Original subtitles

A drug supplier has agreed to meet me on the outskirts of town.

This is not a part of Ibiza that I've seen before.

I feel a bit nervous.

It's kind of risky meeting someone like this,

in this way.

This is not my usual... evening outing.

Is this him?

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

Hi. You must be Zara. Nice to meet you.

How are you? I'm great.

So how long have you been selling drugs?

About 18 years, probably. Wow.

How easy is it to access drugs on this island?

Oh, very easy. Mm-hm.

It's like an open secret.

Everybody knows it, but no-one talks about it.

And do you deal on a street level,

or on a bigger scale?

I'm the one who actually provides the dealers on the islands.

Like, I won't sell less than 100g.

100g and up.

So I just pass them the drugs,

and then they'll do the street deal.

Have you supplied drugs to villa parties and yachts

and to some wealthy people?

Yeah, of course.

Wealthy people, they buy larger quantity,

or they have a mansion or they have a villa,

so they're known to the dealers.

You know, where there is money, there is more flexibility.

For a VIP table, someone might pay 20,000 or 30,000.

You won't mind giving an extra thousand to the security guy

for him to close an eye, and you can do whatever you want.

There's nothing money can't buy.

Can you give me an idea about the kind of money

that a street dealer could make in one summer season here?

Well, one summer season, it depends.

But weekly, I know people who make about 50K or so,

something like that.

A summer? In a week. A week?

A week, during the summertime, yes.

50 grand a week? Street dealer, yes.

That's like a footballer wage.

I mean, it's a lot of money.

Wow.

We need somewhere to put the aerial artists. OK.

Ibiza is elevating.

ANNOUNCEMENT: 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?

August - peak season in Ibiza.

More than 400,000 people will arrive this month...

..joining the island in full swing.

It's like being at one of the biggest parties in the world.

And not just any party.

But one where it seems like anything goes.

It's 8pm in San Antonio.

OK? Yeah, let's go. Vamos.

Tomas from the local police is taking me

on their nightly sniffer dog patrol, sweeping for drugs.

So where abouts are we headed to?

Well, now it's time for the West End.

Obviously, it's the area where probably most people gather

during the night.

Basically, our first job is just to be there.

Our simple presence there keeps everything in order, mostly.

The specially trained dog can sniff out

even the smallest amount of cocaine, marijuana, ketamine and MDMA.

POLICE CONFER

Que esta aqui?

Sit down. Can we take this up there? Sit down.

Are you listening to me? Sit down.

I'm just asking, can we take... Sit down.

We will in a minute, we will in a minute. Now sit down, all right?

What are you carrying in here? Is this your wallet?

Yeah, my wallet. All right, any other thing? No.

All right. Check it. It's fine.

I'll get to you in a second, all right?

You've had a few drinks. Yeah.

You've took a few drugs.

Step this way with me. Yeah, that's fine.

Right, stay there, don't move. I'm not going to move.

Don't worry about that.

All right. Is that OK? Yeah.

Is that OK or what? Yeah, you're OK to go.

We've just got to identify you, and you're going to be on your way.

Yeah, no worries. All right? You can't carry this on the street, OK?

Yeah, that's fine. All right? Yeah, right.

That's fine, that's fine, I'll go.

Well, be careful, don't take too much. Yeah, no worries.

All right, goodnight.

One of the guys had in his bumbag about

three bags of cocaine, and three pills.

And that's why we've just checked him and his friend,

to see if they had any more on them.

They didn't, so they just get that took off them and a report.

OK. We're going to continue down.

Taking drugs is not a criminal offence here,

so tourists carrying small amounts for personal use

are cautioned or fined.

Anything above this is classed as dealing.

It's the drug suppliers that the police are really interested in.

The dog, apart from searching people, we'll search the area

surrounding the West End, where the drug dealers hide the drugs.

Oh, right. So they could hide them in some of these vents and stuff?

Yeah, he's already found some in this doorway.

