Police have swooped on a drugs gang targeting UK holidaymakers in a popular Spanish party resort. The operation followed a period of surveillance on the streets of the Majorca resort of Magaluf and follows reports of an increase in criminal activity including robberies and sale of illegal substances.
Investigations are continuing but courts have already issued restraining orders banning the suspects, who pose as street sellers, from the area around the resort. Guardia Civil officers made the arrests, seizing cash and drugs from the men, Searches also found substances hidden at various locations in the area around the notorious Punta Ballena strip, the local Ultima Hora newspaper reported.
Undercover agents monitored the men's activities for some time and the suspects were arrested during the early hours of the weekend.
The dealers, five are Senegalese and one is Nigerian, are understood to be part of a group that has gained control of the sale of drugs in the holiday resort, which is a favourite destination for thousands of British youngsters each year. It has been reported they are part of a gang that was disbanded following police operations before the pandemic.
However, they had returned to the streets coinciding with the rise in crime. According to investigators, those arrested, some of them with various criminal records, are part of a structure that would have gained control of the resort's drugs trade.
The crackdown is the latest attempt by authorities to stamp out crime and rowdy behaviour in Magaluf, including excessive drinking among tourists. However, reports of street robberies, thought to be linked to the drugs trade, are still continuing despite ongoing police operations.
