Leeds dad says rampant drugging and muggings in Magaluf leaving tourists like 'zombies'
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Lee Cocker travelled with his 16-year-old daughter Charley to the renowned partying destination in Majorca to mark the end of her exams, but he too was spiked and his phone stolen.
The 47-year-old from New Farnley said he met “scores” of other Brits who say they were targeted on the resort’s main strip.
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Hide AdHe said: “I’d say nearly every group we met had someone who had possessions stolen on the main strip. People were walking round like zombies claiming to have had phones, passports and cash stolen and had their credit cards used.
“I’ve heard of thefts happening when I’ve been abroad before but few and far between and not on this sort of scale, it was everywhere and each morning the police station was rammed with young adults who had been spiked and had their possessions stolen.
"Our hotel was full of shocking stories and I actually saw one girl walk off her balcony in a daze, breaking both her ankles in the process. There was a lad who had all of his ID stolen, 200 Euros, his bank emptied and his mobile phone taken.
"It’s a fantastic place but there’s some really shady characters, and it seems worse this year. It’s not just theft, they can do anything to you when you’re under that spell.”
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Hide AdLee said he can “party with the best of them” and had only drunk three pints of lager on evening when he began to hallucinate and did not know where he was.
He said: “In less than a 15-minute period, I went from completely straight minded to being off my head. I’m a 6ft 3 inch, 16-stone lump and I went away thinking ‘it won’t happen to me, I’m here to look after my daughter’ but it did.”
It was only after his daughter led him back to the hotel that he realised his phone had been swiped from his bag. He said almost all of those reporting the incidents to local police gave a similar account, having consumed very little then becoming unwell with memory blackouts.
Lee said he had “learned a big lesson” but is warning others to be vigilant. He has uploaded his story to Facebook which has been shared over 200 times already. He has even been sent photos from one holidaymaker who said she too was drugged, and woke to find a needle puncture wound in her leg.
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Hide AdHe advises against taking out bank or credit cards, not to take out passports as ID, drink from bottles rather than open glasses, do not accept drinks from strangers or leave valuables unattended.
He also warned people, to make a note of their IMEI code from their phone, with police turning away anyone who did not know the code from their stolen phone.
Lee added: “It’s the start of the season and by my estimate between 50 and 100 people per day were getting done, it’s going to get worse as it gets more busy, please, please don’t let it happen to you.”