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The Tax Agency intercepted a Turkish fishing boat with 12 tons of hashish south from Almería

Operation ‘Bósforo’

  • The four crew members of the fishing boat, all of them of Turkish origin, were arrested and 480 bales of hashish resin hidden in the hold of the vessel were seized.
  • The detainees used a new drug trafficking route, the eastern Mediterranean route

 

February 17, 2014.- The Tax Agency intercepted on the morning of February 14, 60 miles south of Almería, a Turkish flag fishing boat that was transporting 12 tons of hashish . The operation, carried out with the collaboration of French customs, has resulted in the arrest of the four crew members of the boat, all of Turkish nationality.

The operation, called 'Bosphorus', began when aerial means of Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency detected a suspicious fishing vessel on February 11 about 25-30 nautical miles north of Melilla. The vessel, flying the Turkish flag and named 'Berk Kaptan', caught the attention of officials due to the unusual area where it was located for a ship of those characteristics.

In subsequent days, the Customs Surveillance aerial means of the Tax Agency continued to observe the aforementioned fishing vessel, which was detained in the same area, establishing an air-naval device that would allow its interception. In the early hours of February 14, several semi-rigid boats, loaded with bales of those usually used to transport hashish, were detected approaching the ship. Under these circumstances, the Customs Surveillance Special Operations Patrol Vessel 'Fulmar' intercepted and boarded the fishing vessel.

Prior to boarding, the necessary authorization for boarding was requested from Turkey, the ship's flag country, through the CICO (Intelligence Center Against Organized Crime), as established by international legislation.

When checking the ship, 480 bales of hashish with an estimated weight of 12 tons were discovered in its hold.

The four crew members of the boat were immediately arrested, as well as the vessel was seized. The fishing boat was transferred by the 'Fulmar' to the port of Almería, where they arrived on the afternoon of February 14. The detainees, the ship and the drugs were placed at the disposal of the Investigating Court on duty in Almería.

 

Eastern Mediterranean route open

With this operation, there have been four seizures of large quantities of hashish by the Tax Agency since last June on the so-called 'eastern Mediterranean route', with a balance of more than 50 tons of drugs seized. In the last six months, air-naval control devices deployed on the Mediterranean trade route by the authorities of France, Italy and Spain have intercepted seven ships carrying important shipments of hashish.

This new operation confirms the importance of this new route opened for hashish trafficking. In the last twelve months, Italy, France and Spain have seized the ships 'Adam', 'Gold Star', 'Luna-S', 'Moon Light', 'Avenir de Safi II' and an unnamed Egyptian fishing boat. These last three operations have been carried out by Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency. All these vessels were transporting up to 30 tonnes of hashish. In order to control this new hashish trafficking route, the Customs and Excise Department of the Tax Agency has established intensive and permanent surveillance over the area, analyzing targets with a similar pattern.

As in its last three actions, the arrest of the Turkish flag fishing vessel has been the result of this strategy.

Drug trafficking organizations adapt quickly to new scenarios, being very agile to assume any change in strategy. Control of the eastern Mediterranean route and of this type of vessels is complex.

Researchers suspect that this route would be used by organizations located in North African countries. They would transport significant quantities of hashish on merchant or fishing vessels, commercial vessels that would carry out legal transport and, upon departure, with a brief technical stop, they receive significant quantities of hashish for transfer to the easternmost countries of the Mediterranean.

These ships can also be used as mother ships to transship the hashish to other smaller vessels, which would introduce them directly to the Spanish or Italian coasts.

 

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

Free telephone 900351378. Email: va.adu@aeat.es