Combined operation by the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard

• Nine crew members of the merchant ship “Just Reema” arrested, six of Syrian nationality and three of Indian nationality
• The ship, flying the flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was carrying 1,500 tons of salt and more than 500 bales of hashish in a hidden space in the hold.

July 1, 2015.- The Tax Agency and the Civil Guard intercepted on Sunday afternoon, about 45 miles south of Malaga, a merchant ship 85 meters long, flying the flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, named 'Just Reema', when it was transporting about 15.7 tons of hashish resin. The operation carried out by officials from the Malaga Customs Surveillance Department of the Tax Agency and the EDOA of the Civil Guard of Alicante, called operation 'Urca', has culminated in the arrest of the nine crew members of the boat, six of Syrian nationality and three of Indian nationality.

Operation Urca began when French police authorities alerted the authorities, through EUROPOL and the Centre for Intelligence Against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO) and with the support of the European Intelligence Centres MAOC-M and CECLAD, of the possible involvement of the vessel 'Just Reema' in a hashish trafficking operation.

Once the operation was coordinated through CITCO, an air-naval operation was launched to locate the vessel. Last Sunday it was located by air about 50 nautical miles south of Malaga, sailing towards the eastern Mediterranean. The Civil Guard patrol boats 'Rio Miño' and 'Rio Abra' participated in the interception operation, and the Customs Surveillance patrol boat 'X aniversario' and the helicopter 'Argos I'.

When checking the ship, Customs Surveillance and Civil Guard officials discovered that the merchant ship was loaded with a significant quantity of salt in bulk, more than 1,500 tonnes, so they decided, with the relevant judicial authorisation from the National Court and a favourable report from the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office, to transfer the ship to the port of Malaga to carry out an in-depth search of the merchant ship. Once in port, and after unloading a large part of the salt it was carrying, a double bottom was found in the hold of the ship's bow, where the drug traffickers had hidden the drugs, which, although not yet officially weighed, initially gave an approximate weight of 15,700 kg of hashish resin.

The detainees, the ship and the drugs will be placed at the disposal of the Málaga Court of First Instance on Duty.

This operation has demonstrated the excellent mechanisms for collaboration and coordination at both the European and national levels, as it has been coordinated by EUROPOL, CITCO, MAOC-M and CECLAD, and in which Italian (Guardia di Finanza), French (OCTRIS) and Spanish authorities have participated (Guardia Civil, Customs Department of the Tax Agency, Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National Court and the Central Court of Instruction No. 6 of the National Court, which is hearing and directing the investigation).

 

Open route

This new operation confirms the importance of the so-called Eastern Mediterranean Route, during which, over the last two and a half years, Italy, France and Spain have seized the vessels 'Adam', 'Gold Star', 'Luna-S', 'Moon Light', 'Avenir de Safi II', an unnamed Egyptian fishing boat, the 'Berk Kaptan', 'Al Amir Khaled', 'Abou de Sherief', 'La Misericordia de Dios', 'Mayak', 'Assel', 'Aberdeen', 'Just Noran', 'Zakmar', 'Eiskos' and 'Rinad', 'Santa Rita Terza', 'Green Cedar', 'Mehtap', 'San Trela', 'Meryem' and the aforementioned 'Just Reema' (fourteen of these operations have been carried out by the Tax Agency's Customs Surveillance). All these vessels were transporting up to 30 tonnes of hashish.

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 towards Europe, without ruling out that, in some cases, they could be used as mother ships to transfer the hashish to other smaller vessels, which would introduce it directly to the Spanish or Italian coasts.