How Love Island resort has become ‘criminals' paradise' with knife-clad Rolex rippers, rapes & ‘open war' between gangs

The Sun

08-06-2025

WITH its sun-kissed beaches and chic capital city just a short flight away from the UK, Majorca is one of the most idyllic Mediterranean holiday hotspots.
A favourite of A-list stars and royalty alike, celebs including Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, tennis star Rafael Nadal and King Juan Carlos of Spain all boast homes on the island.
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While Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright have even named their baby daughter Palma in a touching nod to their love of its trendy capital.
No wonder TV bosses chose the picturesque island as the perfect romantic back-drop for the Love Island villa.
But as the new series of the dating show starts on Monday, we can reveal a darker underbelly to the island far removed from its reputation as the more laid-back luxury sister to the Balearic party capital Ibiza.
Tourists have been victims of rape, daylight robbery and assault, while under pressure cops have already arrested 50 suspected pickpockets before the summer season has barely started.
Last week a reality TV star was rushed to hospital after reporting being drugged and robbed at a party in a horrifying ordeal.
Austrian model Vanessa Mariposa, 32, was left vomiting and unable to walk after she was allegedly spiked on a night out in Majorca.
She said: "I was robbed - my Cartier bracelet was taken off my wrist and my SIM card was removed from my phone.
'I'm convinced the people who did this had far worse intentions... otherwise they wouldn't have drugged us or taken steps to stop us from calling for help.'
The worrying attack comes as the local police union claimed the island is becoming a 'paradise for criminals' flaunting their shortage of personnel ahead of the holiday season, when Majorca is flooded with tourists.
Cops claim their numbers have dropped in recent years and have called for back-up to help them take on the crooks targeting tourists.
How Brit tourist hotpsots in Spain became rife with murders and butchery - V2
Luis Bernardo Fernandez, the provincial secretary for the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC) in the Balearic Islands told The Sun a police shortage had direct implications for holidaymaker safety.
He also said the rising number of illegal migrants reaching the islands meant already-stretched officers were being diverted away from other duties.
And he described the increase in sex crimes, up more than five per cent last year, as 'extremely worrying'.
Knife-wielding Rolex rippers
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Official figures show more than 80,300 crimes in 2024 in the Balearic islands, 2.4 per cent more, while the national average fell by 0.3 per cent.
Meanwhile a travel expert in Majorca is warning Brits to be on their guard as pickpocketing gangs are targeting visitors as they land at the airport and in supermarket car parks.
Alex Smith has lived on the island for 20 years and runs popular blog Mallorca Under the Sun.
She has warned of a crimewave sweeping the island as it gears up for summer.
Alex says the thieves aren't just active in the popular party resorts of Magaluf and Palma Nova, but are also hitting quieter spots favoured by families and pensioners.
On her YouTube channel Alex warned: 'We are only one week into the summer holiday season, pickpockets are running rife around the holiday resorts right now.
'We had pickpockets in Puerto Pollensa last year but they have been getting out and about.
'We're talking Alcudia, Calabona, Playa de Palma, Peguera, Antratx, and Formentor, and we're even talking supermarket car parks as well, or within supermarkets.'
In recent years so-called ' Rolex gangs ' have been operating on the island, daringly using knives to slice the expensive time-pieces off victims' arms before making their getaway.
Last year a Brit holidaymaker had his phone and a £100,000 diamond Rolex watch snatched off him while on a night out.
And just last month the National Police Robbery Squad launched an investigation into the theft of a Richard Millie watch valued at £245,000 from a young man while he was walking in the centre of Palma.
The brazen criminal approached the victim from behind, assaulted him and managed to steal his watch.
In January two Chilean men were jailed for nine years and six years respectively for a series of robberies at luxury homes on the island.
The two stole cash and valuables worth an estimated half a million Euros.
Brits a target
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But it isn't just the super-rich falling victim to the criminal gangs - Brits have reported having phones, cash and valuables stolen from their beach sunbeds as they sunbathe or take a dip in the sea.
As well as thefts and burglaries there are even more serious crimes impacting tourists on the island.
A British woman was robbed and raped in a horror attack on a beach last year.
