Skip to main content

A pleasure boat carrying 500 kilos of hashish hidden in a double bottom was intercepted in Sancti Petri

Joint operation by the Tax Agency and the National Police

  • The two crew members of the boat were detained when they returned from the high seas, where they transshipped packages of hashish from a "mother" ship from Morocco.

  • In addition to the drugs, a car, a trailer, a semi-rigid boat six meters in length and a 90 hp outboard motor have been seized.

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

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

The intervention was carried out on June 6, when Customs Surveillance officials and National Police agents were carrying out surveillance work on the Cadiz coast. The joint device made it possible to detect a semi-rigid boat, six meters in length and with an "outboard" motor, apparently intended for sport fishing. The agents' suspicions focused on the boat and its crew, two middle-aged men, both from Chipiona (Cádiz) and with police records for drug trafficking.

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

At the time the suspects returned from an alleged day of sport fishing on the high seas, the agents already had a surveillance device deployed around the Sancti Petri marina to be able to observe their movements and follow the trail of a possible stash of hashish made somewhere nearby. The alleged fishermen simply took the boat out of the water, mounted it on a trailer, and transported it by road.

After its interception, it was found that several fiber elements of the boat showed obvious signs of having been manipulated, making the screws easily loosen. Finally, after lifting the bridge of the boat, hundreds of perfectly packaged packages of hashish were discovered, weighing a total of 490 kilos.

The two crew members were immediately arrested, along with the boat, the trailer, a car and several navigation devices. Both detainees were placed at the disposal of the Investigative Court on Guard duty in Chiclana de la Frontera, and their imprisonment was ordered.

" Modus operandi " to introduce hashish discreetly

Criminal organizations try to carry out similar hashish transshipment and stashing operations, especially in the summer season. Thus, recreational boats of all types usually go to sea first thing in the morning, pretending to be a day of fishing or recreation.

However, they enter Moroccan territorial waters where they establish contacts with "mother" ships from Morocco to carry out a rapid transshipment of drugs. After loading the merchandise, they return to their port of origin at dusk, trying to go unnoticed among the multitude of pleasure boats that navigate our coastline at this time of year.

Already in the vicinity of the coast, the " modus operandi " to unload the merchandise is very diverse, but the organizations almost always do it at night, seeking the protection of darkness to avoid being detected. It is striking for investigators that the detainees in this case, relying on the cabin designed to hide the hashish, acted early in the afternoon in one of the busiest marinas in the province of Cádiz.