PALMA HIGH COURT ARSON ATTACK

By Humphrey Carter A police investigation into an arson attack which caused substantial damage to one of the Palma high court's courtrooms was well underway last night while union bosses demanded that the near non-existent security in and around the building be immediately stepped up. The alarm was raised just after 4.30am when, according to investigators, two ground floor windows were smashed and two Molotov cocktails were lobbed into the court house. What is more, both devices hit their targets, two rooms containing important court and judicial documents. In one room, its contents were completely destroyed by the flames, while from the other, court staff spent yesterday trying to salvage what they could. Court sources claim that none of the destroyed documents are of any great importance, however, the targeted court room and its adjacent store rooms is the one which has been handling the tense case against one of Son Banya's main drug dealing clans. “Whoever did this knew exactly what the targets were and where the documents were stored,” Palma high court president Antoni Terrassa said. “None of the lost or damaged documents relate to any of the important cases,” he added. The incident, which kept fire fighters at the scene for over two hours, has not only sparked a police investigation but also fuelled the debate over insufficient security measures at the high court. At the time at which the arson attack was carried out, there are no security guards on duty - according to Terrassa, the justice ministry decided to cancel the night security contract against the advice of the various police forces and himself. Terrassa said yesterday that the court house has a security problem and called on the government to establish permanent security controls. However, whether the presence of a security guard would have prevented the attack, Terrassa remains unsure. What is more, the lack of close circuit television means that investigators have only very thin, if any, evidence to act on. Police sources said yesterday that the Son Banya link may be just coincidence and that it is too early to reach any conclusions. Court clerks spent most of yesterday trying to salvage what documents they could and by mid-morning, every available space in the corridors, including the stairs, were piled with court papers, many caked in ash, as staff tried to maintain some kind of order.