Brit holidaymakers to be greeted by quad bike cops as hotspot launches crackdown
Brits heading to the Costa Del Sol this summer have been warned a strict crackdown on bad behaviour is about to enforced.
Holidaymakers were told even more steps will be taken after terrifying Operation Marbella was put place last summer. Chilling footage showed dozens of heavily-armed police storming the Ocean Club in the Spanish resort of Puerto Banus and ordering sunseekers out of the pool.
Problem behaviour across the coastline hasn't improved, authorities say, and new beach security aims to tighten things up. Police officers will next week being patrolling the beaches on six quad bikes with a "specific order to enforce beach rules", it has been reported.
Dogs not on leads, unauthorised street vendors and "out-of-control" jetskis will also be tackled, as will those fishing outside permitted hours. José Eduardo Díaz, the councillor who is driving the initiative, told TheOlivePress that the operation wants to provide "comprehensive coverage from early morning until night".
He added: 'It's a coordinated effort by the emergency department so that both residents and visitors can enjoy our coastline with the utmost peace of mind." He said the operation's success depends on "close coordination between all municipal bodies and collaboration with the Guardia Civil del Mar".
Locals have branded parts of Marbella like Puerto Banus the 'Wild West' after some chilling incidents. One suggested recently tourists should start thinking about putting on a bullet-proof vest with their swim shorts and sandals. Another wrote on social media, expressing her fears an innocent person could be killed: 'A stray bullet could end up entering a house."
It comes after a former detective who spent 20 years on the Costa del Sol fighting drug lords and breaking up their criminal networks has called Marbella "the Wall Street of crime". Juan Jose Gómez Millan, a retired national police officer from Granada, relocated to Malaga in 1996, which he said was home to global organised crime syndicates.
He told Diario Sur: "There were already score-settling events here in the '90s, but they were more selective. Now they're more reckless, more crude."
Last summer, British holidaymakers watched on speechless in their swim shorts and bikinis as armed officers wearing body armour crashed the Ocean Club. Tourists packing out the 'beautiful people' venue, which over the weekend held one of its two annual champagne parties which are always popular with Bank Holiday visitors from the UK, were urged to keep calm.
Police issued loudspeaker messages in Spanish and English saying: 'This is just a routine check. The minute we finish you can continue enjoying your afternoon. Don't worry, there's nothing serious going on.'
In 2024, police warned locals and visitors at the time they could expect to see more random stops and police checkpoints in and around the holiday destination. They said nothing about surprise raids on busy tourist-popular venues, although earlier this month heavily-armed officers crashed a gym at a sports club in the residential area of Nueva Andalucia near Puerto Banus and made three arrests.
Gym users were asked for their ID before being allowed to continue with their routines. The series of shootings last year in the Marbella area have included an attack on British-run eatery La Sala near Puerto Banus that led to the arrests in April of a British man and Irish national described by police as having links to organised crime.
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