• Within the framework of an international operation against drug trafficking, under the coordination of Ameripol and the American agency DEA, in which the Brazilian and French authorities, and the Spanish Navy, have collaborated.

• The two crew members of the boat, which came from South America, bound for the Canary Islands, were arrested

February 29, 2024.- Customs Surveillance Officials from the Tax Agency, in a joint operation with the National Police and the Civil Guard, have intercepted a 'narco-sailboat' in waters near Cape Verde 'who was heading to Spanish coasts with 200 kilos of cocaine. The two crew members of the boat, coming from South America and bound for the Canary Islands, have been arrested. The action has been carried out under the coordination of Ameripol and the American agency DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), in which the Brazilian and French authorities, and the Spanish Navy, have collaborated.

The investigation began last year when, through international police cooperation channels, the agents learned of the arrival in Spain of several members of a criminal organization in search of contacts, in the Canary Islands, to carry out an importation of cocaine hydrochloride.

With the first police efforts, they identified the person who was going to direct the operation in Las Palmas to charter a sailboat from South America. From that moment on, actions were coordinated through the liaison officer in Ameripol. The deployment of actions in several countries –mainly in Brazil, but also in Colombia and Uruguay–, together with the Spanish National Police and the French authorities, made it possible to identify several members of the criminal organization at its origin. The identification of the ship's captain, a citizen of French origin with ties to the Canary Islands, made it possible to detect a sailboat almost 19 meters long, flying the Polish flag.

With the progress of the investigations, the transfer of the investigated person born in the Canary Islands, head of the Spanish group that was going to receive the cocaine, to Brazil to command himself and coordinate the importation of the narcotic substance from the water was accredited. Once they had everything planned, the two investigated left Brazil and began sailing towards the Spanish coasts.

The National Police, together with the Spanish Navy, prepared a naval device with the objective of locating the vessel, which ended with the boarding of the sailboat safely by the Special Operations Group (GEO). Agents from the Civil Guard and officials from the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency collaborated in the device, locating numerous packages of cocaine hidden on the ship.

The operation culminated in the arrest of the two crew members and their transfer (along with the sailboat) to the Canary Islands, where they were searched. A criminal group specialized in the introduction and distribution of large quantities of cocaine in Europe through the Canary Islands has been dismantled, although the investigation remains open and new arrests are not ruled out.