So what have you found?

Do you want to stick your hands out?

See that bag's full of small bags of weed. Yeah.

See, that's another small bag... Yeah.

..filled with other small bags of cocaine.

Oh, I see.

This is going to probably really hurt the guy who's hidden it,

who's got loads of drugs here.

If we caught someone with this amount on,

he'd immediately be detained.

The pills, that's where everything gets a bit worrying for us,

because people don't know exactly how much quantity of MDMA

is in every pill. Mm-hm. One could have like, maybe 80mg of MDMA,

and another pill could have 200.

That's when you go a bit overboard and we have these

medical issues with people who've taken too many drugs. Yep.

So we had a very interesting evening.

I mean, for them it was just another day.

But what I found the most fascinating is,

we're standing in the middle of the street,

taking all these drugs out of this zip lock bag,

and that is just a normal sight in the West End.

Like, it's a normal sight for there to be

drugs that are found in a vent or under a doorway,

and it's a normal sight for the police to be walking around

those areas and seizing drugs,

and just these people who are just really used to it.

Everything is more expensive in high season.

Marinas are charging 3,000 a night to park a yacht,

and rents across the island are at their peak.

What am I going to wear later? That's the question.

Barley's here, working her eighth summer season,

and paying 2,000 euros a month for her flat.

Last year, she made ends meet by doing OnlyFans.

Pablo, sit.

Oh, good boy.

This year, she's working around the fringes

of the island's VIP economy to fund her season.

Living out here, most people do multiple things.

Obviously I do, like, the baby-sitting, like, nannying,

dog-sitting, house-sitting.

I sell my artwork and I do my catering,

so I sell my food boards. You name it.

Like, if someone said,

"Oh, can you stand on the door and do the guestlist?" I'd do that.

It's not like you're on a payroll,

you're going to get paid every month,

so you take sort of every opportunity as it comes.

Got to have your finger in all the pies.

Hola. How are you?

Today, Barley's got a modelling gig with Martin.

He works as a DJ and a club promoter

with a side hustle as a photographer.

Today, we're going to do some quite incredible stuff, short films,

and they're designed to really capture the imagination

and the beauty of the island.

Has anyone got five euros for the parking, by the way?

Ah, there's no-one there. Good, yeah, we'll go that side.

So, OK. One, two, three and go.

Come on, girls, work it!

If I'm honest, I would say it lacked a bit of emotion.

Barley's friend Layla is trying to make her living

developing a sports brand with an Ibizan touch.

So if you can come to here

and then we'll just have a little bit of

dancey-dancey walk away, yeah?

One, two, three and go, girls.

THEY GIGGLE

I don't want to go too deep.

OK, really deep now. Perfect.

If you get a little bit closer to each other. That's perfect.

Right, and then let's just...

And at some point, I want you girls to cheers.

Yeah, perfect. Thank you.

See you later, darling. Thank you. It's all good.

This is just me for my Instagram.

And then I post - "Dining in a nice Ibizan restaurant.

"Gorgeous views."

Let everyone think I'm living the high life.

Keep everyone up to date.

Cheers, darling. Cheers. Well done. Great job.

Oh, no, I'm so glad it went well.

On an island where image seems to be everything,

beauty is a valuable currency.

The other day I was telling him like, we went to create...

..film reel for Izakaya, and I was looking, I'm like,

"It's all gorgeous people."

And you can really see in these high-class places,

they want good-looking people.

And it's almost more important that than to be professional.

I definitely got more sales, because when the boat owners met me,

I was a young, attractive woman serving them,

and they wanted that for their clients.

I get you, cos I'm a fitness trainer, and I know that...

People want to be trained by someone attractive. It's changed a lot.

It's quite sad, though. Like, rent and deposits are extortionate.

Like, people that are super talented, driven,

hard-working can't stay here, cos it's just too expensive.

But I think that is also why a lot of people just do

illegal things on the side as well.

