THE mafias of the human and drug trafficking they are getting stronger and stronger Almeriawhich produces a sharp increase in crime in the province, particularly in the most serious crimes, such as Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Almeria. In fact, they explain that the arrival of the boats and the marijuana crops These are precisely the main factors that affect the evolution of crime.
As the memory of the Higher Prosecutor’s Office of Andalusia of this year, corresponding to the 2023 financial year, the 18.9% increase in the number of abstracts “necessarily represents a relevant increase” in the most serious offences, with 77 such procedures in 2023 compared to 64 in 2022.
However, the Attorney General of Almeria stresses that, in general, “we can speak of a certain stability in the procedures initiated and processed compared to the previous year” although “with some apparently significant increases and decreases”.
Thus, the report highlights certain circumstances in the province that affect the evolution of the crimelargely marked by the arrival of boats loaded with people who intend to enter the country irregularly, are the result of the activity of “organized gangs” who “act for profit” and “systematically” endanger people’s lives.
In doing so, he realizes that irregular arrival of immigrants This is still done with boats.”precarious And overload“without rescue tools and many times in very adverse weather conditions”, although “the use of high-speed boats” has also increased.
In this sense, it points to an “exponential” increase to a lesser extent than Barbate-Cadiz, which occurs in parallel through the “narcolanchas” with which hashish is mainly introduced on the Andalusian coast, to the detriment of the area Cadiz-Huelvadue to pressure from the Portuguese authorities, particularly from Navy.
The document also highlights the “high number of marijuana plantations both in houses, plots and greenhouses, which are normally equipped with illegal electrical connections” and “the most worrying thing is that they are usually guarded by armed people for the organized gangs who are the owners of the plantationseven though this year the number of such crimes has decreased.
Despite everything, the decrease in plantations of what is called drug industrial crops, “a decline that began in 2022 due to the extensive operations carried out in this province against this type of crop.
There is still a “increase in violence related to the marijuana trafficking“, so that the ways of acting of the organizations based in the province have hardened in the face of “recourse to firearmsboth to repel police action and to violence between criminal groupswith two homicides occurring in 2023, linked to drug trafficking activities.
Gang clashes
THE Prosecutor’s Office emphasizes that more and more clashes between organized gangs and accounts that “end with murders, homicides either serious injuries” even if in 2023 there was product a decrease of 33.3% in crimes against life, although Almeria is a province in which “every year the number of homicides, murders“It is usual for the perpetrators to be identified, arrested and prosecuted.”
On the other hand, he believes that the number of proceedings brought against the sexual freedom in the province is “very high”, because the situations of human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, “normally committed by organized groups and with vulnerable And defenseless“, and to a large extent they are minors.
As a positive aspect, he adds that “secondary or repeated victimization is avoided, by previously verifying the victims’ statements and in any case avoiding a visual confrontation with the accused”, although it is regrettable that “sometimes gaps are detected in the recordings that make it difficult to view and listen to them during the oral trial.
Regarding the data processed by the Prosecutor’s OfficeDuring the last year, 32,159 preliminary procedures were initiated compared to 29,685 the previous year, which represents an increase of 8.3%, while abbreviated procedures suffered a decrease of 13.3%.
The data on emergency procedures show “almost” the same activity as in 2022, with a variation of only -0.1% “since the emergency procedures initiated went from 5,370 in 2022 to 5,366 in 2023”. Regarding minor offences, the number of procedures experienced a strong growth of 45.6%, going from 4,335 in 2022 to 6,310 in 2023.
In 2023, investigations opened by prosecutors increased by 11.7%. Almeriagiven that 01 were filed against 180 filed in 2022. Of these, 52 were prosecuted, with complaints being filed in the corresponding courts.
Jury courts have been reduced from 12 in 2022 to nine in 2023, although, on the contrary, the number of trials held has increased “significantly” from three to ten, “perhaps driven by the greater number of proceedings initiated in 2022”.
Regarding the qualifying writings formulated by the Public Ministry It rises to 6,111 in 2023, practically the same figure as in 2022 when 6,130 were written, but with a particular growth in the summaries.
As for the trials, in the Provincial Court In total, 226 trials took place, almost the same number as the previous year, which was 225, and only 66 were suspended, compared to 103 the year before. Meanwhile, in the Criminal courts 2,646 were detained compared to 2,552 the previous year, an increase of 3.7%, but 1,630 were also suspended, more than the previous year: 1,495.
