Kimberley Mannion
AN ALLEGED mafia boss has been released on bail from prison in Palma on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
Bashkim Osmani was arrested in February at a hotel he owns in Croatia and was extradited to Spain, where he has now been released from Palma prison after paying bail of €400,000.
The conditions of the bail include his passport having been confiscated, and having to report to court twice a month.
Osmani was put behind bars following Operation Casino, a huge international operation involving 600 officers centred in Mallorca on money laundering and drug trafficking. It involved both Policia Nacional and Guardia Civil, along with the FBI and several European police forces. A total of 18 properties were raided in Mallorca and Formentera, with €200,000 in cash and €40,000 in cryptocurrencies seized, along with several luxury watches.
The criminal network, which he was allegedly head of, moved large amounts of cocaine between Europe and South America according to the investigation.
The alleged mafia man came to Mallorca in 1999 and bought the Ritzi de Portals restaurant in Portals Nous, in Calvia, which was then under a different name.
A five million euro building was then commissioned to be built by the accused before Guardia Civil opened an investigation into him and his alleged criminal organisation in 2018.
Osmani is suspected of laundering at least €30 million over more than a decade.
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