A 29-year-old British man has been shot dead on Spain's Costa Blanca, marking the latest violent incident in a worrying crime wave hitting the popular holiday coastline.
A Series of Targeted Attacks
Acting on a tip-off from friends who feared something serious had happened, Spanish police discovered the man's body, which had multiple gunshot wounds, at a residential property just north of Torrevieja on January 21. Civil Guard detectives are treating the killing as a drugs-related murder and no arrests have yet been made.
This fatal shooting occurred less than three weeks after another British national was targeted in a nearby underground car park, where he was shot at least three times. Investigators are now probing potential links between these two attacks and other recent violent crimes involving British and Irish citizens in the area.
Recent Violence and a Major Drug Bust
The recent spate of violence includes a botched assassination attempt on December 11. Around 15 bullets were reportedly fired at a vehicle driven by a 32-year-old British man in the Orihuela Costa area. The victim, who survived after being rushed to Torrevieja University Hospital's intensive care unit, was identified locally as a suspect in an armed robbery at a cannabis club last year. He had been released on bail just a fortnight before the shooting.
In May, an Irish man was critically injured after being shot in the head near the La Zenia Boulevard shopping centre, leading to two arrests. The following month, a second 29-year-old Irish man was stabbed in the neck from behind near the same centre, requiring life-saving surgery. A 58-year-old Irish national was arrested in July over that knife attack.
In a separate but related development, Spanish National Police last week arrested five people aged 35 to 50 in a major crackdown on a drug trafficking network operating in Alicante. The group, accused of supplying cocaine to local dealers, saw three remanded in custody after raids in Rojales, Daya Nueva, Catral, and Almoradí. Police seized 4.5 kilos of cocaine, 1 kilo of ecstasy pills, 16 grams of MDMA, and €14,000 in cash, uncovering elaborate hiding places including a modified butane canister.
Broader Crime Trends in the Region
The grim discovery of the 29-year-old's body follows the finding of another man, Belfast-born father-of-one John George, in an orchard in Rojales on January 7 after he had been reported missing the previous month.
While overall crime in Catalonia has fallen by 4.5% compared to the first half of 2024, with homicides dropping from 44 to 24, drug trafficking offences have risen by 8.4%. Alarmingly, reported rapes have increased by 22%. In contrast, Alicante province, which includes the Costa Blanca, has seen its crime rate rise by 4.7% in the first half of 2025. Torrevieja currently has the highest crime ratio in the area, with approximately 5 crimes reported per 100 residents.
