TO the nearly 90,000 Brits who flock to Ibiza every year, the Spanish island remains the Med’s premier party hotspot with hedonism on tap.
But behind the huge demand for drugs are feuding international gangs killing each other for a slice of the multi million pound trade.
Last September, Spanish authorities seized drugs worth over 25million euros (£21.1 million) in a crackdown across Ibiza and Malaga, including 212kg of ketamine, 73kg of MDMA, 20kg of cocaine, 21kg of pink cocaine and over 1million ecstasy pills.
In October 2023, a Colombian network using lorry drivers to deliver cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy to the Balearic island was smashed by undercover officers, while in 2022 British expats were arrested in a crackdown on pink cocaine .
But cops believe they are only seizing 30 per cent of the illegal substances en route to Ibiza, with 70 per cent making its way to insatiable customers.
Smugglers hide them in submarines and speedboats, by impregnating cocaine paste into blankets or hollowing out bananas.
In a recent Sky documentary entitled Ibiza Narcos, locals revealed dismembered bodies have been found in bags near tourist areas, a British enforcer told how he survived being shot in the head and a former Spanish smuggler admitted to stealing cocaine from rivals and the police.
Ibiza has been a haven for European drug users since the 1970s when hippies headed there to smoke hashish and take LSD.
Then in the late 1980s its clubs opened up to the party scene, with ecstasy the drug of choice.
Now cocaine is the biggest problem for the island, where hospital A&E units are overrun by overdosing or drunken tourists.
A Brit who admits to having once been part of the problem is legendary DJ and club promoter Danny Gould, who was proud to be named “caner of the summer” in Ibiza in 1999 until he realised that drugs were destroying his life.
In an exclusive interview, the DJ, also known as Danny Clockwork, says: “I was renowned for the madness I had got going on at the time.
“My friends were ringing me up and going, ‘it’s getting a bit out of hand now.’ And I was like, ‘no, this, this is perfect.’
“I’d had millions of bad experiences, paranoia, psychosis, fighting with imaginary people, car crashes, nearly died.
“Slicing my arms open on windows and bottles and just all mad, crazy stuff.”
That was until one terrible night out convinced him to quit.
In August 2003, after taking a cocktail of drugs, Danny woke up feeling so bad he thought his head was going to split open and finally decided to give up for good.
I’d had millions of bad experiences, paranoia, psychosis, fighting with imaginary people, car crashes, nearly died
Danny Gould
Danny, from Wanstead in East London, first went to Ibiza as a 17-year-old in 1989 and still DJs on the island today.
When he arrived most of the beach front was undeveloped but clubs were already a mecca for ravers.
He came back every year, starting to DJ at the famous Es Paradis venue in 1994, and says: “I was partying every night.
“To a practising alcoholic drug addict I was basically in nirvana. I could drink what I wanted. I could take what I wanted.”
Kill or be killed
At the same time Spanish crime lords were engaged in increasingly violent turf wars, including taking on gangs from Britain.
Jon Imanol Sapieha Candela, 60, known as El Sapo, was one of the key dealers for 30 years.
He was accused of drug trafficking, kidnapping and mutilation of limbs, but only served four years in prison.
El Sapo – meaning ‘the toad’ – worked with Los Miami, which was the biggest cocaine cartel on the island in the 1990s, but considers himself to have been his own boss.
“I try not to use violence, but if I need to use it I’ve got to do it,” he revealed in the documentary.
The cartel was shifting £50 million worth of drugs a year and he admits stealing cocaine from other criminal organisations.
El Sapo, who has now turned his back on crime, knew the infamous Colombian cocaine lord Pablo Escobar and helped his cartel get the drugs onto the island on speed boats.
When the authorities seized one of his cargoes, he drilled a hole in the police station wall and stole it back.
The British dominated the party town of San Antonio, which is famous for its clubs such as Cafe del Mar.
Marvin Herbert, who was an enforcer for one of those expat gangs, confesses to using “barbaric” violence in order to get his way.
He recalls: “I never went anywhere without guns and knives.”
But it wasn’t the locals who turned on Marvin – it was one of his colleagues.
My own people shot me. They wanted me out of the way
Marvin Herbert
Marvin says: “My own people shot me. They wanted me out of the way. The bullet stopped half way through my eye. They don’t know what stopped it.”
El Sapo also has a few bullets in his body from rivals who wanted him dead, but he survived the assassination attempts.
The same could not be true for the unnamed head of Los Miami who it’s believed was bumped off by greedy lieutenants.
Former Guardia Civil commander Bartolome Del Amore was tasked with trying to halt the tide of drugs on the island.
But it was tough, because the organised criminals keep adapting.
He says: “Blankets have been impregnated with cocaine paste, bananas are hollow, they’re full of cocaine.
“They have used submarines to introduce cocaine.”
Nearly died
Danny knows all too well how addictive cocaine can be.
He says: “I never liked it but I was addicted to it every day. It got worse in Ibiza because it was everywhere basically.”
In the summer of 1999 he drove for eight miles without being able to remember the journey and crashed into another vehicle.
The police found a bottle of vodka and six grams of cocaine in his pocket, but were unable to breathalyse Danny properly due to his injuries.
On release from hospital he admits “my friend had a line of gear for me” and he went straight to a club called Space.
Another time, he says: “I punched the window when I was drunk and then passed out in bed and it was about an inch away from my wrist.”
In the clubs, where dealers were never far away, you had to be careful what you said.
Danny recalls: “I said a few wrong words to someone in a club once, shouting my mouth off about ‘I want loads of loads of pills.’
“And the next morning they turn up around my villa and give me a slap. That is how it works.
“I’ve got smashed against the wall. And I’ve got a few, a few kicks.”
When he first arrived as an “immature” young man the locals considered him to be a “hooligan.”
But now totally sober he is a respected promoter who appreciates the smell of the pine trees and the island’s natural beauty.
He sees that Ibiza is not just about partying.
Danny concludes: “I stay in the North. I do yoga every morning. I watch the sun rise. I don’t drink. I don’t take drugs.
“And that island I thought was paradise now is paradise because I see it for truly what it is.”
