Spanish police have solved the crime of executing a 31-year-old Albanian man in Malaga and then throwing his body into a reservoir after putting the corpse in a bag.
Three suspects, including two Albanians aged 36 and 45, as well as their Spanish accomplice, have been arrested, and the motive for the crime is believed to be settling scores between rival groups over illegal activities, mainly control of drug trafficking territory.
The victim was found last autumn dumped in the water and the body was decomposing, inside a bag in the Casasola reservoir in Almogía (Málaga).
"The investigation concludes that the murder was motivated by a settling of scores in the context of international drug trafficking and that the victim fell into a trap set by his captors, who had lured him under false pretenses to finalize an alleged transaction. The three arrested people were apprehended in the province of Barcelona and have been remanded in custody by order of the competent judicial authority," the authorities said.
Those arrested are two men, compatriots of the deceased and connected to drug trafficking, who are considered the perpetrators of the murder, and a Spanish woman, an "accomplice", who had rented a vehicle in her name to commit the crime.
Three checks were also carried out in the Barcelona towns of Vallirana and Villafranca del Penedés.
"The investigation led by agents of the Organized Crime Group of the Marbella Police Station, in collaboration with officers from Udyco Costa del Sol and the UDET Group 23 in Barcelona, ??began following a complaint filed by the victim's partner. On May 12, 2025, the man received a call from alleged "friends" who arranged a meeting with him at a well-known inn in the Puerto de la Torre neighborhood of Malaga," Spanish media wrote about the details of the file, while the victim's name was not published.
It was the last time the young man, who lived in Benahavís (Málaga), where he lived a luxurious life, was seen alive. The National Police found evidence that the missing man arrived at the meeting point and got into a vehicle with two passengers, heading towards a mountainous area near a reservoir.
Discovery of the corpse
Meanwhile, in the Casasola reservoir, a body shop owner discovered a suspicious bag on October 14. Inside, authorities found a dead person, bound with wire and cables. Inside the bag were found concrete blocks, which they believe were intended to sink it.
According to investigators, the drop in the reservoir's water level after the summer season exposed the body, thwarting the perpetrators' plan.
DNA results allowed investigators to identify the deceased. From there, they were able to track down the vehicle, which had been rented in Barcelona by a 58-year-old woman.
This led them to identify the suspected perpetrators: two Albanian men, aged 36 and 45, who had travelled to Malaga to commit the crime.
All were arrested last February for the crimes of murder and belonging to a criminal organization. They recently revealed that the family of the deceased was threatened by members of the group to stop searching for the victim.