Extra national Police and the Guardia Civil have been deployed for the summer. | Toni Escobar?

TW

The annual summer security operation was launched yesterday with an extra 264 members of the National Police and the Guardia Civil having been deployed to the Balearics over the past few weeks.

The operation is designed to help boost the local law enforcement agencies during the busy summer months during which time the population nearly doubles in the Balearics.
Across the rest of the country, the operation runs until the end of August but here in the Balearics, it will continue until at least the end of September, depending the number of tourists.

The extra members of the security services represent a 22 percent increase in the number of police in the Balearics and it is the largest deployment since 2011.

The Spanish authorities have deployed more than 40,000 police officers in tourist spots over the summer.

In total, 22,700 national police and 22,000 civil guards, the news outlet reports.
They will be stationed at tourist hot-spots, including festivals, airports, beaches and festivals throughout the summer.

Spain’s Interior Ministry has dubbed the plan Operation Summer, with an aim to ‘take full action to obtain information in order to prevent terrorist acts’, while ‘reinforcing security measures at events and places that will attract a large number of people’.

Official advice from the British Foreign Office reads: “Terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Spain. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners.
“The Spanish authorities take measures to protect visitors, but you should be vigilant and follow the instructions of the local authorities.”

However, contrary to reports in the UK last month, the terror threat level has not been raised.