That's why it's so rife on the island. Yeah. Yeah.

It's Friday in high season.

Tonight, David Guetta will play to over 8,000 people

up the road at superclub Hi Ibiza.

He's said to be able to earn a million dollars a night

for a private party.

Ibiza's nightlife contributes half a billion euros a year

to the island's income.

And everyone's gearing up for the big night ahead.

I'm spending the day with Mr Doris, a resident DJ at Pacha,

one of the biggest brands on the island.

POLICE SIREN WAILS

I first came here on an 18-30 holiday.

I don't even know if they exist any more.

This all used to be lower-end tourism.

I hate to say that, but that's what it was,

and now it's high-end tourism.

Has the clubbing scene changed a lot?

The last five years, there's been...

..more of a focus on attracting the VIP culture

and attracting the people with multi-million-euro yachts.

So have you seen a lot of famous people come to the island

this summer, then?

There's always been an A-list celebrity side to the island. Yeah.

I mean, if you look at the old photos of Pacha,

you'd have Freddie Mercury and Grace Jones,

and they're all coming to Pikes and Pacha.

They've always come here and they're all dancing on the dance floor,

so there was never any separation, there was never any VIP.

I kind of want to ask about the drug culture here in Ibiza.

Has that always been apparent, even when you first arrived here,

or is it something that's changed or evolved?

Club culture's certainly built around drug taking.

It's always been here, but if there was no drugs on the island,

there probably wouldn't be any house music on the island. Yeah.

It used to be in the '80s and '90s,

majority of people were taking ecstasy,

and that's definitely one of the reasons that helped Ibiza blow up.

The government do what they can to prevent it,

but the reality of it is, if they did,

if they got rid of the drugs here, they'd also get rid of the tourism.

Mm.

Has the kinds of drugs that are coming to the island

and the quality of drugs changed over time?

HE CHUCKLES

I don't know how to answer that without incriminating myself.

Erm...

HE LAUGHS

It's 11pm.

Mr Doris is playing his regular slot at Pacha.

It'll be a full house tonight with 3,000 people here.

A VIP table is practically cheap, at 250 euros a person,

though a bottle of water will still set you back ten euros.

The big superclubs,

there's money to be made from the wealth that's come to the island.

It's definitely affected, like, the vibe of the clubs.

But I like to look at it glass half full.

If it's bringing people to the island

and bringing money into the economy,

it's surely a good thing.

It's very tiring, it's hard.

It's amazing, but, like, it's a massive amount of energy expulsion

on a daily basis, on a nightly basis.

Keeping people entertained on a 24/7, six-month period

is very energy draining and it's intense.

It breaks most people.

I'm going to get home into bed at half two, and that's early.

Hola! Hola.

WOMAN LAUGHS

I'm sure our listeners can understand "hola", surely.

HE LAUGHS

As the night rolls on, afterparties are getting started on yachts

and in villas behind closed doors.

This is where Ibiza's elites - the rich, the famous and influential -

get to rub shoulders and close deals.

Content creator Faris has bagged himself an invite

to a villa party in the hills.

So I'm on my way to meet this girl.

She's having a party.

She's just some girl from Instagram, from Las Vegas.

She works in, like, media and entertainment.

And, yeah, she just reached out and just said like,

she's been seeing what I've been up to, she likes what I do,

and she said she thinks it'll be fun if we hang out.

I think it's a good person to network with,

and, yeah, she's quite pretty as well, so...

It'll be fun.

Let's do it all, mate.

Let's create content, let's eat good food,

let's dance, let's sing, and...

..let's end up in bed together.

♪ See, I reckon you're about an eight or a nine

♪ Maybe even nine and a half in four beers' time

♪ That blue Topshop top you've got on is nice... ♪

Hey. Hello. How you doing?

Nice to meet you.

Absolutely, it's so good to finally meet you. Took long enough.

I know! It took a while to get here.

