Original subtitles

Hidden among the villas of Ibiza...

..lie the hubs of the drugs trade on the island...

..where organised crime groups have created powerful networks.

This way? Si. Thank you.

The elite drugs unit of the national police, UDYCO,

work undercover to track down the people at the top

of this multimillion pound enterprise.

They've agreed to show me how they busted one gang.

POLICE SHOUT

But it's the tip of the iceberg.

Just one gang among many...

POLICE OFFICER SHOUTS

..and more waiting to take their place.

We need somewhere to put the aerial artists. OK.

Ibiza is elevating.

ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Ibiza!

No longer just a party island,

but a playground for celebrities and the super-rich...

Cheese!

..where everyone wants a taste of luxury.

When you see more, you want more.

I'm here to follow the money.

In a couple of days, they can make over a million euros.

It's not as nice as mine but it's still very nice.

HE LAUGHS

From the streets...

The police have found something called pink cocaine.

CAR ENGINE REVS

..to the hilltop villas...

..where insiders know the island's secrets.

This drug business comes with violence.

If you don't want to be shot, don't go to the war.

Going behind the scenes to uncover how Ibiza really works...

You need to know somebody that knows someone.

..and what's at stake for the Brits who flock here.

Are you fearful that this could be the future of Ibiza?

September.

Ibiza is hitting the next phase of its party season.

The summer hordes have left,

and a new influx of thrill seekers have landed, ready to get

their share of the party and the elite Ibizan experience.

I'm heading up to the hills,

to the exclusive havens of VIPs and celebrities

and in amongst them, criminals too.

I'm on the trail of the gangsters who supply the drugs

that keep the party going.

I've heard there'd a bigshot lawyer in town who's defended

some of the biggest drug kingpins from all over the world.

So I'm about to meet a criminal defence lawyer out here in Ibiza.

He's actually here on holiday, but he has had to work.

His name is Ricardo Alvarez-Ossorio.

After much texting and calling, he's finally agreed to meet me.

Hi, Zara. Hello. How are you? Hi, nice to meet you.

How are you? Thank you so much for coming to me. It's a pleasure.

Thank you. I know you're a busy man.

More than I wish.

So you're a criminal defence lawyer.

What sorts of cases are you covering in Ibiza?

Mm-hm. So can you tell me a bit more

about the organised crime network on the island?

So what are you doing in Ibiza?

The client is a suspected British gangster.

He's well connected,

but still fighting for a space in Ricardo's diary.

Ricardo's client, who's facing drug trafficking charges,

is being held in Ibiza's only jail.

It's lunchtime in Ibiza Town,

where some of the best restaurants around are getting ready

to welcome their elite clientele.

Let's hope it's busy tonight.

It has to be busier than yesterday, so...

At STK, Barley's found a new way to tap into the money on the island...

I need those names with that table of ten.

..by arranging upmarket brunches for her guests.

Her mum's along to help.

We've got bottomless brunches from 9, so we need to make sure

when everyone's sat down we've got their orders.

Continuous flow of the cocktails, champagne, sangria, for an hour.

Get the food orders in cos as soon as it gets to 10 o'clock,

the kitchens won't serve anything complimentary,

unless they want to order afterwards,

so we need to get those done.

The VIP area in this restaurant has a minimum spend of 150 euros.

It's money Barley and her friend Angelica want to get closer to.

A friend asked, "Oh, can I help them get a table?"

and there were 17 of them.

So it was 24 grand.

That's like some people's annual wage,

and they're spending it on not even a full day.

People always came here for it being like a magical island

or the music, and it being quite spiritual. Yeah.

That's gone. It's just VIP culture.

I know.

And then they wonder why so many people take drugs

because no-one can afford to get drunk. Exactly.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, yeah.

I know. Yeah, exactly.

No. It's the truth, the reality.

And it's everywhere. It's not like you have to try very hard to get it.

Out here, it's like temptation island.

You have to learn to say no, otherwise you won't make it.

Like, the drug culture's huge

and I think people think they can party, work, and still feel OK.

You can't go to the club till 6 in the morning, five days a week

back in Surrey.

But you can here and it's socially acceptable.

