Police in the Catalan capital have arrested three people for selling contaminated ‘mojito’ drinks for €10 each to beach lovers along the coast in and around Barcelona that could make holidaymakers seriously ill.
Both the Guardia Civil and Nature Protection officers seized the drinks during raids and took them away for analysis.
They said some of the ingredients had been stored down drains and in bins to avoid being found out.
The raids were part of Operation Escherich, named after the professor who discovered the bacterium E-coli a hundred years ago.
A spokesman for the police said: “Officers of the Nature Protection Service of the Civil Guard of Barcelona and Urban Guard of Barcelona, under the operation Escherich II, have detained three people as presumed authors of a crime against public health.
“After the analysis of the samples contributed, it was determined that the substances could be detrimental to health because they gave a positive result in the presence of various fecal bacteria, which means that the merchandise was corrupt and that it was not suitable for marketing.
“We do not rule out future arrests for the sale of ‘mojitos’ contaminated with various fecal bacteria in the beaches of the Barcelonian coast.”
Sellers flog trayfuls of drinks like Sex on the Beach and Pina Colada to tourists – saying them they are from nearby bars.
But, as The Sun has revealed, the cocktails are actually knocked up in side streets, the backs of cars and vans and even in toilets using water not meant for drinking.
Police discovered some of the cocktail ingredients when they lifted drain covers.
Public health officials say the mojitos were totally unsuitable for public consumption and could have caused diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and other digestive disorders.
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