Twelve fugitives captured after Palma de Mallorca airport incident

Twelve fugitives captured after the Palma de Mallorca airport incident

Guardia Civil officers on the Balearic island of Mallorca have reportedly captured twelve fugitives so far from the incident that occurred yesterday at Palma de Mallorca airport. An Air Arabia aircraft en-route to Turkey from Morocco was forced into an emergency landing at Palma, after a passenger insisted they were in need of urgent medical attention.
Once static on the runway, with its doors opened, a large group of 23 passengers escaped from the plane and fled. A manhunt ensued to find the group, with the airport being closed while a search was carried out of the immediate vicinity.
A resident of Marratxi played an integral role in locating several of these people. As a result, the police picked up five of the fugitives early this morning, Saturday, November 6, in the Es Figueral area of Cabaneta.
A few hours later, in the same municipality, officers located several more. One of those in custody is the individual who allegedly feigned a diabetic coma on the plane, who had initially been taken to the Son Llatzer hospital, where tests apparently showed there was nothing wrong with him.
At around 11.20pm on Friday night, police patrols started combing the streets of Sa Comuna de sa Cabaneta. This came after reports by residents of suspicious individuals wandering in the area, thought to possibly be those from the aircraft.
Local Police identified three of the detainees by their passports, whilst another had no documentation on them. The Guardia Civil were informed of the capture and they attended the scene and took charge of the alleged fugitives.
Another arrest took place at 9.30am in Es Figueral, when a Local Police patrol identified another person. Officers continue their investigation tasks to try to identify if there are more escapees in the municipality.
Alberto Rodriguez, head of the Marratxi Local Police, in a statement, praised the effectiveness of the officers, and pointed out that the detainees face charges of infraction of the law on foreigners and illegal immigration.
The National Police has not yet ruled out the possibility that the escape was improvised. Aina Calvo, a government delegate in the Balearic Islands, explained this Saturday that they have no data to state that it is an “act orchestrated, planned or designed in advance”, although she has insisted that this hypothesis is not ruled out, as reported by diariodemallorca.es.

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