Walter Finch
A POLICE dragnet hit several known Marbella nightspots and rounded up a number of drug dealers just two days after a broad daylight shootout in Puerto Banus.
Onlookers were shocked to see an army of police vans and uniformed officers – as well as undercovers – descending on two nightclubs popular with tourists.
Over one hundred armed cops from the Policia Nacional and Policia Local were involved in the operation, which saw 75 individuals searched and 12 arrests for drug possession.
Local police also reported the Puerto Banus venues after they found 500 people in a space designed for just 200, coupled with a lack of liability insurance.
Marbella’s ‘wild west’ reputation for drugs, crime and regulation-flaunting seemed well-earned on Monday when an unidentified man, linked to drug cartels, strolled through the port firing an uzi at a group of fleeing men.
The attacker – who remains at large – escaped with an accomplice and set their getaway car on fire five kilometres away, causing a forest fire.
Two days later, police carried out the raids as part of the Strategic Police Response Plan to combat drug use and street-level drug trafficking.
Police have long identified certain leisure areas of Marbella as being a hotbed of drug use and mafia activity.
Despite this, the trends only seem to have gotten worse, with a greater and greater amount of drugs sold, consumed and fought over by rival gangs in the area.
It does not help that the longstanding mayor of Marbella, Angeles Muñoz, was married to an indicted drug trafficker (now deceased) Lars Broberg.
Her step-son, Joakim Broberg, 43, was also indicted on charges of drug-trafficking, money laundering and membership of a criminal gang.
Despite the complaints about a mafia takeover in Marbella, Muñoz still managed to win re-election in May’s municipal elections.
The PP senator won an absolute majority, retaining all 14 of her councillors.
She has been mayor of Marbella for over 14 years now, first winning the position in 2007.
Yet residents complain about the lack of police presence in the known hotspots and the free-for-all atmosphere.
One resident likened Wednesday’s raid to a scene from the classic movie Casablanca when the French police chief cries: “I am shocked to discover that there is gambling taking place here!”
“The night in Marbella smells like cocaine,” he commented.
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