Over a million ecstasy pills seized in "largest of its kind" Ibiza drug bust

More than a million ecstasy pills have been seized in Ibiza, Spain, in what police are calling “the largest ecstasy drug bust in Spanish history”.

According to the head colonel of the Guardia Civil in the Balearics, Alejandro Hernández, the operation was a “success” after police seized 1,071,327 pills with a street value of over €25 million (approximately US$27,528,000).

The drug bust was carried out on Thursday, September 5, following an investigation carried out by the Guardia Civil’s Anti-Drug Organised Crime Team (DOA).

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Officers have arrested nine people in connection with the operation in both Malaga and Ibiza, who were said to be part of “one of the main criminal organisations involved in the introduction of synthetic drugs in Spain”, Majorca Daily Bulletin reports.

As well as the seizure of ecstasy pills, officers also confiscated over 700 kilograms of drugs including ketamine, pink cocaine, hashish, MDMA, and cannabis.

Police have said that the organisation responsible is led by Spanish, Italian and Dutch suspects who operate in “different parts of Europe”, smuggling drugs using cars with fake undercarriages.

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They added that the operation was “complicated and difficult” since it straddled “different islands and different countries”, per Majorca Daily Bulletin.

In 2022, another large drug bust in Ibiza saw the seizure of 18kg of methamphetamines set to be used to make over 850,000 ecstasy pills. Those arrested were later released on a judicial error.

“I hope that this time [that] doesn’t happen, and that in a year’s time, if we have other successes, we will be able to say that they have been brought before the courts, that they have been sent to prison, and that they have been convicted because of the evidence we have behind us”, said Hernández.

[Via Majorca Daily Bulletin]

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter