Brits have been issued a warning of the crime rates in a popular Spanish city ahead of the summer holidays. A former detective who spent 20 years on the Costa del Sol fighting drug lords and breaking up their criminal networks called Marbella "the Wall Street of crime". Juan Jose Gómez Millan, a retired national police officer from Granada, relocated to Malaga in 1996, which he said was home to global organised crime syndicates.

He told Diario Sur: "There were already score-settling events here in the '90s, but they were more selective. Now they're more reckless, more crude."

Gómez recounted how the first gangsters to settle were Brits involved in the infamous Great Train Robbery of 1963, which netted over £2.61 million.

He said: "At that time, there was practically no international cooperation and the extradition treaties were nineteenth-century, so they took refuge here and started buying land."

As tourism boomed, visitors found themselves alongside gangsters on holiday.

The region became a magnet for the wealthy, with Algeciras in the south serving as the entry point for cocaine, Gibraltar acting as a tax haven. Morocco, the world's top hashish drug producer, is also nearby.

Gómez added: "Organisations are like multinationals, and Marbella is the Wall Street of crime. The heart of the matter is on the Costa del Sol, and if you don't have a branch here, you're a nobody."

Authorities also noted that while crime rates on the coast may be lower, the area remains a critical hub for criminal operations.

Gómez cautioned about a rise in gangs as opposed to organisations, where "charismatic leaders" perpetrate any crime with "no rules".

Marbella Council has been contacted for comment.