♪ You're fit, but you know it. ♪

Faris is edging closer to the inner circle,

the closed world of the wealthy,

where he can make the right connections to boost his career.

So all this time that you spend interviewing other people,

I think it's time that you get interviewed yourself.

Do you mind if I pull you real quick for a quick one?

Yeah, let's do it, why not? Let's go. Quick chat. A quick chat.

Come on, she's ready.

Oh, the lighting's good.

All right, the man of the hour, Faris, please, the king of Ibiza.

THEY LAUGH

You're gassing me up, you're gassing me up. I can't take it!

It looks like we're being dragged in to go and enjoy some of the party.

Yep, we're being summoned, we have to go. There's a live performance.

Thank you so much, Faris. Let's go back to it and party.

Let's go and do it.

CHEERING

Big him up, it's always love.

Big love. Happy birthday, my brother.

Happy birthday.

Faris is a firm believer in the Ibizan motto

that anything is possible.

♪ I must've died and gone to heaven

♪ Cos it was quarter past eleven On a Saturday... ♪

Everyone in Ibiza, when they're here, they lose their heads.

They're high off the island. They don't care about what they're doing

or what they're wearing or what they're saying.

So because Ibiza's like that, it allows people to feel fun and free,

drinking and taking drugs and having sex.

You just want to let loose and not give a shit.

♪ Do I have to so Star Trekking

♪ Cos it's you I should be checking... ♪

Hey. I'm with Faris from Party Hard Travel Ibiza.

♪ She's just a cosmic girl... ♪

Can I post that? Yeah, sure.

Tag me, I'll reshare it. Of course.

I told you lot from the beginning, life is about living, yeah?

Not just professionally, but socially.

She's fit, yeah?

So it helps, because not only does she want to do what I'm doing,

and it's all "networking" for professional purposes,

but we're bouncing off each other.

She's pretty, we're having drinks, we're doing shots.

I'm sexually attracted to her, do you know what I'm saying?

She's got a room here in the villa.

I ain't going home! Are you mad?

HE LAUGHS I'm staying here, I'm getting lit,

and I think I've found myself a sweet one.

HE LAUGHS

Big up to Ibiza, baby.

It's mid-August and there are now half a million people on the island.

Hi, Zara? How are you? Lovely to see you.

San Josep police patrol the island's busiest party strip,

Playa d'en Bossa, and the chief is feeling the heat.

Can you give me an idea of numbers, you know,

how many police officers are there?

The local police, there are 50 policemen working in San Josep.

Our problem is that we need more policemen.

We know that in this moment there are 30,000 people

just in Playa d'en Bossa,

and it's difficult, it's really difficult.

So two-thirds of all the calls that come to the police

are in the summer months?

Yes, from May till September,

nearly 24,000 calls.

Police and the dealers are playing a game of cat and mouse,

with business moving from the streets onto socials.

So when I landed in Ibiza, I posted a photo

tagging that I'm in Ibiza,

and straight away, Instagram messages from drug dealers saying,

"Do you want any... Do you want anything?"

I mean, it's crazy how they're looking,

"Who's landing in Ibiza? "Who could I sell to?"

And it's moving to social media now.

How do you respond to that?

I'm going to show you, this is Telegram groups.

We have an anonymous groups, anonymous group.

In this one, it's 41,000 people

who are interested in don't find the police.

Interesting. So you're in this group,

and they're trying to avoid the police.

Yeah, sometimes... Incredible! Yeah, yeah.

When I want to know where are the

police controls of our cities,

I don't ask, I'm going here,

and I see Guardia Civil in Ibiza.

I see again Guardia Civil in Santa Eulalia. Wow.

Everything, I know where are all the local... all the police in Ibiza.

This is another way to have information.

It's really, really clever. Really, really clever.

As thousands flock to Playa d'en Bossa from all over the island,

the national police are prepping for an operation.

We've been asked to hide the officers' identities.

