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The clans seeking to control Son Banya's drugs trade

They compete but at the same time cooperate

Spanish flags at the Son Banya shanty town. | Alejandro Sepúlveda

| Palma |

Since the fall of the notorious La Paca (Francisca Cortés Pizarro), the drugs supermarket that is the Son Banya shanty town in Palma has not had a dominant clan controlling the drugs trade.

There are now five groups competing to be número uno. Some have direct family ties, others not. They try to outdo each other by, for example, letting it be known that a competitor's cocaine has been excessively cut, even if it is a lie. A police source says: "They won't openly confront each other, but they do everything in their power to sell more."

Theirs is a peculiar relationship. While they compete, they also cooperate. And so together they have come up with a strategy for new ways of operating.

One aspect of this concerns where the drugs are sold. This is no longer from families' shanties. There are separate buildings specifically for the sale of drugs. The reason for this is to prevent whole families being arrested if there is a raid; it is more difficult for police to apportion culpability.

Another is how the shanty town has been laid out to make it, if you like, more customer-friendly. There is a kind of circuit, which is currently lined with Spanish flags because of the Euros but which permanently has LED lights on both sides. As one officer puts it: "There are now more lights than at the fair. Because they don't pay for it."

There are guides for clients, to make sure they don't get lost. "Before everything was more sinister, and now it is very modern. As if they were going through a large commercial area." Modern, but at the same time retro. At the guardhouse are so-called water carriers. They are equipped with walkie-talkies. Old technology but effective. This is because phones can be tapped. The walkie-talkies are, moreover, more reliable.

The clan leaders have one thing in common - numerous arrests and police records a mile long. The fall of La Paca left them at something of a loss, but then they realised the opportunities, so now they are seeing which one can become the dominant power.

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