Imogen Calderwood
By Imogen Calderwood, Carey Camel and Jared Garland
POLICE in Spain have apparently no official records for the crime of drink-spiking.
Hospitals and town halls have also failed to give any indication of the severity of the problem, despite a terrifying 60% increase in sexual attacks in Spanish resorts last year.
The shocking revelation comes as assaults from spiking begin to soar, with the summer season now well underway.
“It is clearly becoming a bigger issue and particularly in the summer,” said a source at Marbella Town Hall.
“The problem is we just don’t have the statistics to back it up.”
It is this failure to keep official records of attacks that is making it hard to tackle the issue as millions of young holidaymakers descend on the costas this month.
In an exclusive investigation, the Olive Press has uncovered evidence of numerous attacks at a variety of Spanish resorts including Puerto Banus, Fuengirola and Magaluf.
At one nightclub, bosses sacked an employee for spiking a client’s drink, without even calling police, while at another, a teenage expat revealed how a man had brazenly ‘added a powder’ to her drink.
Magaluf, in Mallorca, hit international headlines this week after a video of a British teenager performing oral sex on 24 men on a dance-floor went viral.
The two minute clip shows the young blonde led on by a cheering, cat-calling crowd.
The 18-year-old from Northern Ireland has since claimed her drinks were spiked and she was later raped.
The incident has led many concerned tourists – and expats – to question the ability of the authorities in Spain to take drink-spiking seriously.
Police stations in Marbella, Malaga, Mijas, Fuengirola and Mallorca were shockingly unable to provide any statistics about drink-spiking.
Malaga National Police came back insisting our request was ‘unauthorised’ – with no explanation why – before directing questions to its headquarters in Madrid.
Marbella Local Police admitted they had no records, while the town hall – which labelled its records ‘confidential’ – refused to comment officially.
However, a source close to the mayor told the Olive Press that spiking is a serious concern.
“The trouble is we haven’t got the statistics so we don’t know how big or small the problem is,” he said.
“I have three children myself so it is something I am worried about. We are taking this seriously.”
Only the Ministry of the Interior offered any official statistics, but these failed to break reports down beyond ‘sexual aggression’ – with no mention of ‘drink-spiking’.
Even the official www.policia.es website, which does have a page on ‘holiday security measures’, fails to make any reference to the issue.
A spokesperson for Mallorca-based Hospital de la Cruz Roja said: “We can’t say anything about that.”
At Hospital Costa del Sol a spokesman said that patients who claim to have been spiked are simply grouped with all other ‘drug-related’ incidents.
If you want to hide a problem, don’t take statistics. Anyway, I thought Spain had a new “transparency law”, so why did Marbella town hall clam up? Ignorance is bliss in Spain.
Had mine spiked in a bar in Duquesa Port. Think motive was just spite as my football team had just thrashed another but it could have been robbery. I may have saved myself and my belongings by staying on the phone to my girlfriend while helpless to even move from lying down on the pavement.
As has been said before when I got home I “lost” the next 12 hours so any trace would have gone.
Told the bar owner who didn’t really believe me and suggested I was drunk.
While tourism is such a big (seasonal) earner for struggling Spain, issues such as this will continue to be sidelined, along with car-jacking and mugging. That’s what tourists are for, to be preyed on. If the girls stop coming, so will the lads. Go somewhere safer ladies, then maybe the authorities will pay greater attention.
I have just got back from Magaluf, Spain and am still trying to get over a drink spiking indecent. My drink tasted sour all of a sudden after having 2 Spanish females stood at either side of me at the bar. Within 20 mins i was unable to focus my eyes, I then lost all motor functions within my body and had a burning sensation throughout my stomach and lower abdominal. It has been three days since i came home and I’m still feeling the after affects. I also slept for 2 days solid and almost missed my plane due to been unable to keep awake and support my own weight. Please anyone who goes to this place take extra care as I would wish this on anyone and more awareness needs to be raised.
Paul – that is the same drug I was given. Rhohypnol we believed at the time. I am surprised you weren’t robbed as they don’t do it for pleasure. My own incident was spite as I supported the football team that had given theirs a good hiding. Same symptoms but I only lost 1 day.