Minister for the Interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, on Thursday asked for respect for the four arrested police chiefs, reminding his audience about the presumption of innocence.Two of the four National Police UDYCO anti-drugs and organised crime chiefs who were arrested on Tuesday accused of corruption, were ordered to prison without bail on Friday evening. They are the UDYCO chief from Marbella, C.F. and the chief inspector from Málaga, J.A.M. Instruction judge number 5 in Marbella, Julián Cabrero, also granted bail with charges remaining for the other policemen. A translator at the National Police station in Marbella was granted bail and the director of the Marbella Clinic, which is also linked to the case, was also granted bail of 30,000 €. They are charged following a Police Internal Affairs investigation which began two years ago into alleged misappropriation of items seized in the course of police operations from mafia-type criminal gangs. The men spent all of Friday in the court building in Marbella, finally leaving with heads covered around 6pm.



Meanwhile unions have criticised what they describes as the ‘systematic ill-treatment’ of the arrested policemen. They accuse the man who is the assistant operations director, Fernández Chico, of not respecting the presumption of innocence, and they have called for his resignation. They also say the men were given no food or water for a 24 hour period.