2 - 8 November 2017
MALLORCA
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
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ISSUE NO. 1687
SON BANYA: Home of the El Forrito clan.
Gypsy plot Gang leader and ex-officer jailed By Matthew Elliott A retired Guardia Civil officer was jailed for nine years for helping provide a Palma gypsy gang with a kilogram of heroin. The 51-year-old was living off his pension in La Jonquera, Girona, when he became involved with the gangsters from Palma’s notorious Son Banya slum, often dubbed the most dangerous neighbourhood in Spain. The leader of the ‘El Forrito’ gang was sentenced to 10 and a half years for drug trafficking. Other gang members were called to testify as witnesses, but all claimed not to know the corrupt lawman. Four fingerprints of the former officer were found on a package containing a kilogram of
heroin in Palma port six years ago. Police believe he acted as a middleman between the leader of El Forrito and Barcelonabased traffickers and personally supplied the heroin. The gang leader then shipped the heroin to Palma on a ferry from the Catalan capital, stashed in the boot of a Renault Clio. He was arrested the next day upon arrival at the port. But it took another two years for police to catch up with him. His fingerprints were checked when he was arrested in a domestic violence case and matched those found on the heroin package. He tried to argue that he might have touched the package in the course of duty, while stationed in a border town near France. But forensic experts proved that he had already retired when the prints were made.
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Brazen burglar jailed A BURGLAR has been arrested on suspicion of raiding 50 Spanish hotel rooms in the popular tourist hotspots of Ibiza, Mallorca and Barcelona. The 24-year-old allegedly used a combination of fake home-made key cards and electronic locks to break into rooms to steal laptops, watches and mobile phones whilst holidaymakers were out. He even escaped capture after being caught red-handed by hotel staff in Magaluf. But officers later apprehended the suspect, and linked the items he allegedly stole with reported thefts in Palma, Magaluf and Barcelona. He has been charged with 50 thefts, but the investigation is ongoing.
Some-fin fishy BATHERS in Mallorca were ordered from the sea and the emergency services swung into action to rescue a ‘shark’ that was spotted near the water’s edge. Bystanders could be heard shouting, “Watch its mouth!” as they grappled with it in the water. But onlookers watching the drama broke out in applause when the creature was captured and they realised it was only a plastic dummy being used in a training exercise.
BRAZEN: The thief strolls into a hotel.
CRAFTY: The home-made device he used to break into hotel rooms.