Clubbers complain of being injected with date rape drugs in Spain
British tourists warned over spate of female clubbers being INJECTED with date rape drugs in Spain
- Spanish police are investigating at least 35 reports of clubbers being injected
- Victims – mostly female and under 30 – say they were jabbed while on nights out
- Cops believe date rape drugs are being given as a precursor to sexual assault
- Comes after spate of similar reports in the UK, France and Switzerland
Britons holidaying in Spanish party hot-spots have been warned about a spate of women being injected with date-rape drugs.
The first case was reported in the party Mecca of Ibiza, but revellers in in Navarra, San Fermín and Catalonia on the Spanish mainland have since come forward to say they were also attacked.
Police are now probing at least 35 such complaints and have opened 17 investigations in the space of just a few days.
It comes after dozens of similar cases were reported in the UK, Switzerland and France dating back to winter last year.
Spanish police are investigating at least 35 reports of mostly-female clubbers being injected with what they believe are date rape drugs (file image)
Cops say the alleged victims are usually under the age of 30 and female, but at least one man has reported being injected.
A young Spanish woman reported one of the first cases to the Civil Guard.
She said that, after partying with her friends in a nightclub in Ibiza, she noticed a puncture in her arm and concluded that she had been drugged against her will.
Investigators say liquid MDMA – commonly known as ecstasy – or GHB could be used to intoxicate people, because the substances disappear quickly from the body.
They can be administered orally or by diluting the drug in the victim’s drink, although the one that is gaining prominence now is through injection.
‘The aggressors use this method and choose the arms or legs to deliver the substance to the victim. The drug begins to take effect in the victim’s body after 15 minutes after the sensation of the prick,’ one expert explained.
The young women who have recently received the punctures have raised the alert through social networks, revealing their symptoms so that other women in the same situation can act as quickly as possible.
The main ones are dizziness, vision and memory loss, inability to speak, numbness in the arms or legs, drowsiness, loss of consciousness and a rapid heartbeat.
Investigators believe the motive is to incapacitate victims before a sexual assault.
In Andalusia, police have confirmed they are investigating six complaints, including a 22-year-old French girl who said she was abused in a Malaga nightclub.
She says she left the club with a man and they went to his apartment.
She believed she was drugged and attacked ‘when defenceless’ and woke up the next morning with two puncture wounds in her arm.
In Cordoba, police are investigating four possible attempts of chemical submission at a fairground.
And in Catalonia, there has been up to 20 complaints in nightclubs in Barcelona and Lloret de Mar (Girona).
Montserrat Escudé, spokesperson for Los Mossos police, said they are investigating this new ‘phenomenon’ intensely, saying it creates ‘social alarm’ and ‘anguish’ for young people trying to enjoy themselves after pandemic lockdowns.
The National Police of Cantabria are also investigating the punctures of five people who attended a beach festival in Santander.
One young woman who saw a man with a syringe in his hand before a friend was pricked said on the social network: ‘What was going to be a night out with friends has turned into a nightmare, into fear and anxiety.
‘Now all that remains is to make it visible, because there is little else we can do. Learn to act and, sadly, assume the fear, because it could have been you.
‘I have been afraid and anxious since last night and I don’t know how to manage it well. I close my eyes and I continue to see the situation, which I wish I could forget.’
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