TRANSLATION:

SIREN WAILS

The plan is to catch bigger suppliers bringing drugs down

for the street dealers to sell.

Officers order an overcrowded car to pull over.

It looks like there are six women, all of them Brits,

and a driver they've hired.

Drugs are often moved using tourists as cover.

The police find a designer handbag and a small stash of cocaine.

It's obviously for personal use,

but no-one wants to claim it.

No, mine's the pink Chanel.

Pink Chanel.

Who is the owner of the bag?

This is my bag, here. Yes.

50 minutes after they were first pulled over,

still nobody wants to admit that the bag is theirs.

Eventually, one of the girls comes forward.

I've seen police spend so much time dealing with casual drug users...

..but there seems to be no time left to tackle the wider problem

of the drug suppliers.

It's the morning after the night before.

And Faris has been embracing the party.

We went home and then came back out.

We got back and was like,

"We've got to go back out."

There was, like, a really good party happening.

And they were like, "You've got to come to the party."

And we were like, "We've got to go."

Another day in Ibiza.

People who are working here, people who are, like, doing a season,

like most people I know, it's one extreme or the other.

You're either in the rave and an afterparty

at seven in the morning having a massive blowout,

or you're literally in bed by ten,

like, ordering takeaway and watching Netflix.

Everyone else is literally, like, at the party,

and they're like, "Where are you, bro? Where are you?"

And I'm just like, "Mate, I'm just chilling in bed."

And then that's when the FOMO kicks in and you think,

"Fuck, shall I just go?"

Cos Ibiza, the parties are so good, anything can happen at any time.

Anyone can just rock up, so you're like always thinking,

"Fuck, I don't want to miss a good one."

After four years on the island,

Faris is almost an Ibiza veteran.

I came out here so many times skint, and just told myself,

"Something will come through."

So the risks were massive,

especially coming from an Asian background,

the culture is very different.

It's like... everyone's meant to get a certain type of job

and a certain type of lifestyle,

get married, settle down,

and I'm the opposite of that, from the way I act to the way I dress.

You know, they've questioned everything, literally.

I'm now at the stage where I don't really care.

I've never really cared.

I'd rather be happier doing me

than living another person's expectation

of the version of my life they want.

And Ibiza attracts so many types of people

that have the same mindset.

Because I've met people out here

from all types of races and genders and ages.

I don't have to really justify myself or explain myself to them.

I really needed today because it's important to detach,

go get a massage, a haircut,

and I'm just going to go buy some health products

from this vitamin shop.

I really want to eat more fruit and veg,

I want to lower how much meat I eat,

quit smoking vapes.

Man, mental health is probably the biggest one.

Ibiza is a place where a lot of people have mental breakdowns.

I've had days where, like, I've just thought,

"What the fuck am I doing, man?

"Have I even looked after my health this week?"

I've had the shittest days, we all have.

And the sad thing is, no-one wants to ever talk about these things,

cos no-one wants to see it.

Multi vitamins, yeah?

Oh, wow, it's got "tres" things in it? Si.

OK, I'll get this one, then.

This one, porfa.

So you can try and be healthy, you can put time and effort

into having the best intentions,

but it's one thing I always say about Ibiza,

you don't pick when to sesh, the sesh picks you.

HE LAUGHS

It's another August night.

The season's been running for over 100 consecutive days.

Tonight, the top five superclubs are hosting over 25,000 people.

I'm joining the island's ambulance service for the night shift,

to see the 24-hour party through their eyes.

Thank you.

In the early hours of the morning,

a call has come in about a British man who's been out clubbing.

Jose has been a medic on the island for three years.

English? English.

You all right, mate?

You think so? But you're not 100%.

Ready?

SIREN WAILS

When you come to Ibiza,

people are so willing to take risks.

You know, you do see the fun side, you see the easy-going life,

but it does come with its consequences.

You know, this island has so much to offer, but also so much danger.

By the end of the night, Jose has attended five call-outs,

all drink or drug related.

