A combined National Police-Guardia Civil anti-drugs operation was carried out this morning, with a total of 25 raids on properties in different parts of Palma, including Cala Major, and in Marratxi and Can Picafort. One of the properties raided was in the calle Bartomeu Fons (number 11) which is only 250 metres from the Marivent Palace, the Spanish Royal Family's summer holiday residence.
The operation, dubbed Opps, found people living on three floors at this property, which was in fact the nerve centre for a drugs trafficking and sales network, fifteen members of which have been arrested. Sources close to the case describe the gang - most of them of Dominican nationality and under 35 - as having been highly organised and well established on the island. It had also, over recent months, become one of the main suppliers of cocaine in Majorca.
Gang members had been under surveillance for some months. They did not try to make themselves go unnoticed. Souped-up cars and lifestyles contradicted what otherwise might have been lowly social status.