Second victim in Lorca double murder was allegedly involved in drug dealing

Guardia Civil are investigating whether body in car boot was connected to shooting of Italian alleged mobster on same day nearby 

The Guardia Civil has identified the second fatality in the double murder case in Lorca, whose body was discovered last week on Tuesday in the boot of a white Peugeot 5008 SUV parked by the roadside linking Ramonete and Puntas de Calnegre.

The victim is a Moroccan national allegedly involved in dealing hashish and marijuana, as well as in so-called “vuelcos” (drug-related robberies between traffickers), according to sources close to the investigation.

The vehicle was found with its engine and lights still on, just a few metres from a restaurant in Lorca's rural district of Ramonete, as confirmed by witnesses who discovered the body.

Inside, officers found the man’s body, bound and bearing multiple gunshot wounds.

They believe that the circumstances indicate it was a drug-related settling of scores.

The body was found shortly after the murder of Giuliano Velo, a 67-year-old Italian citizen who was shot dead at his home in the rural area of El Cantal, around 10 kilometres away.

Velo was on provisional release, having spent a year in prison, accused of leading a network that supplied large vessels for transporting hashish.

Spanish law enforcement had linked Velo to the Mala del Brenta, a mafia group that originated in the Veneto region in the 1970s, also known as the Venetian Mafia or the Mafia del Piovese.

Velo had previously been convicted in connection with a shipment of more than two and a half tonnes of marijuana two decades ago.

He was also investigated in Málaga for suspected involvement in a murder, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

He was further linked to the killing of another Italian, Giuseppe Nirta, a member of the Calabrian mafia group ‘Ndrangheta, in Yecla.

Velo was eventually located and arrested in Albania and extradited to Spain, though he was once again acquitted of the murder.

Guardia Civil investigators are now trying to determine whether the two deaths are connected, and whether the Moroccan victim was part of the same drug trafficking networks connected to the Italian.

So far, no arrests have been made in connection with the double murder.

The Guardia Civil’s judicial police are currently analysing biological samples collected both from the house and the car boot, as well as footage from nearby security cameras, in an effort to identify the perpetrators.

Image: Guardia Civil archive photo