Isha Sesay
POLICE in Mallorca have busted three criminal gangs responsible for smuggling large quantities of cocaine into the island.
A total of 14 people, aged between 21 and 59, were arrested in the year-long Policia Nacional anti-drugs sting named Operation Cherry.
According to investigators, the three gangs worked together to import high purity cocaine through a well known courier company which was then distributed to multiple drug dealers across the island.
The narcotic was however predominately distributed in Palma’s notorious Son Banya estate, an area that is renowned for being the epicentre of drug dealing in Mallorca.
Footage of a raid on the estate, shared to the force’s social media accounts, shows officers jumping out the back of an unmarked van.
They then search a series of properties finding cocaine, equipment to prepare the drugs and cash.
As well as the 14 people taken into custody, all who have been charged with belonging to a criminal organisation and drugs trafficking, ten kilos of cocaine, five kilos of hashish and €50,000 in cash were uncovered in five separate property raids.
Over the last year, police in Mallorca have stepped up their fight against drug trafficking, carrying out several major operations.
In September, a criminal gang allegedly responsible for supplying cocaine to the majority of drug dealers in Mallorca was dismantled.
As part of ‘Operation Gunpowder,’ 16 ‘members’ of the organisation were arrested in multiple dawn raids.
The detainees allegedly introduced large consignments of high-purity cocaine from South America which were then cut at a makeshift laboratory installed inside a flat in Palma.
In March of this year, three kilos of cocaine were seized from a criminal gang operating inside a flat in the capital’s Son Gotleu district.
Little less than a month later, a joint operation coordinated by police in Columbia and Mallorca also led to the arrest of eight members of the same family that trafficked narcotics into Spain from South America.
READ MORE:
- Old salt nabbed: Royal Navy veteran ‘mastermind’ behind drugs gang in Spain’s Andalucia
- GANDIA VICE: Prostitution and drugs ring smashed in Spain’s Valencia
- Nervy ‘narco’ gets spooked by police on Spain’s Costa Blanca who find his secret drugs farm
