A Swedish teenager has been held on suspicion of murdering a renowned plastic surgeon at his Marbella clinic.
The 18-year-old was arrested just after 6pm local time yesterday evening, 24 hours after 57-year-old Alexander Aslani was shot dead.
Police confirmed in a short statement: ‘A man aged 18 has just been arrested as the suspected author of the homicide committed on Wednesday evening in Marbella.
‘No further details will be provided at this time.’
Just before the arrest it emerged police were investigating whether UK-trained Mr Aslani, who has worked at London Highgate Hospital and Dolan Park Hospital near Birmingham, could have been targeted by hitmen hired by a disgruntled ex-patient.
Regional digital news outlet 101TV claimed murder squad detectives believed the crime could be linked to the death on the operating table of a wealthy patient from South America and an alleged contract killing retaliation by relatives, although sources close to the murdered surgeon insisted afterwards he had never lost anyone in those circumstances.
Local paper Sur subsequently reported a client at the Cirumed Clinic, which married father-of-two Mr Aslani founded and ran, had sent threatening messages hours before the shooting to express her unhappiness with the result of a treatment she had received and demanded a refund.
Mr Aslani has treated an array of celebrities including former Towie star Chloe Sims and TV personality Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, who paid tribute to him online.
Plastic surgeon Alaxander Aslani was gunned down inside his clinic in Marbella
Prestigious plastic surgeon Mr Aslani, who has 200,000 followers on Instagram, worked as a consultant plastic surgeon at London Highgate Hospital between 2007 and 2009
Emergency services pictured at the Cirumed Clinic where the shooting took place
The ongoing police investigation is focusing on who hired the suspected hitman and tasked him with killing the plastic surgeon and why.
The masked assassin stormed into the clinic just east of Marbella town centre and shot his victim several times in the head in front of customers before fleeing on a getaway motorbike.
He is said to have sped away from the murder scene on a Yamaha maxi-scooter parked outside with an accomplice driving a black Audi.
Prestigious plastic surgeon Mr Aslani, who has 200,000 followers on Instagram, worked as a consultant plastic surgeon at London Highgate Hospital between 2007 and 2009.
Before that he performed the same role at Dolan Park Hospital in Bromsgrove.
He began his surgical training in South Africa. His father, Dr Amir Aslani, was one of the pioneers of the modern mastectomy in Germany in the seventies.
As an active member of Interplast, a global network of non-profit humanitarian organisations providing free plastic and reconstructive surgery to people in developing communities, he led a paediatric plastic surgery mission each year in Calcutta in India, operating on cleft lip in underprivileged children.
His wife Jeannine, described as Director of Nursing at the Cirumed Clinic on its website, is believed to have been at an aesthetic and anti-aging treatment centre next to the clinic when he was murdered.
Former Towie star Chloe Sims had publicly thanked the plastic surgeon for a Brazilian bum lift in 2018, posting on Instagram: ‘HAPPY.’
That same year, Love Island’s Hannah Elizabeth credited him after undergoing the same surgery.
The tributes that poured in for Mr Aslani after it emerged he was the gun attack victim included one from Age Concern Estepona.
A spokesman said: ‘We are heartbroken: a wonderful man was murdered tonight at his clinic. ‘Our thoughts are with his incredible wife and their two children; they have helped us enormously with food for homeless people. They are incredible people.
‘Heartbroken for this incredible family who helped Age Concern Estepona so much through very difficult times including Covid.’
Friend and patient Nance Lala Van der Veken wrote on social media: ‘I’m absolutely devastated. You didn’t just change my body — you helped shape a part of my life.
‘You were truly one of the best plastic surgeons, but to me, you were so much more than my doctor. You were my friend, someone I trusted completely, and someone whose work I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
‘It was an honour to have known you and to carry your incredible work with me. Your talent, kindness, and memory will always remain a part of me.
‘Rest in peace, my dear friend. You will never be forgotten.’
TV personality Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace took to her Instagram story to pay tribute to the plastic surgeon, writing: ‘I am ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATED.
‘Dr Aslani was a beautiful human being with great humour and a big heart.
‘Words escape me. So much love to his wife and kids and team. I pray they find who did this.’
In another post she wrote: ‘I feel sick, my heart breaks for him and his family.
‘In total shock.’
The reality star described how she had ‘spent a whole month’ with Mr Aslani, his wife and children, and that his death had ‘affected me badly’.
‘He was the kindest man and greatest surgeon and his wife is a dream,’ she wrote.
Plastic surgeon Dr Adel Quttainah added: ‘Life is truly unpredictable, he was an exceptional doctor and a kind soul.
‘May your soul rest in peace. You will be remembered.’
TV personality Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace took to her Instagram story to pay tribute to the plastic surgeon
‘I am ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATED,’ the reality TV star wrote
Three Swedish nationals of Somalian origin were arrested last month over the September 18 gun murder in a Malaga square of a 20-year-old man identified only as Nacho.
The paranoid gunmen, who have been remanded in prison, are thought to have mistaken him for a hitman who was about to attack them.
Police have already confirmed Nacho had no links to crime.
A Dutchman was shot in the leg on September 8 near a four-star hotel in Marbella in an incident linked to rival drug gang feuding and three suspects arrested after a police chase along the upmarket resort’s famous Golden Mile.
The incident happened a fortnight after a Senegalese man was killed in the same holiday town.
On September 22, a 47-year-old Turkish national was shot in the face at a seafront restaurant and remains in critical condition at a local hospital.
Witnesses described seeing two hooded figures storming into a restaurant before firing at the man and taking off.
Costa del Sol has emerged as a global hub for organised crime, with more than 100 mafia groups from around the world said to be operating along the 90-mile stretch of coastline.
These criminal networks are run by British, Irish, Swedish, Moroccan, Albanian and Colombian narco groups, who are partaking in an increasingly bloodthirsty battle for control, and leaving innocent bystanders to pay the price.
On September 5, police officers made a shocking discovery in Estepona when they found a torture chamber used by an Eastern European gang.
Cops arrived at a property in the Spanish town after a woman alerted them that her partner may be in danger.
When they arrived at the house, a Moroccan man emerged covered in blood, telling police: ‘They want to kill us! They want to kill us!’
Officers called for reinforcements before entering the home and unveiling a sinister room where gang members appeared to be carrying out torture and abuse.
A police source told Spanish news outlet El Español: ‘There was a room lined with plastic sheeting. It was a torture room because it had tools like pliers and hammers.’
Another man – a Spanish national – was found tied to a chair and covered in blood, while cops seized two AK-47 assault rifles and several handguns.
Images from inside the house show a chair and walls covered in plastic so that blood could be removed without leaving any evidence behind.
The Moroccan man who fled the property was the partner of the woman who raised the alarm.
He had told his girlfriend he was going to a house for a work meeting but told her to call the police if she didn’t hear from him within 20 minutes.
After 40 minutes without any contact, the woman called the police.
Both men were naked, covered in blood and had visible injuries when rescued.
Police are now investigating why they were being tortured, and seven Georgian nationals believed to be linked to the property have been arrested.
