20 British drug ring members have been arrested in Ibiza following a series of raids aross the island, with a chain of command reaching all the way down to club workers who were selling drugs to clubbing tourists.
Spanish Police claim that they’ve broken the island’s most powerful drugs ring, with the help of Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and revealed how British students had become drug mules for the gangs. A young British woman was arrested at Ibiza earlier this month after attempting to smuggle 3kg of cocaine into the country.
Four women were arrested following a helicopter raid at an apartment in Cala de Bou, near San Antonio, while several more suspects were arrested at another flat in the town’s West End bar strip. Police footage showed investigators counting stacks of euro notes and a haul of light blue and pink pills at one of the flats, with the full haul across 12 properties in ‘Operation Arrow’ amounting to some 38,000 ecstasy tablets, cocaine, ketamine, GHB, MDMA and mephedrone, €40,000 cash and a hydraulic tablet press.
The UK-based ring smuggled drugs to the island in cars from the UK and in the luggage of British tourists, with “public-facing” club employees used to sell drugs at ground level. Leaders of the ring visited the island to supervise operations and collect money, staying in luxury villas. The organisation was sophisticated, ensuring that prices were kept similar at the points of sale, police said.
Ken Gallagher, Soca's head of European operations, said the bust should act as a stark warning to any students tempted to take part in the Ibiza drugs trade. "This joint operation has taken out every level of a gang that was responsible for supplying and distributing a vast quantity of drugs to Ibiza," he said. "It represents an excellent result for our co-operation with the Spanish, and serves as a stark warning to students and others who might think they can make some easy money through the drugs trade. These arrests could have significant impact on their future, on their ability to finish their degrees and on their prospects for employment."
Questions have also been raised as to how intertwined the island’s nightclubs may be with drug trafficking.
Source: guardian.co.uk