I don't know why.

It's early afternoon on "temptation island"...

..and down on the strip, Faris, the viral king of Ibiza,

is looking for new volunteers for his content.

We're off to find Declan.

He's meeting up with old friend Declan,

until recently an Ibizan resident,

working at one of the island's best known bars.

Why is it always me?

Stupid, stupid.

We're going to do it with the mic, for TikTok.

All right. So Dec, what's happened, mate? So get on this, Faris, lad.

Saturday night, I got a taxi.

Then about half an hour later I thought,

"I feel like I've forgot something."

I've only gone and left me suitcase, me passport,

all of my clothes, everything, in the back of this cab.

So on your first day in Ibiza... Yeah, yeah.

..you've left everything in the cab? Yeah, I left everything.

These aren't even my clothes.

I was going to say, these definitely aren't your clothes.

I've never seen him dressed so good, know what I mean?

Well, you know what, Dec, it's not the first time you've lost a bag,

is it? Jesus Christ. Terrible. You can't say that, mate.

My body's a temple.

Right, listen, anyone out there, if you've seen his passport,

he's left it in a cab.

Help me. Please help me.

I'm going to go now, take 20 minutes to get there.

Right, let's go.

Consulado del Reino Unido, porfa.

Rapido.

HE LAUGHS

Drugs are a massive thing over here.

It's crazy because I really think probably over 90% of the people

who come to the island are drug taking.

But I am part of the 10% who doesn't do any of that

and just sticks to drink.

HE LAUGHS

In a survey, more than half of Brits coming to Ibiza said

they take drugs while they're here.

They can even be brought to your door if you want.

How you doing? You good, yeah?

Message me later.

That's BLEEP.

He's famous on the island.

He's like a 24-hour delivery service, one man band.

Any time, any place, anything,

he will literally deliver it to your door.

I don't want to get him in trouble here,

but when I say "anything", I mean anything.

I knew coming to this island that it's a party island,

and with party comes drugs.

But every day, I'm seeing drug dealers

walking up and down the streets,

and it's so obvious, you know, what they're doing.

Everybody knows but people are scared to talk about it.

It feels like an open secret.

It's early morning at the Port of Ibiza.

Here, more than 70 ferries pass through every day,

delivering thousands of passengers and cars onto the island.

I've finally got access to GAR -

the elite muscle men of the Spanish Civil Guard.

Hi. Can I ask, what are you searching for here?

GAR tackle organised crime and drug trafficking across all of Spain.

Today, they're targeting the drugs' entry points at the port

and the airport.

There's a real sense of urgency with an operation like this,

because, you know, they only have a very small window of time

when people and cars are getting off the large boats.

And, you know, before you know it,

they've dissipated through the island,

they've distributed through the island.

So it's quick, it's quick.

They need to be fast.

Gracias.

The captain's told me that they use the controls to intercept drugs

being used brought onto and circulated around the island.

I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before.

I mean, the Guardia Civil have literally,

completely shut off one lane.

It was very quick, they were all out the cars

putting the cones down, they put spikes across the floor

so that there's no exit routes for people if they want to try and avoid

the authorities and avoid being searched.

There's literally no way around this.

So what's the drone for?

Have you found something with a car?

They're not focusing so much on retrieving a small quantity

of drugs from a car,

that's not really what they're looking for here.

It's the much wider operations and the organised crime,

the drug trafficking in a bigger scale

that's going on across this island.

The elite squad found nothing in this car,

but drugs are a multi, multimillion pound industry.

Gangs will stop at nothing to keep them flowing onto the island.

It's mid-September,

and the A-listers and super rich are still arriving

in private jets at Ibiza Airport...

..keeping the VIP culture constantly topped up.

There's so much space here and so much storage. Mm-hm.

When they brighten it up, it'll be really nice. Yeah, I agree.

Alice and her team have been targeting this VIP crowd.

So overall, I think the villa's got an amazing space,

the view's amazing and it's a gated community as well,

so it's very safe here. Secure, yeah.

However, the owner is asking around 100,000 per week for this

in peak season, and for that price I think it has to be perfect.

Her concierge service has been having a busy summer,

making the most of the network of connections that makes Ibiza tick.

