hand himself over after his bid to dodge jail for running one of the largest corruption schemes in Spanish history was denied. The 76-year-old was handed a six-year stretch for his role in overseeing the disgraceful ERE scandal in which almost €1 billion disappeared from public coffers between 2001 and 2009. Lawyers for the former Junta president have been battling to suspend the sentence since he was sentenced in 2019. But yesterday a court in Sevilla denied his request for a pardon and ordered the socialist and seven of his former colleagues to prison. The eight convicts had previously enjoyed a Godfather-style existence distributing public funds to friends and family that were designed to help insolvent companies let go of staff.
SHE was the Rolls Royce of cocaine smuggling since the 1990s and looked every inch the part in her €700 blouses and €1,000 high heels. But finally the Queen of Cocaine’s 25year reign has hit a bump in the road, which police expect will write off her crime career for good. Dubbed the ‘Reina de Cocaine’, the OP can today reveal her identity as Maria Teresa Jaimes Caicedo, a glamorous Marbella expat, who lived a life of luxury in a giant mansion with two swimming pools, a tennis court and ‘a garden that resembles the rainforest’. Now under arrest and awaiting trial, she has been fingered as the ringleader of a gang of 16, behind a European-wide cocaine smuggling operation. Speaking exclusively to the Olive Press, a lead investigator revealed
BRANDED: Block of cocaine
EXCLUSIVE: Expat’s 25-year ‘Rolls Royce drug ring’ has finally flatlined By Jon Clarke & Anthony Piovesan
how she had managed to ‘live the high life’ for nearly three decades, while quietly pulling the strings behind one of Spain’s biggest drug smuggling operations. Describing her as ‘a real black widow’ - who has already seen two previous husbands put behind bars for smuggling - the undercover officer added it was ‘remarkable’ she had somehow flown under the radar. The policeman from Greco, part of the National Police’s Udyco organised crime and drug unit, revealed how his colleagues were ‘amazed’ when they started investigating her opulent life. “From the street her house didn’t look anything special, but when we entered it was like a city, with interlinking paths and numerous outbuildings where all her family lived,” he said. “I’ve seen many homes of criminals, but this was something else. Some 3,000-metres squared in size and with a garden like the selva with a tennis court and two pools.”
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‘Godfather’
HUNDREDS of new be needed on the Costaluxury homes will gle announced it was del Sol after Goomaking big moves into Malaga. Global developers are jostling for position to satisfy the expected demand as By Walter Finch the city becomes the "The technological new ‘Silicon Valley and cultural attracof Europe.’ tions, the climate, and above all the life- Malaga. US property giant Berkshire quickly style Hathaway is ley of positions itself as the Silicon Val- key have turned Malaga into a strategic It aims to open its doors to budding cyaiming to build an initial Europe,” explained bersecurity professionals point for the real estate sector," he told half in the second to meet demand, after 400 luxury villas at Berkshire Hathaway Bruno Rabassa SER radio. of 2023. Home Services a cybersecurity ‘centreGoogle announced Spain, which has And rather than just opened an office in the His company has already opened an of excellence’ in focus on southern ter, a global centre for cybersecurity and the city. office Europe, as originally city. in Marbella, with plans believed, the Malaga malware research,” he said. to develop over Its Spanish chief believes “In a short time the Google released a slick city will have to ac- 1,400 luxury properties along the Costa centre is now aimed at becoming a video showcasing buyers will be Americans many of the commodate many global the new development, hub. displaced workers del Sol. relocating for from featuring some the new jobs, having Google released new large companies.” details on its ‘centre It will be ‘at the heart of the digital rev- the most iconic locations including of lifestyle and climate. been seduced by the His new office in the the Pompidou Museum, city centre intends to of excellence’ at its annual cybersecurity olution’, revealed Kent Walker, President the port and the “The interest Americans offer of Global Affairs and are showing in the 400 new luxury properties to serve summit in Madrid, a fortnight ago. Chief Legal Officer cathedral as part of its promotion for the Malaga is especially significant The Google Safety Engineering burgeoning at Google. new project. as the city announcement. tech sector after Google’s (GSEC) Centre “This is Such a development is being developed is expected to create inside the game: going to change the rules of the shell of a historic building by the port of new In 2023, Malaga will become our an agglomeration effect, drawing a wider range of tech Google Security Engineering Cen- coast, creatingenterprises to Spain’s south the ‘Silicon Valley’ effect.
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He continued: “She was supporting around 10 people, including her mum and four children and she had a daily fitness trainer. “If she needed a plane ticket, someone got it. A hotel, it was always five stars, a restaurant, always the best. A boat, her friends had them. The cars, always changing, but nothing too flash. Think BMW or Audi.” He continued that the €3m villa in central Marbella was ‘like a fortress’ with numerous CCTV cameras, high walls and incredible security.
Panic room
“She actually slept in her own panic room bedroom, which was only reached via a false door from a library.” He added it could only be accessed by pushing a button that, like a Hollywood movie, opened to a staircase up to Maria Teresa’s suite. The suite itself featured an elevated marble jacuzzi, supported by marble columns, while a giant mirror was placed on the ceiling above the bed. Inside a giant walk-in wardrobe amid racks of Prada shoes, Dsquared2 jackets and Gucci bags was a packet of cocaine. Adorned with, appropriately, a Rolls Royce logo - the kilo of cocaine had clearly been used to show off the quality her family in Colombia could supply. “A corner was missing that had clearly been syphoned off for potential clients and friends to try,” explained the Greco operative. “It was a big mistake for her.” While she claimed to
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Life of the Black Widow
Maria Teresa (above) was born in Bucaramanga, in Colombia, in 1973, and has no criminal record. She first came on to the police radar in 2005 after her then-husband, notorious French narco Michel Curtet, was arrested in Portugal on a boat with 6,100 kilos of cocaine, worth €214 million. While the former armed robber was handed a 12-year sentence and later another four in France, Maria Teresa was not even probed. She has two other ex-husbands, one a German convicted of smuggling 200 kilos of cocaine into Denmark in 2015, while the other is from Belgium, who police are currently investigating.
work as a ‘commercial mediator’ and regularly travelled between Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Colombia, police began to probe her after a tip off two years ago. Called Operation Dryad (after the nymphs in Greek mythology, who lived supernaturally long lives and were tied to their homes) the probe found her to be the ‘brains’ behind a big Polish/Danish gang, which smuggled drugs around Europe. So far police have arrested 16 people in Marbella, Alhaurin and Fuengirola, as well as Murcia, Barcelona and Alicante. The majority are Polish and Danish. Opinion Page 6
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