The Tax Agency intercepts an Egyptian fishing boat with 13 tons of hashish south of Almería

Operation ‘Otero’

• The eight crew members of the fishing boat, all of them Egyptian nationals, were arrested and 450 bales of hashish resin hidden in the ship's hold were seized.
• The detainees were using a new drug trafficking route, the Eastern Mediterranean route

March 8, 2014.- The Tax Agency intercepted a fishing boat carrying 13 tons of hashish on the night of March 6 about 60 miles southeast of Cabo de Gata (Almería). The eight crew members, all of Egyptian nationality, have been arrested.

The operation, called 'Otero', began when aerial means of Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency and French Customs detected on the afternoon of March 6 a suspicious fishing boat, which was not flying a flag, but had Arabic lettering on its bow, some 25-30 nautical miles south of Almería. The boat was suspicious because the area where it was located was unusual for a boat of that nature.

Once the appropriate air-naval operation was established, the Customs Surveillance patrol boat 'Alca', based in Almería, headed to the area to intercept the ship. Once located, he boarded the fishing boat. When checking the ship, Customs Surveillance officers discovered 450 bales of hashish in the hold, which, pending official weighing, could contain close to 13,000 kilos.

The eight crew members were immediately arrested, the fishing boat was seized and subsequently transferred to the port of Almería.

The detainees, the ship and the drugs have been placed at the disposal of the investigating court on duty in Almería.

The Eastern Mediterranean route is open

This operation marks the fifth time that the Tax Agency has seized large quantities of hashish on the 'Eastern Mediterranean route' since last June, with a total of more than 60 tonnes of drugs seized. Over the past six months, control measures implemented on the Mediterranean trade route by the authorities of France, Italy and Spain have led to the interception of eight ships carrying a significant load 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 vessels 'Adam', 'Gold Star', 'Luna-S', 'Moon Light', 'Avenir de Safi II', an unnamed Egyptian fishing vessel and, most recently, the fishing vessel “Berk Kaptan”. These last four 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 of the area, analyzing targets with a similar pattern.

As in its last four operations, the seizure of the unflagged fishing vessel was the result of this strategy. Drug trafficking organizations adapt quickly to new scenarios, being very agile in assuming any change in strategy. Controlling the Eastern Mediterranean route and this type of vessel is complex.

Investigators suspect that this route may be used by organisations based in North African countries. They would transport large quantities of hashish on merchant or fishing vessels, commercial ships that would carry out legal transports and, upon departure, with a brief technical stop, receive large quantities of hashish for transfer to the easternmost countries of the Mediterranean.

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