Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter Palma 16/06/2019 07:07

The National Police have been intensifying border controls at Son Sant Joan Airport. So far this year, these controls have led to the detention of twenty passengers for whom there were warrants for their arrest. Thirty other people have been arrested for carrying false documentation with the intention of flying to the UK.

The police say that criminal gangs dedicated to illegal immigration are focusing on European airports with large numbers of British passengers and using these airports to take people to the UK illegally. In Palma, the nationalities of these people include Albanians, Iranians, Chinese, Afghanis and Georgians. The victims of this criminal activity pay thousands of euros to be taken from their countries of origin. They are often drugged so that they don't remember how they travelled to Majorca. Once on the island they are provided with false documentation for an EU country. In some instances, they are people who particularly vulnerable, e.g. minors and young women.