PALMA
THE mass deployment of police to suspect gang black spot areas of the city ensured that the weekend passed off peacefully in Palma.
Central government delegate to the Balearics, Ramon Socias, confirmed the success of the police operation yesterday but warned that, until tensions between the rival gangs in the capital die down in the wake of the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old West African immigrant ten days ago, the weekend police controls will continue.
Socias said that apart from the police on the streets to prevent gang warfare, police are working behind the scenes using the latest technology and are cooperating closely with colleagues in Valencia and Madrid where gang rivalry is also becoming a problem.
The police in Palma are still trying to establish whether the death of Eusebio Ebulabate was gang related or not.
Nevertheless, nine alleged members of the Dominican Bling Bling gang were arrested on Friday and four of the seven minors held were yesterday admitted to a youth detention centre where they will spend the next three months.
The teenagers will sleep at the detention centre and spend their days participating in a number of community and educational programmes.
The group of nine suspects is believed to include the leaders of the Bling Bling gang and when police raided their homes on Friday morning, they seized five imitation revolvers, a number of knives, a baseball bat, jewelry, four computers and photographs and documents linking the suspects to the Bling Bling gang.
The investigation into the killing of Ebulabate, who was buried on Saturday morning, remains very much alive as the police and the local authorities look to move fast and nip Palma's growing teenager gang problem before it escalates over the festive period.