A joint operation by the Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil

• The drug was found attached to one of the ship's cooling pipes, which was making a technical stop at anchor to refuel on its route from Brazil to London.

February 3, 2023.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard in Santa Cruz de Tenerife have seized 120 kilos of cocaine that was attached to the inside of one of the cooling nozzles of the ship 'Pegasus'. The operation took place while the ship was making a technical stop to refuel on its way from Brazil to the port of London.

The intervention was the result of one of the anchoring visits that the Combined Customs Surveillance Unit of the Tax Agency in Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been carrying out jointly with the Fiscal and Border Protection Section of the Civil Guard of the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

These types of visits are carried out in order to inspect the loading of ships. In this case, on the morning of January 25, a visit was made to the cargo ship, which was anchored in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife to refuel.

During the course of the inspection of the cargo and other common areas of the vessel, four bales were detected. The discovery was made during an inspection of a cooling water intake nozzle for the ship's machinery, carried out from outside the hull by personnel from the Civil Guard's underwater activities team (GEAS).

These bundles were found tied together inside the nozzle when they were located by the divers. After analysis of the packages, it was found that cocaine was present inside, weighing 120 kilos, after weighing the contents of the packages containing the bales.