Ignacio Cosidó, Spain's director-general of police at the Palma security summit.

Ignacio Cosidó, Spain's director-general of police at the Palma security summit. | Miquel A. Cañellas

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma14/06/2016 00:00
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Ignacio Cosidó, the national director-general of the police (he's a politician as opposed to being a police officer), today described the Balearic Islands as one of the safest and most attractive destinations in the Mediterranean, though he added that the context of a "complex situation" always has to be taken into account - namely the threat of terrorism.

For the police, he said, the Balearics is strategically a tourist destination of "excellence" in Spain. Therefore, there is a priority to safeguard the islands' security, he told the audience at the summit for chiefs of police in the western Mediterranean. The police, he confirmed, will make every effort within their resources to increase security in the Balearics, if this is requested by the Balearic force.

Cristobál Villalonga, the number two at the National Police headquarters in the Balearics, announced that the Balearics summer operation ("Operación Verano") will be lengthened this year. The reinforcement of police numbers is now starting and will continue until late September. Elsewhere in Spain this reinforcement occurs only in July and August.

Cosidó opened the summit in Palma today. Key among the issues for consideration are the financing of terrorism and the prevention of money laundering for terrorism purposes.