I thought I would bring to your attention an unfortunate incident that happened whilst I was on a shopping trip to Palma.
My friend and I had taken the bus from Santa Ponsa into Palma, we did some shopping in Zara then went to Bar Bosch for a light tapas lunch, we strolled back through the market stalls to the bus stop just past the Cathedral on the main route out of Palma.
There were about 3 cruise ships in so it was very busy with the usual organised Cathedral tours etc... As we were in the queue my friend noticed a couple of men walking against the flow of pedestrians getting on the bus, as they passed us I noticed my bag felt light and when I opened it my mobile phone and purse had gone. We decided not to go on the bus and I immediately rang my husband who started to track my phone, as I was doing this my friend noticed the two men who were at the bus stop. To say they were shocked to see us was an understatement.
All the time this was happening I was looking for a policeman, the incident lasted 45 mins and not once did I see any “Guarda civil or local”. The phone was 1 meter away from me and I couldn’t do anything as we established there were about 8 members of the gang and as we had no support (no police presence) I immediately had my phone sim and handset blocked, my purse with 100 euros in were gone, fortunately my phone was linked to my iPad so I managed to save my photos and contacts.
So after a standoff and following the gang for 45 mins with no sign of the police we took the bus back to Santa Ponsa.
I am resigned to the fact no physical harm was done however the lack of police presence was shocking... How can you have so many tourists in a Palma but not have a police presence to ensure this type of crime is kept to a minimum. I wonder how many more people were robbed on that day!!
Or any other cruise day.
Sincerely
Sandra Donnelly