The 30-year-old told detectives she agreed to go there in the early hours of the morning with a man she met and ended up agreeing to have sex with him, before a second man appeared on the scene and forced himself on her.
They then fled the beach near Palma with her belongings, according to the holidaymaker.
Also last summer a British teenager was allegedly raped after being plied with alcohol in a bar on the island.
And a 21-year-old British tourist claimed she was raped by a man who intercepted her as she returned to her holiday apartment in Port D'Antratx after a boozy night out with friends.
Police later arrested a 40-year-old Senegalese man.
The previous summer an 18-year-old British girl was allegedly gang-raped by eight men at a Magaluf hotel. Seven French men and one Swiss are still in prison awaiting trial.
Last week police arrested a Senegalese man accused of stabbing a young Dutch man in the back in Playa de Palma after being kicked out of a bar.
The victim had to be hospitalised in Son Espases with a punctured lung. The suspect was charged with attempted murder.
Police have already had their work cut out this year, despite the summer season only just getting underway.
Nearly 50 pickpockets and petty thieves targeting tourist victims have been arrested in the past month by police in Majorca who have drafted in early reinforcements to tackle an expected summer crimewave.
National Police on the holiday island announced last month that they had brought forward 'Operation Summer' by bringing in extra officers from the mainland specialising in 'prevent and rapid response' crimefighting to work along town hall-employed local police.
A spokesman for the force in Majorca said: 'They will serve on the island for a month as a prelude to the incorporation of other units who will work in the municipality of Palma ahead of the arrival of reinforcements in Manacor in Majorca, Ibiza and Menorca.'
A National Police spokesman said that the arrests included pickpockets and someone wanted for drug trafficking.
They also seized cash, ID documents and high-end stolen items including designer sunglasses.
But with the island proving to be a lucrative hunting ground for criminals, it is unlikely that they will go quietly.
Violent clashes
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Last year a group of locals turned vigilante to tackle a group of Algerians who were alleged to be bringing violent crime to the island.
Police were called to the Palma neighbourhood of Son Gotleu after a street fight involving around 50 people broke out.
The clashes were described by one local newspaper as an "open war between racial groups".
A band of locals - an unlikely union made up of Spanish gypsies, Morrocans and Africans - took it into their own hands to confront a squad of Algerians, who are said to have installed a reign of terror and have turned the neighbourhood into a breeding ground for violent crimes.
Videos emerged depicting the violence of the clashes between the two troops, as well as efforts by the police to restore order.
Many of the Algerian immigrants appear to have arrived on the island in small boats, prompting the Balearics President Marga Prohens to blame the lack of troops from the State Security Forces and Corps (FFCCSE) for the growing problem.
She said: "The lack of FFCCSE troops is linked to difficulties in controlling the worrying crime data in the Balearic Islands.
"As a government, we can only share the concern that this brings to citizens, especially when migrants arriving on the shores of the Islands face them with defiant and obscene gestures.'
Mr Fernandez told The Sun: 'On the subject of immigration we have been overwhelmed.
'Around 2,000 migrants have arrived already so far this year. We have had so much immigration and there really aren't enough staff to deal with it.
'Police are moved from Majorca to the other islands of Ibiza and Formentera to help out.
'In the summer reinforcements are usually brought in to boost police numbers but what is happening is that not everyone can come because of the high rental prices.
'In Ibiza there's nowhere to live. In Majorca it's impossible.
"There is all this talk of summer operations and reinforcements but there's always going to be a problem when there's no extra incentives for Civil Guard officers to come here, which is something we've been fighting for for years.
'As things stand today, the Balearic Islands are a place of punishment for officers who get transferred here.
'Nobody wants to come to places like Majorca because of the high cost of living and the fact officers don't get any extra wages or housing allowance of any kind.
'There is an increase in the number of officers but the ideal number of Civil Guard officers for the Balearic Islands should be around 1,730 and at present we currently have only around 1,200 to 1,300.
'We would need around 500 more and 500 are not going to come in the summer.
'The lack of police officers is definitely a factor that goes towards explaining these very concerning crime figure increases.'
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