THREE IRISH nationals and nine British men have been arrested in Ibiza as part of a major police swoop against drug traffickers on the party island.
Spanish officers were targeting a gang suspected of travelling from the UK to Ibiza in a bid to profit from the island’s population of clubbers.
More than €69,000, 4kg of cocaine, 3,600 ecstasy pills, 5kg of crystal MDMA and drug-making equipment were seized at properties in the resorts of Sant Josep de sa Talaia and five in San Antonio de Portmany.
Most of the pills found are known as “Pink Rock Star” and are similar to those linked to the poisoning of several clubbers, Spanish police said.
Suspects from Liverpool, Manchester, Plymouth and Croydon, south London, were arrested along with the three Irish men and a Polish national.
The UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency worked alongside the Spanish Guardia Civil to execute the arrests.
“The detainees are members of one of the most active gangs on the island, which is the main supplier of cocaine and other designer drugs around the clubs and bars,” a Guardia Civil spokesman said.
The gang only travelled to Ibiza in the summer to meet demand for drugs, he said. Two Irish nationals were among 25 people arrested exactly a year ago as part of an operation which led to the seizure of 38,000 ecstasy tablets, 4kg of cocaine, 250g of ketamine, 4 litres of GHB, and 50g of crystal MDMA. – (PA)