For us to rent it to our top clients,

I would say that we need to modernise it. Yeah.

It seems a little dated at the minute,

but it's got so much potential. Yeah.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Hi. Hiya. How are you? How are you, darling? How are you?

You? Nice to see you.

Alice's business partner and Ibiza insider Tony Truman

owns no less than 22 businesses on the island.

How's everyone getting on? Yeah, really good.

Everyone's been working hard all summer, you know.

I think everyone's ready for a little bit of a break. Yep.

How many clients have we had this year? Over 500 or something.

Wow, that's fantastic. Yeah.

Have there been any sort of issues and complaints against us?

Which I'm sure there has been.

We've had one client that wasn't happy with a villa,

but I think, do you know what it is?

The villas in Ibiza are expensive, right?

Say in other places, they'd probably get a much higher quality villa

for that amount of money. Sure, sure.

And I think that can sometimes be what the issue is.

It's double bubble out here, for what you get. Yeah.

But that, it's just Ibiza really, everything is more expensive here.

Incredibly so.

How are we doing financially with the business?

Have we got a handle on, overall, the financial side of things?

Do you know what? It's been absolutely amazing,

more than I could have imagined.

And percentage wise? What do you think we're up on last year?

Over double last year. Over double? Yeah, amazing. Wow.

And the growth's been incredible. Amazing.

So, well done, darling. Thank you, honey.

All right, love you. Have a good break, all right?

Thank you. Cheers, hon.

After months of servicing the demands of the super-rich,

Alice has a chance to treat her own team to a day out.

ALICE LAUGHS

No worries, did you get the champagne?

Thank you.

Instead of providing luxury for everyone else,

they're joining the VIP party for the day.

Shall we put some music on?

Woo!

Courtesy of Mike Le-Gallez.

THEY CHEER

ALL: Cheers!

MUSIC: Still Sleepless by DOD & Carla Monroe

# I've been

# Sitting 'round thinking about you lately

# Having second thoughts... #

Right - three, two, one.

# And I can't sleep at night... #

THEY SCREAM

What a good day off work.

San Josep police station, and the team's already busy.

This summer, the number of call-outs are up on last year.

There have been reports of a fire at one of the encampments

that have sprung up around the island's main towns.

Many of those who work in hotels or villas can't afford Ibiza's rents.

The police seem sympathetic,

even a little angry.

When you spend some time on this island,

you start to understand the real cost of luxury.

This island is so incredible in so many ways,

but the reality is, it's not a holiday for everyone.

When I first arrived on this island,

it felt like it was completely picture perfect,

but what I guess I'm starting to realise is

that there's no such thing as picture perfect,

and I'm starting to see what really happens behind the curtain.

In among the designer shops at the centre of Ibiza Town

is the island's courthouse,

where drugs crime takes up much of everyone's time.

Ricardo's British client has been arrested

in connection with trafficking cocaine.

Hola.

Ricardo's defending him from extradition to the UK,

and hefty prison time.

Tonight, like every night in Ibiza's club land,

the party is in full flow.

I've been on a few shifts with the island's ambulance crews,

and I know that the vast majority of their call-outs

are for drug-related incidents.

Chica, 22 anos, con una intoxicacion por drogas en un hotel.

So basically, they've got a 20-year-old girl

who has, who says she's been drugged,

and is at a popular hotel in the island.

That's literally all the information we have.

AMBULANCE SIREN BLARES

The girl is OK, though she has no idea what she's taken.

But every year, Jose and his team encounter newly-formulated drugs

mixed and distributed on the island.

I got some interesting insight from the paramedics here

that there are so many new recreational drugs being tested

on tourists coming here.

This is something that happens quite a lot, you know,

people are taking different cocktails of drugs,

and they are the guinea pigs of the drug market.

And I've heard that Ibiza is called "the drugs lab of Europe".

It's late September and so far this year,

Ibiza's tourists have spent nearly 4 billion euros while staying here.

Servicing the super-rich visiting this summer

has been Alice's full-time job.

Are you hungry? Shall we have some food?

Would you like some treats?

They're both blind. They're from the streets of Ibiza.

