Gangs are going about with guns in broad daylight
be. We are conscious when police from m abroad cooperate e with us on operations, ns, that they have much uch more advanced technology nology than ours. It should be normal normal, for instance, that officers should be equipped with Tasers.
“We need a sole state police force instead of the current situation where two different forces, the National Police and the Civil Guard, police areas like the Costa del Sol.”
The Costas are down 517 police officers, with 60 fewer in Marbella.
The numbers were slammed by Marbella council spokesman Diego Escalone as “historical lows”. As police lose control, drugs are openly touted and the streets and clubs are awash with sex workers. Minutes after setting foot on Marbella’s famous strip in the high end marina Puerto Banus, we were offered group sex a and cocaine, with free booze throw thrown in.
Our reporter and photographer were told two women could be provided for 350 euros, with a further 50 for coke.
Keen for a deal as rain lashed the palm trees, one girl said: “We have an apartment round the corner, let’s go.”
Spurning the offer, we found more hookers at upmarket club La Sala, where ex-england and Spurs footballer David Bentley is a shareholder.
One drinker told us: “They are all working girls here but more high-class than the port ones. They are here because there’s money.
“Every beautiful female around you see is 300 euros. You can spot them
Mbecause they are eyeing men up.” A hostess at the venue said staff were powerless to kick out the hookers and police turn a blind eye.
The rise of the sex workers has become so blatant that some British v i s i t o r s have even complained about their presence on Tripadvisor.
One of the girls said: “We love Englishmen because they are rich. We all want the footballers.”
Russian, Hungarian, Ghanaian, Brazilian and Colombian sex workers line the town’s busiest street and a passing pedlar offers cannabis and cocaine for just 20 euros.
Prostitute Alvirez, from Bogota, Colombia said: “We are told to target Brits as they get the most drunk.” In nightspot Babilonia – where ITV’S Life On Marbs star Lina Hodgkins is marketing director – one Moroccan said that she started selling sex after her husband left her. She said: “I moved here six years ago to be a wife but now I have a two-year-old son to support alone.
“Most of my clients are British and they spend hundreds on bottles of champagne. I sell my body and live with three other women in a two-bedroom flat so we can afford rent. It’s no life.”
Last night La Sala co-owner Rob Segal said: “We do try our best to control it but we can’t exclude them.” Lina Hodgkins’ agent declined to comment.