Spanish police in a popular holiday hotspot have launched an urgent investigation into the “violent death” of a British man, whose body was found riddled with bullet holes. The man was found dead at a property in the Campoamor area of Orihuela Costa on the evening of December 21 with “obvious signs” of violence inflicted upon him.

A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Alicante today confirmed the police efforts led by the Homicide Team of the Alicante Civil Guard Command’s Judicial Police Unit. He said: “Officers were alerted about a body at a property in the Campoamor area of Orihuela Costa, around 9pm on December 21.

“They went to the property and found the body and obvious signs the victim had suffered a violent death. The dead man has been fully identified as a 29-year-old British national.

“The ongoing investigation is being led by the Homicide Team of the Alicante Civil Guard Command’s Judicial Police Unit. A duty court in Orihuela has placed a secrecy order over the case.”

Local sources claimed the man was shot, though this has not been confirmed by police, who have also not publicly named him.

News of the killing comes less than three weeks after a Brit was shot at least three times in an underground car park in the same area, but miraculously survived.

Detectives are said to be probing whether the two crimes and others in recent months involving British and Irish nationals on the Costa Blanca are related.

Local police have also reportedly been tipped off by friends of the victim that “something serious” happened to him, and found his bloodied body after going to the property flagged up to them.

Civil Guard detectives are understood to be treating it as a drugs-related crime. No arrests have yet taken place.