So Ibiza has so many stray cats.

These boys have travelled everywhere with me.

Car, ferry,

planes, private jets.

I can't go anywhere without them.

I think people expect that I'm out every night,

I'm going from one party to another.

But I'll, like, pop to a party now and again

and I'll go and see my clients,

and that's what I'll obviously film and post,

so that's what it looks like to the outside world,

but in reality this is where I spend most of my summer.

I grew up in the north of England.

We didn't have much money at all,

so it did kind of motivate me that I had to work.

You know, I had a paper round since I was 13, 14-years-old,

then I was waitressing.

I've constantly been working through my whole life.

Now working for Ibiza's VIPs,

Alice is busy 24/7.

So, my average is 11 hours, 27 minutes screentime.

Is that a lot?

On one day, when I was super busy, my phone wouldn't stop going off.

So I went through and counted how many people on WhatsApp

had messaged me, and it was 300 individual people.

Bearing in mind that is just like back and forward conversations,

but it was like 300 conversations at the same time.

One of the design team has just asked,

"They're putting something together for World Mental Health Day.

"I just wanted to ask you what things do you do

"to help your mental health,

"especially during busy summers and party season?"

Nothing.

SHE CHUCKLES

Erm, my cats.

Hi! Hi. How are you? I'm good.

How are you? Lovely to see you.

Shall we sit here? Yeah.

I'm in San An to catch up with Barley.

Like Alice, she's been looking to VIP culture to help pay her way.

Since I've been here,

I've seen how expensive it is to live on this island.

Yeah, it's not cheap.

Have you made enough money this summer to live the lifestyle

that you want to live? I'm still here now

and I think that's a telling point.

There's so many people that I know, they've come out in April,

they don't last till October.

Have you done any Only Fans this summer? No, not this summer.

I might start it up but I haven't felt the need to,

and I haven't really wanted to do it.

I want to try and be able to like be self-sufficient without it.

Do you think people come to Ibiza

because they think that it's going to give them this lifestyle

and they're going to be able to make lots of money and get rich quick?

I don't think it's a get rich quick,

I think it's, "I can have a great lifestyle.

"Not work very hard."

If you're doing something illegal and live a very luxurious lifestyle,

they can do dodgy deals and live like they're famous,

like a celebrity, and I think that's what draws people here.

It's, "I can do what I want for six months

"and no-one's going to question it,

"cos everyone else is doing the same thing."

Is there a difference between the image and the lifestyle of Ibiza

that Instagram sells versus the reality?

100%. Like, you'll see on Instagram an influencer,

I don't know, at Beso Beach, looking amazing,

and actually she's going back to share a six-bed with her friends,

and they're living above an Irish bar in the West End.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, it's smoke and mirrors.

MUSIC: Thinking About You by Calvin Harris

It's week 24 of the summer season in Ibiza.

That's more than 3,000 parties at the big clubs.

# You, you, you

# I'll be thinking about you

# I'll be thinking about you... #

Three, two, one.

Yes, people, we're here at Ibiza Rocks for the Switch Disco party.

What's going to happen next? Who knows? Let's go.

Faris is searching for content at yet another event.

It's not just all glamour, you know?

Everyone just sees the nightlife, the sports cars, the yachts,

they see the models, they see the money, the fame, the fortunes,

but to be able to live in that and make it real,

you can't just come here and have a holiday

and spend your money and go home. If you want it that badly,

if you love this kind of lifestyle that much,

you have to put in the work.

Woo!

It's been amazing, probably one of the best summers of my life,

if I'm honest.

Lots of work, lots of opportunities, amazing experiences,

memories I'll keep with me for life.

Piggyback. Wahey!

And, you know, I don't want to be in an office 9-to-5,

I don't want to be stuck in London,

I don't want to be where the weather's shit.

I want to be, like, with people that are having fun,

I want to be doing what I love.

So, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing.

Things are looking up for Faris's mate Declan.

He's got his passport, though not his trousers.

So fucked last night.

Oh, my God! I've only got two hours, actually,

two hours till the flight.

But I've not got a bag to check in or anything.

6 o'clock tonight, I'll be back working,

pulling pints in the White Lion.

