Joint operation by the Tax Agency and the National Police

• The two crew members of the vessel were arrested when they were returning from the high seas, where they had been transferring packages of hashish from a "mother" ship from Morocco.

• In addition to the drugs, a car, a trailer, a six-metre-long semi-rigid boat and a 90 hp outboard motor were seized.

• The intervention was carried out by officials from the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and agents from the UDYCO of the Provincial Police Station of Cádiz

June 14, 2022.- Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency and agents of the National Police have arrested two people in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz) as alleged perpetrators of a drug trafficking crime. The detainees were intercepted when they were transporting a boat by road that was hiding 490 kilos of hashish in a double bottom, which had been introduced into the national territory through the Sancti Petri Marina, in Chiclana.

The intervention took place on June 6, when Customs Surveillance officers and National Police agents were carrying out surveillance work on the Cadiz coastline. The joint operation enabled the detection of a semi-rigid boat, six metres long and with an outboard motor, apparently intended for sport fishing. The officers' suspicions focused on the boat and its crew, two middle-aged men, both from Chipiona (Cádiz) and with criminal records for drug trafficking.

The way the boat was sailing, with the waterline excessively sunken, made investigators suspect the existence of a double bottom in the inflatable boat. Furthermore, suspicion was reinforced by observing the hasty behavior and evidence of nervousness of the boat's occupants. For these reasons, investigators proceeded to intercept them when they had already entered the town of Chiclana de la Frontera, in order to verify their suspicions.

When the suspects returned from an alleged day of sport fishing on the high seas, the agents had already deployed a surveillance device around the Sancti Petri marina in order to observe their movements and follow the trail of a possible stash of hashish made at some nearby point. The alleged fishermen simply took the boat out of the water, put it on a trailer and transported it by road.

After the interception, it was found that several fibreglass elements of the vessel showed obvious signs of having been manipulated, and the screws could have been easily loosened. Finally, after lifting the boat's bridge, hundreds of perfectly packaged packages of hashish were discovered, weighing a total of 490 kilos.

The two crew members were immediately arrested and the boat, trailer, a car and several navigation devices were seized. Both detainees were brought before the Court of Instruction on Duty in Chiclana de la Frontera, and their imprisonment was ordered.

" Modus operandi " to introduce hashish discreetly

Criminal organisations try to carry out similar hashish transshipment and stashing operations, especially in the summer season. Thus, recreational vessels of all kinds usually set out to sea early in the morning, pretending to be a day of fishing or recreation.

However, they venture into Moroccan territorial waters where they establish contacts with "mother" ships from Morocco to carry out a rapid transfer of drugs. After loading the merchandise, they return to their port of origin at dusk, trying to go unnoticed among the multitude of recreational vessels that sail along our coast at this time of year.

Once close to the coast, the " modus operandi " for unloading the merchandise is very diverse, but the organizations almost always do so at night, seeking the cover of darkness to avoid being detected. It is striking to investigators that the detainees in this case, trusting in the space designed to hide the hashish, acted in the early afternoon in one of the busiest marinas in the province of Cadiz.