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At 7am this morning, a number of the island's most wanted drugs dealers were given a nasty wake-up call by the Guardia Civil. The force's anti-narcotics and serious crime units had preparing an operation - Iron Belt - for a number of months and this morning it was given the green light.

The Guardia had been watching and monitoring the activities of the network and its dealers in Palma, Manacor, Petra, El Toro and Felanitx. Heavily armed officers simultaneously stormed twenty properties, all of them homes of suspected members of the drugs network.

The operation, supported from the air by helicopters, led to the detention of 25 people. This number could increase. Guardia Civil chiefs hailed the operation as one of the biggest blows against drug dealing in Majorca in recent months.

A Colombian based in Palma is thought to be the head of the organisation. It had spread itself across the island, dealing small amounts of drugs in the hope that its members would stay off the police radar. But it was the Guardia Civil in Llucmajor which first picked up the scent and opened the investigation.

Over six kilos of cocaine and ecstasy have so far been seized along with cash, credit cards and mobile phones.