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The Tax Agency intercepts a fishing boat with 9 tons of hashish in a new operation against drug trafficking in the Eastern Mediterranean region

More than 40 tons in three interventions since June

  • The vessel did not have a flag and was sailing in an unusual area for this kind of trawler when it was seized 50 miles off the coast of Cartagena
  • The six crew members of the fishing boat were arrested, all of them Moroccan citizens, after finding 300 packages with hashish resin hidden in the cold storage compartment of the ship


October 14, 2013.-
The Tax Agency intercepted, last Saturday afternoon, 50 miles southeast of Cartagena, Murcia, a fishing boat that was carrying nearly nine tons of hashish resin. The operation called ‘Lamed’, carried out by Customs Surveillance officials of the Tax Agency, has culminated with the arrest of the six crew members of the vessel, all of them Moroccan citizens, who have already been taken to court.

Including this operation, there have been five apprehensions of large quantities of hashish by the Tax Agency in the 'eastern route of the Mediterranean’ since June, with a total of more than 40 tons of the drug confiscated. In the past six months, the surveillance systems set up in the commercial route of the Mediterranean by the French, Italian and Spanish authorities have derived in the interception of an important amount of hashish carried in six ships.

Operation Lamed started when Customs Surveillance air patrols detected a suspicious fishing boat, a trawler, 49 nautical miles to the south-east of Cartagena last Saturday. The vessel was poorly maintained and looked after, and was sailing through an unusual area for this kind of trawler.

The crew of the Customs Surveillance patrol ship 'Abanto' then proceeded to spot check the fishing boat, named 'Avenir Safi II,'. When checking the boat, the Customs Surveillance officers discovered around 300 packages of the type commonly used for transporting hashish in the cold hold of the ship which, pending official weighing, could contain around 9,000 kilos of the drug.

Immediately, the six crew members of the vessel were arrested and the vessel apprehended and later transferred to the port of Cartagena, where the fishing boat has been docked since yesterday morning, Sunday. The people under arrest, as well as the ship and the drugs, have already been taken before the Instruction Duty Court of Cartagena.


Open route

This new operation shows the importance of this new so-called ‘Eastern Mediterranean Route’, used for the traffic of hashish. In the past twelve months the ships called 'Adam,' 'Gold Star,' 'Luna-S,' 'Moon Light,' 'Avenir of Safi II,' a nameless Egyptian fishing boat, and recently the fishing boat "Berk Kaptan" have been apprehended by Italy, France and Spain. All these vessels were transporting up to 30 tonnes of hashish. In an attempt to control this new trend in the traffic of hashish, the Customs Department of the Tax Agency has set up surveillance in the area to detect similar patterns of transport. The result of this tactic is this latest seizure.

Investigators suspect that the Eastern Mediterranean route is being used by organizations located in northern African countries, which are transporting large amounts of hashish in trade or fishing vessels, and storing it in these countries. Using these vessels, the drugs would later be redistributed to Europe, without ruling out that, in some cases, they could be used as mother ships to transship the hashish to other smaller vessels, which would introduce them directly to the Spanish or Italian coasts.

Drug trafficking organizations adapt quickly to new scenarios, being very agile to assume any change in strategy. Control over the Eastern Mediterranean route and this type of vessel is complex. These are trade vessels usually transport legal freight but, after setting sail, they take on board large quantities of hashish during a short technical stop with a view to transporting it to the eastern Mediterranean countries, where the drug is stored for its later transfer to Europe.

The fight against smuggling and drugs trafficking is one of the Tax Agency’s priorities. Through Customs Surveillance aeromarine actions, investigations into smuggling networks and controls and risks analyses in the customs areas, almost 120 tons of hashish have already been seized since the beginning of 2013, 10 tons more that in the whole of 2012.


Customs Supervision: Submission of reports for smuggling and related crimes.

Free telephone for reports, 900351378. Email: va.adu@aeat.es