Crack police unit raids infamous “encampment”

PALMA
THE Central Government Delegate Ramon Socias signalled the end of the Palma´s Son Banya encampment, known as the supermarket of drugs, yesterday as scores of heavily armed officers raided the area for the second time in three days.

Socias said that Son Banya´s infamous trade must be brought to an end. Police say that the majority of heroin and cocaine sold on the island originates there.

Early yesterday scores of officers from crack mainland units raided the area, which is home to hundreds of people mostly gypsies. A series of searches were carried out and ten people were arrested and hundreds of thousands of euros seized. Officers also raided other addresses across the island. The money, found at Son Banya, allegedly comes from the sale of drugs. The officers were supported by a helicopter which kept watch from above.

The Central Government Delegate underlined the success of the raids which were carried out by officers who have arrived on the island as part of the summer relief. Over recent months the police and Civil Guard have attempted to close down Son Banya´s drugs trade. In a series of raids scores of people have been arrested including the alleged clan chiefs. Son Banya, close to the airport, was built in the early 1970s to house Palma´s gypsy population. Since then the so-called encampment has declined slowly and now it has become the centre for the drugs trade on the island.