TWO MAJOR DRUGS CARTELS SHUT DOWN

BALEARIC National Police chiefs confirmed yesterday that as a result of Friday's simultaneous raids on the Palma shanty town of Son Banya and the mainland, two major Majorcan drugs cartels have been disbanded. Antonio Suárez, the head of the Balearic National Police drugs squad, yesterday hailed Friday's operation as “the most important” to have ever been mounted in Majorca. In total, 25 people were arrested, all of whom appeared in court yesterday, and 12 kilos of cocaine seized along with 110 lines of heroin and 67 of cocaine, 620 grams of hashish, two Samurai swords, a hoard of valuable items, weapons, 140.000 euros in cash and a Ferrari. Suárez announced that two cartels, the “Jesus” and “Anica” have been broken up. However, while both have been based in Son Banya, they operated independently. The Jesus cartel, the target of “Operation Vivero,” has, in co-operation with organised Colombian criminal gangs, been running regular trafficking operations to Majorca from Castellon and Valencia. According to the police chief, every ten days, ten-kilo shipments of cocaine would be smuggled into Palma for distribution. Central government delegate to the Balearics, Ramon Socias, said yesterday that Operation Vivero has hit the Colombian cartel “hard.” The drugs the Jesus clan were having smuggled into Majorca by sea out of the port of Denia were bought from a gang of Colombian drugs dealers based in Valencia. Socias said that police intelligence suggests that the Valencia contacts were dealers of drugs on a large scale. Last Friday's massive raid on Son Banya involved 150 heavily armed police with aerial support and came as a result of an investigation mounted last March after three individuals were intercepted on their arrival in the Port of Palma, from Denia, with six kilos of cocaine. Antonio Suárez explained during a special press briefing yesterday that police chiefs decided to make the most of Friday's raid to mount a simultaneous raid on the Anica clan as part of “Operation Bobin”. While the Anica cartel's activities were relatively minor compared to the Jesus gang, police decided to move in and close down their 24-hour drugs outlet on Friday. “Operation Bobin” resulted with the arrest of nine people while 16 were arrested as part of Operation Jesus in Palma. In Valencia a further eight people were arrested and five kilos of cocaine confiscated. In Castellon, five people were held and police seized 37 grams of cocaine, 9'000 euros in cash and two vehicles. Socias used yesterday's press briefing to praise the police for their successful operations. “The success of these operations proves that the police are fighting a continuing battle against drugs,” he said.
Some of the National Police involved in Friday's raids were on duty at the Palma High Court yesterday as part of a major security operation mounted as the first of the 25 suspects appeared in court. Court sources confirmed that fines of between 12'000 and 300'000 euros had been handed out while a number of the suspects were facing possible jail sentences.