In early August, the National Police in Mallorca reported having seized two tonnes of counterfeit products and having made five arrests. The police have now arrested what they say are the three largest distributors on the island - two men and one woman.
Investigators have established that these distributors were acquiring all sorts of products from a large European importer. The orders arrived in small quantities via courier companies. They were then immediately despatched to the distributors' clients.
This method reduces costs of storage in warehouses and makes police intervention more difficult. Police operations have typically focused on locating the warehouses. They now have to deal with all the packages that arrive in Mallorca.
The three people who have been arrested have used various identities and different addresses for deliveries.
Despite these obstacles, investigators have been able to prove that one of the three was working with an individual arrested in August. Packages were sent to four different recipients and addresses in Palma and Santanyi.
The other two were using the identities of people who have never been to Mallorca. Pretending to be the representatives of these people, they collected packages at different service points in locations ranging from Arenal to Can Picafort. They then used hire cars, which they rotated to make their identification difficult, in supplying shops with fake goods.