In 2023, the Balearic Islands recorded a worrying increase in increase in drug trafficking. Security Forces arrested 939 people, an increase of 10.7% over the previous year, when 848 cases were counted. This is the steepest rise in recent years, surpassing the figures for 2019 (883 arrests) and doubling those of 2020 (608 arrests).
In addition, cocaine seizures grew by 138%, with a total of 208 kilos seized, revealing a significant increase in the entry of this drug into the archipelago. These data, collected in the annual report of the Intelligence Center against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), place the Balearic Islands in the eighth position of arrests for drug trafficking at national level, in a list headed by Andalusia (7,335), Madrid (4,921) and the Valencian Community (4,208).
Balearic Islands, in the national drug trafficking spotlight
The CITCO report places the Balearic Islands in eighth place nationally by number of arrests, with 939 arrests. At the state level, the total number of arrests was 25,527 people, 5.8% more than in 2022. For the country as a whole, cocaine apprehensions stood out, with a 101% increase, and heroin, with a 66% growth. However, there has been a notable drop of 57% in cannabis cultivation. In the case of the Balearic Islands, the increase in cocaine and hashish seizures alerts to the growing entry of these drugs into the archipelago, placing it in the focus of anti-drug operations at the national level.
The increase in seizures in figures
In addition to the increase in cocaine, security forces seized in the Balearic Islands:
- 12,743 kilos of hashish, 71.1% more than in 2022.
- 305 kilos of marijuana, an increase of 16%.
- 1,616 cannabis plants, with a notable drop of 67.16%.
- 11,643 units of ecstasy, a decrease of 76.7%.
- 6 kilograms of glass, representing a decrease of 63.3%.
- 2,111 amphetamine tablets, 75.2% less than the previous year.
