MADRID, Spain – Two shootings within barely five days in central Málaga have once again placed insecurity and armed violence among the main topics of conversation on the streets. A problem that, together with kidnappings, increases every year without the government putting in place the necessary means to curb this scourge linked, in most cases, to drug trafficking and organised crime. A war that seems to turn ideological when the Andalusian government and the city council itself ask for more resources from a government that denies, one after another, that there is an escalation of violence.
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The murder of Nacho occurred on Friday 18 September at around 11.40am in broad daylight in the central Barcenillas neighbourhood. The 20-year-old, who worked in construction and lived with his mother, was sitting on a bench near his home when three men approached and opened fire. Wounded in the back and a leg, he managed to reach a supermarket to ask for help but died hours later in hospital. The three suspects were arrested that same day and sent to provisional prison. The investigation has confirmed that Nacho was not the target, as he had no record or links to drug trafficking or the mafias operating on the Costa del Sol. Investigators are working on the hypothesis that the arrested men, allegedly linked to Swedish organised crime, may have mistaken him for a hitman or member of a rival gang. His mother, devastated by the tragedy, has demanded more police presence following the crime.
However, five days later, on the night of Tuesday 22 September, a new shooting reached the tourist heart of Málaga. At 10.35pm, a 47-year-old Turkish man dining on the terrace of a restaurant at Muelle Uno received two shots, one of them in the face. He was taken to the Regional Hospital, where he remains admitted. According to the government sub-delegate in Málaga, Javier Salas, the main line of investigation points to a settling of scores between drug gangs, although the investigation remains open.
The succession of violent episodes goes back further. In recent months there have been several shootings in neighbourhoods of the capital such as La Trinidad and Palma-Palmilla. Among the most tragic events, on 5 June 2025, three robbers fleeing after robbing a pharmacy in Puerto de la Torre drove the wrong way on the A-7. Their vehicle collided head-on with that of Antonio, a police sub-inspector returning home after work who was not involved in the chase. All four died. In Marbella, on 3 October that year, Hamza Karimi, Hamko, a 25-year-old Swedish rapper linked by media in his country to gang circles, was shot dead on a terrace in Puerto Banús. Last month, on 24 August, a 33-year-old man died from two gunshots in the middle of the street. On 8 September another shooting in the early afternoon on Marbella’s Golden Mile left one injured and three detainees of Dutch nationality, also linked to drug trafficking.
Official data also reflect a rise in some of the most serious crimes in the province. According to the Ministry of the Interior’s Crime Balance for 2025, intentional homicides and completed murders increased by 13 per cent, from 23 to 26 cases, while serious and less serious crimes of injuries and brawls grew by 7.3 per cent, from 1,141 to 1,224. Especially significant was the increase in kidnappings, which doubled in a year, going from 8 in 2024 to 17 in 2025, a rise of 112.5 per cent. On the other hand, attempted homicides and murders fell by 7.8 per cent, from 64 to 59 cases.
Faced with this situation, the mayor of Málaga, Francisco de la Torre, called on the government to take the force of the drug trade very seriously, asking for the reinforcement of the Civil Guard’s maritime means and defending that officers should be able to shoot at drug boats, though not at their occupants, to prevent the transport of drugs. The first vice-president of the Andalusian government, Antonio Sanz, maintained that the central executive has lost control of the fight against drug trafficking and again demanded more personnel, means and the recovery of OCON-Sur, the specialised Civil Guard unit, in the framework of a situation that goes beyond Málaga and also concerns Almería, Cádiz, Huelva and Seville.
For his part, the government sub-delegate in Málaga, Javier Salas, again defended that Málaga is a safe province. However, despite that message intended to convey calm, he announced that the Costa del Sol Plan against episodes involving firearms will also be extended to Málaga capital following the latest shootings. The operation, run by the National Police in collaboration with the Local Police, seeks to reinforce police presence, improve the response to incidents involving firearms and act against organised crime. Its extension to the capital will mean more officers and more police presence in these days.
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Despite this, the Andalusian government again showed its concern over the situation of citizen insecurity and accused the central executive of abandoning the security forces. Antonio Sanz described Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska as the minister of citizen insecurity, while Vox accused him of surrendering Málaga to the drug traffickers.