SIREN WAILS

The issue with an island like this is that alcohol and drugs

is so readily accessible, you can see how

small problems can become big problems in an instant,

especially when, you know, people have been drinking for days,

taking drugs for days.

They can lose themselves on this island in the wrong way.

"A British teenager has died in hospital after collapsing

"at an Ibiza nightclub in the early hours of this morning.

"The 19-year-old was rushed to hospital from the Amnesia club.

"He was said to have gone into cardiac arrest,

"and he died

"less than an hour later.

"A police spokesperson confirmed the question of whether

"the dead teenager had been drinking or consumed drugs before

"he collapsed would be investigated as part of the process."

People who come to Ibiza often talk about this feeling of being free,

and being able to do whatever you want,

and part of that is to do with drugs

and the fact that there is a higher tolerance of drugs here

than I've personally ever seen anywhere else.

This island does have a reputation for being a party island, yes,

but also housing a lot of drugs.

What I find absolutely mind-blowing

is the fact that since I've been here on this island,

five people have already died, five British people have already died,

erm, which is scary.

And obviously, whatever's in the press doesn't always tell

the whole picture of what's happening on this island,

but this gives some idea that...

..you know, there are dangers here.

I can see that the combination of drugs, clubs, money

and millions of tourists make this tiny island unique.

Last year, police seized record quantities of drugs in Ibiza

but it's still not clear who runs the narco economy.

Police chief Jose Antonio wants to take me

up to the island's hills...

..where Ibiza's darkest secrets are hidden.

For me, the dangerous thing now is the villas

because they don't have any kind of control.

So you can't just walk into a villa?

Exactly. It's very difficult for us, entering inside a house.

It's one of the most protected things by the Spanish law,

by the constitution.

But the gangs use this protection for its activity.

And when we talk about crime, we can start with...

..drugs, we continue with prostitution,

and everything is connected.

I remember one time undercover I entered inside one,

and it's the last time because I thought

that I'm not going to exit from this house.

I have my gun but this is not the... Wow.

..the solution for everything.

You don't have any control.

And if the drugs enter inside the villa, the police lose.

If the prostitution enter inside the villa, you can't do anything.

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

You can die inside this house. Yeah.

Do you think if you die inside this house,

someone is going to call to say, "This person is dead here"?

If this happens inside a house,

I know that I'm going to find the body inside the woods.

It's 6.30 in the morning.

I've come to the headquarters of the island's main newspaper,

Diario de Ibiza.

The crime reporter here has picked up a scoop from one of her contacts

about a raid on a luxury car rental business.

She's getting ready to file her story.

We had, like, three raids lately.

They discovered a lot of drugs

and also a lot of money.

How much did they find in the cars?

Seven kilos of cocaine, four MDMA

and 14 of hash.

And also, 127,000 euros.

These were the cars used to smuggle the drugs? Yeah.

Other luxury car businesses have been used before

to smuggle drugs into Ibiza.

Now there is people in Ibiza with more money, this is for sure.

And if you go around here during the summer,

you can see a lot of people using these cars.

Here in Ibiza, it's like the perfect business.

It's a good way to do money laundering.

You are making a lot of money,

so you have to mask it with a lot of money too.

I think it's just the top of the iceberg.

Seven kilos, it's nothing here.

The arrival of organised crime groups has serious consequences.

There are a lot of people from different parts of the world

who play in this drug business.

So, of course, if you have this number of potential clients,

you have to fight your position to get into the market.

So I think that this drug business

comes with violence.

I've been told the police are planning a series of raids,

targeting the top-tier dealers.

After months of trying, I've finally managed to gain access

to an elite undercover narcotics squad operating on the island.

They target the international suppliers

that flood Ibiza with drugs.

SHOUTING IN SPANISH

Out here, it's like temptation island.

You have to learn to say no.

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

SIRENS WAIL

There are so many new recreational drugs being tested on tourists.

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