Horrific moment gunman shoots victim dead in front of shocked British tourists in Costa Del Sol holiday hotspot Puerto Banus

This is the horrific moment a gunman walks up to his victim and ends his life during a shocking daylight shooting in the Costa del Sol holiday resort of Puerto Banus.

Police confirmed late last night the 25-year-old man targeted had died in hospital from the injuries he sustained in yesterday’s ambush.

And today, the first video footage of the assassination emerged, showing the killer walking up to his victim as he smoked a cigarette and chatted on his mobile phone and firing off several bullets from close range.

The assassin appeared to pick a moment when the cafe terrace where the shooting occurred was empty, although several tourists in the vicinity heard the shots ring out and dived for cover.

He emerged from behind a black van and appeared to discard a cigarette he had also been puffing on, while he hid his gun in the other hand behind his back, before felling his victim with his first bullet and continuing to fire as his target made a desperate attempt to shelter on the ground between the terrace table and chairs.

Both men were wearing T-shirts and shorts like the other holidaymakers in the busy resort.

The distressing footage showed the attack happened at 2.31pm yesterday.

Police confirmed the suspect had been arrested shortly after the shooting as they confirmed the death of the victim.

A spokesman for the National Police in Malaga, which covers the Marbella area where the savage assassination occurred, said last night around 8.15pm local time: ‘We can confirm a 38-year-old man has been arrested over the fatal shooting of another man in Puerto Banus.

‘The investigation is ongoing and we cannot offer any more details at this stage.’

Officers said they could not give out any information about the mens’ nationalities, although one unconfirmed local report pointed to both the alleged killer and the victim being Swedish passport holders and the gunman being of Afghan origin.

Today, it emerged the assassin had been caught after witnesses to the shooting recorded the number plate of his getaway vehicle and lockdown police roadblocks were set up to stop and trap him as part of an operation involving every police officer available in the area called Operation Cage.

The suspect was held as he tried to drive onto a nearby motorway by a residential estate.

One witness to the attack told local paper Sur overnight: ‘I was going to have a coffee and always pass the place where the shooting happened on that pavement.

‘It’s a miracle I didn’t get shot. It was only because I was walking faster than normal.

‘People began to run when they heard the shots ring out.

‘It sounded like they came from a very powerful weapon. Six or seven shots were fired.’

The injured man, believed to have ended up trying to take refuge inside the cafe he was shot outside, was rushed to the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella a 10-minute drive away but died there despite the efforts of medics to save him.

Shootings in Puerto Banús and surrounding areas over the past few summers have led to high-profile high-season police operations in the area which have included raids on upmarket clubs, following criticism from locals the port area has become like the ‘Wild West.’

In June last year, Manchester City star Erling Haaland was caught up in a dramatic police raid at a beach club called Playa Padre in Marbella.

The Norwegian international was filming putting his hands into his pocket to pull out his ID after cops in balaclavas demanded to know who he was.

The surprise raid, which happened the weekend after Haaland was filmed dancing alongside a DJ at the beach club during a previous visit, resulted in the arrest of an Iranian fugitive.

One of the shootings last year in Puerto Banús, which forms part of the municipality of Marbella, included a March 11 attack on British-run eatery La Sala that led to the arrests in April of a British man and Irish national described by police as having links to organised crime.

Kerry Katona later claimed she had U-turned on a decision to move to the famous Costa del Sol resort with her family including then-fiancé Ryan Mahoney because she no longer felt safe about the prospect following the violent incidents there.

Contract killers from Sweden have been blamed for an orgy of violence around Europe including the Costa del Sol and resorts like Marbella which has been dubbed the United Nations of Crime because of the number of violent gangs operating there.

Bomb blasts on the famous coast in October 2018 led to the arrests of three ‘hitmen’ in Sweden and Marbella.

Spanish National Police added in a statement three months later as they revealed the detentions: ‘The police and Civil Guard investigations led to a connection which linked the incidents to a criminal organisation of contract killers based in Sweden with connections to several European countries, including Spain.

‘This organisation is believed to be behind a number of violent incidents in Sweden in which explosives have been used.

‘Several members of the organisation, all aged between 20 and 30, were identified and evidence established linking them to the bomb blasts.

‘Two were in the Swedish city of Malmo where they were arrested in a well-planned police operation.

‘The third individual was held in Marbella.’

The so-called Mocro Maffia have also been identified as a problem on the Costa del Sol.

A 17-year-old Belgian youngster working for the feared organisation was arrested last month and accused of flying to the resort of Fuengirola to assassinate a Dutchman next to a cannabis club in December last year.

Police have described it as the first case in Spain in which an underage hitman is the main suspect.