Anthony and Linda O'Malley were looking for property

Police revealed on Wednesday that Anthony and Linda O'Malley may have been held prisoner for up to a fortnight at a villa in Spain, and forced to hand over cash.

Spanish police are waiting for the result of tests to confirm the bodies of a man and woman found at a property in the south-west of the country are those of Anthony O'Malley, 42, and his 55-year-old wife Linda, from Llangollen, north Wales.

The arrested men are aged 53 and 37 and are believed to be of Venezuelan origin.

Detectives think the O'Malleys were the victims of an elaborate deception which lured them to a villa in the countryside outside Benidorm - and forced them to hand over thousands of pounds.

The investigation into the deaths will now be passed to three investigating judges, and is expected to take some months.

Buried

The bodies were found at the property after officers arrested the men when they stopped a car which turned out to be the vehicle the O'Malleys had hired, but was fitted with false plates.

Detectives in Spain revealed details of their investigation at a news conference on Wednesday.

The villa where the couple's bodies were discovered

Officers from North Wales Police and the National Crime Squad are aiding their Spanish counterparts in the inquiry.

Nothing has been heard from self-employed car salesman Mr O'Malley, 42, and his wife, a store manager, both originally from Liverpool, since they disappeared in September while looking for a holiday home in Benidorm on Spain's Costa Blanca.

As well as the police investigation, the couple's family have made extensive appeals in both countries and are said to be bracing themselves for the news that their search is almost certainly over.

Juan Cortina, the Commissioner for Valencia, told the police news conference that the bodies had been discovered buried in the basement of a house in Alcoy, an industrial town 12 miles inland from Benidorm.

Mr Cortina said: "It was the kind of place they had been looking for and we believe they visited two or three times and on their last visit they were kidnapped."

Family anguish over find Click here for full story

Mr O'Malley's brother, Bernard, has described the discovery of the bodies as "sickening".

The arrests came following what Spanish police called a "lucky break" after officers stopped the car with the false plates in the Costa Blanca.

Two couples were reported to be travelling in the car and it is thought the men were Venezuelan.

The police's information fits in with the theory that the O'Malleys may have fallen victim to a property scam by practised fraudsters who turned violent.

A British Consulate official in Alicante said police were "as sure as they can be" that the bodies were those of Mr and Mrs O'Malley.

The O'Malleys' bodies were found in this basement

The O'Malleys are known to have seen a house at Villajoyosa, near Benidorm, and after their disappearance it was discovered that expensive cash purchases had been made from their credit card and thousands of pounds had gone from their bank account.

Their family said the spending pattern during that week and the absence of a phone call home were completely out of character for the couple.