Rock and roll, baby!

Declan's already booked his next flight back to the island.

I think Ibiza's just the perfect place

for people to come and set themselves free and escape reality,

and just have a week of smashing it.

But it's so much more than your Magalufs and your Zantes

and things like that. It's just a special, special place.

After two weeks away, defence lawyer Ricardo is back on the island.

His British client's fight against extradition is not looking good.

Hi, Ricardo!

I'm really good, thank you.

So, Ricardo, what brings you back to Ibiza?

I'm interested in Ricardo's perspective

on how the drugs economy works here.

Are the police doing enough to tackle

the issue of drugs on this island?

But if drugs were more legalised and controlled,

then you'd have no clients.

Mm-hm.

There's still no news for Ricardo's British client

and his fight against extradition.

So, no doubt, Ricardo will be back on the island soon enough.

I've seen the summer in Ibiza and spent many shifts on the front line

with police and ambulance crews.

In this case, we have positive cocaine.

In here, this area, many of them think that they can do

whatever they want, because they said that,

"Oh, we thought that we could take drugs here, there's no problem."

I can see that dealing with the nightly crowds,

the constant drink, drugs and excess has taken a toll.

It can't be easy.

One of the most problems in this moment

is the number of policemen, of course.

The future is black.

It's black, because I think the next years will be like this one,

and this one was very hard for us, because we need more...

Need more people to work together.

Mid-October. It's one of the biggest party weekends in Ibiza.

Thousands fly in just to enjoy the last wild rave of the summer.

The end-of-season closing parties are a last chance

to pull in the cash.

At O Beach, preparations are under way.

Hello, darling. How are you? All right?

I'm good, thank you. All right? Hope you're all having a nice day.

Tony Truman's expecting at least a thousand guests through the doors.

Up by the bar, one of the high tables,

just go and sit on one of them.

Yeah? All right, darling?

It's just crazy now.

Some people come for 24 hours, stay in the same clothes,

party, party all night and fly home the next day.

Cos it's O Beach closing today,

this is kind of the last party, this weekend.

I'm with Alice. She's on her way to celebrate with Tony,

having waved goodbye to her last VIP client.

There was one of the closing parties,

and it was completely sold out,

and we had a client offering 30,000 for the table.

GASPS: Wow! And it was impossible.

We... It was completely, completely sold out weeks in advance,

which was a shame, you know, when they have the money to spend.

I'm very excited. I know, the closing party's always super fun.

ANNOUNCER: Welcome to O Beach, Ibiza!

CHEERING

2023 has been a record year for Ibiza,

with over 3 million tourists flooding in,

spending more money than ever before.

Thank you so much.

Cheers, babes.

Cheers. Sorry, I drank it before! SHE LAUGHS

I've seen the winners and losers on this island...

..and the hustlers who circle the super-rich.

Hi, Faris!

How are we? I'm good! How are you?

I'm good. How have you been? It's closing party.

Yeah, this is it. This is it. This is the end now.

This is the last day of the last week of summer 2023.

I mean, it sounds like this island is just thriving.

It is. It's... I think it's got its own little microclimate here,

hasn't it, really? But I think it's really important that the island

doesn't come too far up its arse,

cos it is in great danger of becoming too, too super exclusive.

But I think that's the love of San Antonio.

It mixes it all up, and that's what puts a smile on my face.

I like seeing people, whether you're a binman or a billionaire,

enjoying themselves and having a good time.

But, you know, Ibiza as a brand is what it's all about.

It's not about O Beach, it's not about Hi, Ushuaia,

Paradise, Wi-Ki-Woo. It's about Ibiza.

It's been an extraordinary summer.

I've seen this kind of darker layer of the island

that I didn't really know existed before.

But at the same time, I think that people are always going to

want to come here, because Ibiza is just the place to come.

It's the place to get the best Instagram photos,

to look the coolest, to go to all the clubs,

to rub shoulders with celebrities and wealthy people.

People just want to be on this island

because of the feeling it gives them,

and people are willing to pay the price, no matter what that price is.

I don't know if Ibiza is ever going to, like,

lose its magic in that way.

It's incredible.