Knife crime and drugs epidemic blighting Brits’ favourite Spanish resort, Magaluf, as tourists warned of gangs prowling hotspot
Magaluf attracts millions of Brits a year looking for sun, sea and boozy fun, but a terrifying plague of stabbings and drugs sweeping the resort is putting them in danger.
And those visiting the Majorca hotspot are being warned knife crime is on the rise as stretched police struggle to deal with the nightly violence.
It comes as one British holidaymaker is recovering in hospital after being stabbed in the ribs with a screwdriver.
Police said the man, in his 20s, was lucky to be alive after the tool narrowly missed his heart and lungs.
The Mirror visited the resort's Punta Ballena strip, where despite a supposed clean-up after shameful scenes of debauchery, we witnessed revellers brawling and vomiting in the street, while others were led off into the shadows by scantily-clad prostitutes.
A police source, who asked not to be named, said: “Stabbing has become a problem here in recent years there is no doubt about it.
"Parents need to warn their youngsters before they get on the plane to be sensible.”
Terrifyingly, he added: “Soon we will have an influx of French-Algerians and they never mix with the English, they always fight but they do so with knives.
“They do not mix. We would warn people to be careful. It is a problem.
“We wear stab vests as standard, but so do the bouncers. It is just sensible these days.”
The bar crawls which make their owners rich are still going strong despite threats of a ban and hoards of youngsters can still be seen being led through the resort by reps from one dive to the next.
Alcohol is as cheap as ever with free shots at almost every one. Jager bombs go for as little as €1 a shot while many nightclubs offer deals like €7 for All You Can Drink in an Hour.
Vodka and coke served by the pint costs as little as €5. And drugs are freely available on the streets from touts who roam resorts selling knock-off sunglasses and fake designer watches by day.
Couriers even deliver hippy crack and marijuana to holidaymakers’ hotels via messages exchanged on Facebook and Instagram .
We witnessed multiple acts of violence during our time walking through the resort from brief scuffles to full on brawls - and one shocking moment when a female British tourist hit her boyfriend in the face with her stilettos during a row, leaving him bloodied and bruised.
Security is mainly dealt with by the by the muscle-bound bouncers who stand guard outside and leap into action when trouble flares, taking no prisoners.
We watched as one 6ft 3in Brazilian doorman grabbed a blonde female tourist by the hair and forced her to the ground after a row outside a bar.
Incredibly, even the bouncers here wear stab vests for fear of being attacked.
A barman who works with him explained that a colleague nearly lost his sight after he was stabbed in the eye with broken glass while another was left with a broken cheekbone after being hit with an empty whiskey bottle.
A new, highly visible police post at one end of the strip has recently opened and occasionally heavily armed officers from the Guardia Civil, Spain’s national guard, can be seen out patrolling. But in reality it seems to have had minimal effect on stemming the tide of violence.
Italian and Israeli louts notoriously like to test themselves against the British revellers, leading to ugly scenes on the gaudy neon-lit strip.
But our source also told us of his frustration at trying to police the area – once branded “500 metres of shame” by a former mayor – with just four police officers at a time.
He said: “There are only four officers to patrol 500m of the strip. Wherever we are is safe.”
Indeed by 4.30am each morning the centre has a lawless feel – the hard-pressed police were nowhere to be seen and the gangs of prostitutes and touts took control.
As Brits, high on a heady cocktail of cheap booze and drugs, made their way back to their hotels, women would pounce, luring vulnerable tourists off with the promise of sex before roughly rummaging through their pockets for cash and valuables.
Seedy strip clubs and backroom brothels are common place with aggressive doormen pushing sex “without a condom” for as little as €30 and a gram of cocaine for €50.
During the course of the week we spotted at least 85 different prostitutes and touts, known locally as “looky looky men” operating on and around the strip.
A senior local police source admitted to us it was becoming a big problem.
“The prostitutes are aggressive. They only want to mug the tourists. They are run by the Nigerian gangs. They operate in the shadows.
“We close the brothels then more arrive. But we can close them whenever we want, we know who runs them. No one should be going anywhere near those places. The prostitutes will rob you.
“The 'looky looky' men are a problem.
"Many tourists do not trust them and the bar owners want them gone because they say they bring crime and just want to steal from drunk tourists.”
Local bar owners say they have been dismayed by the influx of migrants into the resort in the last two years and claim they are preying on vulnerable tourists.
Just last month four British holidaymakers were stabbed on the strip after they claimed they were robbed.
Yet Magaluf remains a popular resort and attracts thousands of giddy Brits each summer who pack out the strip every night happily celebrating the end of their exams or enjoying stag and hen parties.
However it is still recovering after reaching crisis point in 2014 after footage of British woman performing sex acts on a number of men in exchange for free drinks went viral.
The local council is desperate to go more upmarket in recent years.
Mayor, Alfonso Rodriguez-Badal, has repeatedly said he wants to clamp down on the cheap drinks and debauchery and improve the resorts image.
As a result his team have put several restrictions in place in aiming to curb drunken behaviour in the seaside resort.
These have included banning alcohol at all inclusive hotels between certain time periods and imposing rules for behaviour on the strip and fines for jumping off balconies which has seen multiple Brits lose their lives in recent years.
Gone are the brassy advertising boards promoting cheap booze and the punch-bag machines which which once lined the strip.
Only time will tell. But for the millions of Brits heading off to other Mediterranean fleshpots such as Ayia Napa, Ibiza and Malia this summer they can only hope the goings on in Magaluf are not a grim curtain-raiser to a summer of violence.
