Customs Surveillance Operation of the Tax Agency

• 846 kilos of hashish have been seized and six people have been arrested
• A semi-rigid boat was seized

March 30, 2023.- Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency have seized 23 bales of hashish after a chase in the waters of the Strait and have intervened in a semi-rigid boat in two operations carried out in 48 hours.

In the early hours of March 24, patrol boats from the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency based in Algeciras began a pursuit of a boat loaded with bales of hashish that it was trying to unload on our coasts in the waters of the Strait. After this action, its crew was forced to throw the cargo they were carrying into the sea in order to escape.

During the search, a total of 23 bales were recovered which, once transported to the base port, were found to contain pills of a substance that tested positive for cannabis in the drug test, yielding a gross weight of 846 kilos.

In the early hours of the 26th, two days later and continuing with the maritime control device in the area, another semi-rigid boat with three outboard motors loaded with gasoline canisters was detected. Once the operation was established, another patrol boat from the Customs Surveillance Service went to intercept them, making acoustic and light stop signals, which the smugglers ignored, running aground on the beach in the town of Estepona. The three crew members were arrested there, two of them residents of Campo de Gibraltar, and the third, a minor born in Ceuta.

Numerous plastic containers containing gasoline and 750 grams of hashish were found inside the boat.

The proceedings, the drugs and the detainees have been placed at the disposal of the courts of Algeciras and Estepona on duty.