THREE Brits have been arrested in Alicante after a man was shot in a car park next to a beach bar near Costa del Sol.
The 31-year-old survived – despite being shot four times in the abdomen and legs – for what is believed to be a settling of scores by drug gangs.
Gunshots rang out near the Andalucía Beach residential complex, close to the Estepona coastline, at around 5.30pm on July 28.
Witnesses claimed that the men were wearing hoods at the time of the brazen attack.
As soon as their victim was on the ground, they escaped in a dark car with foreign plates.
Terrified bar staff rushed to help the seriously injured man who was lying in a pool of blood.
He was later rushed to the Costa del Sol University Hospital in Marbella.
According to reports following the incident, the victim was a Lithuanian national but his name has not been released.
The suspects were held in Orihuela Costa south of Alicante, nearly 350 miles away from the spot where the gun attack took place.
Two of them have been put in preventive detention for attempted murder and other crimes.
The third was released on provisional bail pending continuation of the investigation.
Police have further carried out searches of houses in the La Zenia area of Orihuela Costa.
Fake documents, weapons and a small amount of drugs were seized as part of the operation and more people have been detained.
Parts of Spain popular with British tourists have been plagued by crime in recent weeks.
Earlier this week, a football ultra was shot in the face while holidaying in Costa del Sol.
Ümit Yalçın, 47, is fighting for his life after the attack at a restaurant on the marina. He is said to be in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
Spanish police are still hunting for the three men believed to be behind the bloodbath and are yet to confirm the motives behind the shooting.
The government has reacted by sending in police reinforcements amid criticism they are not doing enough to tackle organised crime and drug trafficking gangs.
A shooting in Marbella on September 8 near a four-star hotel, which ended with three arrests following a police chase along the resort’s famous Golden Mile and the Dutch victim being hospitalised, has also been linked to gangland crime.
Three days earlier a torture chamber was discovered inside a villa in Estepona near Marbella.
Two men were rescued and seven suspected members of a Malaga-based Eastern European gang arrested.