400 officers in massive anti-drugs operation

The operation, which got under way at six in the morning, was led by the organised crime squad and the criminal police based in Algaida. Up to 400 officers were involved in the operation and included, as is usual for operations on this scale, members of elite forces from the mainland.

It was the second part of Operation Ludar - the first was on 22 March - and was directed against certain drugs clans. Among those arrested were the heads of these clans. Sniffer dogs were used in Son Banya, where the Guardia searches continued for most of the morning.

With the first demolitions of properties in Son Banya due to start once Palma town hall is given a new schedule by the courts, the Guardia think that yesterday's operation may mark the end of drug trafficking in the shanty town. There were at least thirty sales points for drugs.