Guardia Civil at the property in Bendinat where the alleged ringleaders were arrested.

Guardia Civil at the property in Bendinat where the alleged ringleaders were arrested. | Alejandro Sepúlveda

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma05/09/2017 00:00
TW

The Guardia Civil this morning (Tuesday) undertook a major operation against fraudulent holiday sickness claims. Led by the force's organised crime and anti-drugs squad, officers raided various businesses and homes in Puerto Portals, Bendinat and San Agustín. Six arrests have been made. The two alleged ringleaders, British women, are well-known on the island for, for instance, business interests in bars. One of the premises raided was a popular bar in Portals.

The operation was declared secret by order of the investigating judge. It is the result of complaints lodged by certain hotel companies in Majorca. One of these, as has been reported in the Bulletin on different occasions, is the company which owns the Club Mac all-inclusive complex in Alcudia, said to have had claims of up to four million euros made against it last year alone.

Earlier this summer, two people were arrested in Alcudia, accused of encouraging UK holidaymakers into lodging false claims for sickness incurred at hotels such as Club Mac.

Officers are understood to have been studying links between operations in Majorca and UK claims companies. Most of these, according to a list produced some time ago by the Majorca Hoteliers Federation and seen by the Bulletin, are in the north-west of England.