A controlled detonation and a person arrested for allegedly committing a public disorder offence. This is part of the balance of an afternoon of tension in the Consell de Ibiza due to the presence of a suspicious briefcase abandoned at the entrance to the headquarters of the island's highest institution.
According to police sources, the arrested man is a 46-year-old Spanish national resident on the island. The National Police arrested him after seeing from the security camera images how he abandoned the briefcase in a suspicious attitude. The same sources recalled that we are on terror alert level 4.
The alarm was raised at around 17.15 hours. The building was quickly evacuated and a large police operation deployed a security perimeter between Extremadura and Canarias streets. Access to ground zero was completely restricted.
Traffic on Avenida España was cut off for hours. The Vila Local Police were in charge of regulating and diverting traffic after the compulsory closure of the main access road to the heart of Vila.
The National Police activated the protocol established for these cases with the intervention of explosives deactivation specialists. The police required the support of the TEDAX group of the Guardia Civil, technicians who, after 19:00 hours, carried out a controlled detonation. The action of the specialised agents was followed from a distance by neighbours and onlookers.
At the same time, the National Police investigators continued to gather data and information on the detainee's intentions.
After 21.00 hours, the National Police investigators were still at the scene of the incident. Little by little the area was returning to normal after four hours of maximum tension.
The TEDAX group of the Guardia Civil detonated the briefcase.