The National Police have smashed a gang of Nigerian drug traffickers which was supplying heroin and other drugs to dealers in the Son Banya shanty town and locations on the Levante industrial estate.
The National Police operation, "Operation Anion", concluded last Thursday after investigators managed to locate the gang's base in Son Gotleu in Palma.
According to the National Police, evidence about the Nigerians' movements was gathered from suspects arrested in May when a predominantly Dominican gang of drug smugglers was broken up in Palma. That gang was being used to traffic drugs from Holland and Italy into Majorca. Gang members were apparently being used by the Nigerians as "camels" to smuggle the drug in and then "cut it" to enhance its powers and effect.
The investigation was first launched in April after a Nigerian associate of the Dominicans was intercepted at Palma airport on arrival from Amsterdam with 62 "dates" of heroin and cocaine in his stomach. The total amount of narcotics the suspect had "ingested" was equivalent to 850 grams.
Police chiefs stated yesterday that the Nigerian gang supplied outlets with heroin, cocaine and marijuana in Son Banya, various locations across the capital and also acted as dealers from its own base in Son Gotleu. Police also managed to ascertain that the gang was using a hair salon in Parc de Ses Estacions as a front for a drugs den.
In this latest phase of the operation, a total of twelve people have been arrested - eight Nigerians, three Dominicans and one Spanish national. Further arrests are not being ruled out. The police also searched ten properties and recovered over 5,000 euros in cash plus differing quantities of various drugs.