A woman has spoken of her horror at her and her friend being jabbed with needles as horror cases of spiking in a popular holiday hotspot are being investigated by police.
Police forces around the UK recorded at least 2,436 cases between 2017 and 2021 and 839 of them came in the last year alone.
Police in Catalonia, who are also seeking the help of French officials, have become concerned about a spate of spiking in nightclubs in Barcelona after local DJ said she and her friend were targeted.
DJ Neska warned she and a female friend had been the victim of spiking through a needle when they attended a nightclub in a popular area.
She said: "Girls, last night my friend and I were jabbed in a club in Barcelona.
"I was jabbed in the arm and my friend in the leg. We went to the bar to seek help when we felt the needle go in."
Neska's complaint was the sixth incident in recent weeks, prompting Spanish authorities to approach police in Britain and France through Interpol to "share information".
Despite the fears about more incidents, the lawyer and general secretary of the Catalan Federation of Restaurants and Nightlife (FECASARM), attempted to calm fears, claiming it does not indicate a wave.
He said: "There’s not a wave of incidents and we’re not talking about something which is a generalised practice, far from it."
Spiking has also been viewed as a rising problem back in the UK. In October last year landscape designer Rebecca Derbyshire, 26, told the Mirror she believes she was spiked with a needle on a hen do in Liverpool.
Rebecca, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, said: "I felt something sharp go into my shoulder. It was a really unusual sensation. I turned around to my friend and said, ‘I think I’ve just been injected’.
"She looked at my arm and said there was a needle mark and we looked around trying to see who might have done it. It doesn’t bear thinking about what could have happened if my friend hadn’t been there."
Earlier this month, the UK government highlighted in a report that while there "was insufficient data to provide a clear picture of its true extent and the motives," it would remain an "invisible crime unless more was done to improve awareness and support victims."
The report also suggested creating a specific criminal offence related to spiking in an attempt to deter people from attempting it.
The government said a final report on the problem would be ready for April 2023 and that it could inform the best practices for police approach in the future, but that there is "no intention to publish a specific spiking strategy."
