Spanish cops find biggest EVER haul of deadly Ibiza party drugs pink cocaine & ecstasy worth £21m at Brit hols hotspots
SPANISH cops have made the biggest ever pink cocaine and ecstasy drug bust at two British holiday hotspots.
The 700kg haul, including the deadly party drug, was sniffed out by cops across Ibiza and Malaga in a £21m find.
One million ecstasy pills weighing 350kgs were also found, as well as 210kgs of Ketamine, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reported.
Another 140kgs of drugs were also picked up including hashish and weed, with nine people being arrested.
Pink cocaine has already killed a 14-year-old boy and has lead to strokes and even heart failure in young people partying.
It is made by combining the leftovers from a dealers other narcotics with a pink dye.
The massive find was made by the Guardia Civil at homes and and in double-bottomed vehicles used by the gang to bring drugs onto the island.
Head colonel Alejandro Hernández said Operation Adriatic had targeted an Italian gang and had help from Italian cops.
Hernández said the gang were helped by Spanish and Dutch nationals.
The first breakthrough in their crackdown came in May when agents stopped a double-bottomed vehicle at the Spanish-French border.
That car had come from the Netherlands and was being driven by a mule down to the islands.
Inside the false bottom they found 25 kilograms of different synthetic drugs inside, such as MDMA, ketamine and ecstasy.
Hernández said: “I hope that this time it 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.”
One Sun reporter was offered the drug within hours of going to the island earlier this year.
Spanish authorities have warned tourists who take the drug that it is so toxic it’s “like a bomb” going off.
And it’s loved by Brits.
An ex-Ibizan police chief said: “Brits are so brazen they will pack pink coke in their suitcase to sell to fund their holiday.”
Lluc Acero, who runs a drug clinic called Ibiza Calm, told ITV there has been a wave of pink cocaine this year.
He said: “It’s quite in fashion at the moment. It’s been made to be quite attractive.”
But, he said it is not always clear what is inside the powder, and it could include a deadly substance like fentanyl.
Acero said: “Taking pink cocaine is like playing Russian roulette. You never know what you’re going to get.
“You see British people in the middle of the sun at three o’clock in the afternoon. They’re quite drunk, they’re on drugs, and very high.”
Cops think they are only catching 30 per cent of the illegal substances on route to Ibiza, with 70 percent making its way to the insatiable customers.
Smugglers hide them in submarines, speedboats, by impregnating cocaine paste into blankets or hollowing out fruit.
What is pink cocaine? Inside rise of deadly party drug
Pink cocaine is a dangerous mix of cheaper narcotics like ketamine and ecstasy, dyed to make it look fluorescent.
Experts say the drugs are combined and diluted as they are “dealers’ leftovers.”
It originates from the Colombian city of Medellin and has become a menace in Spain and the Balearic islands.
In February, a 14-year-old, identified only as Ryan, became one of the world’s first victims of the drugs.
He died near his home in Madrid after drinking Red Bull spiked with two grams of the narcotic.
The Spanish drugs testing agency has launched a campaign to make tourists and locals aware of health risks – including blurred vision, panic attacks, anxiety, heart problems and strokes.
A police source told the Majorca Daily Bulletin: “It’s so powerful that it causes severe hypertension and can lead to heart failure.
“It’s a bomb because it is ecstasy and amphetamines in powder form. People don’t know what they are consuming.”
Berta de la Vega, coordinator of Energy Control, a Spanish drugs testing facility, said the drug isn’t even expensive to make.
She said dealers buy a gram of MDMA for about 40 euros and ketamine for between 20 and 35 euros
She said: “You take a bit of each, mix them, add the pink colour, a little strawberry smell and, voila, you sell it for 100 euros.”