Operation ‘Escudo’

• The tobacco was found in six containers transported by a tugboat and a cargo ship that were heading to the coast of Huelva.
• The amount seized represents, by itself, between a quarter and a third of the Agency's annual seizures of contraband tobacco packs.
• The operation, which has had the cooperation of the British authorities and Frontex, has resulted in the arrest of the six crew members of the convoy, of Italian, Croatian and Romanian nationalities.

July 7, 2017 .- The Tax Agency has seized in the early hours of last Wednesday, in waters near the bay of Cádiz, more than three million packs of contraband tobacco that were found housed in six containers transported by a tugboat and a freighter heading to the coast of Huelva. The seizure, carried out within the framework of the so-called 'Operation Shield', is the largest carried out by the Tax Agency in its history and represents, by itself, between a quarter and a third of the total manufactured tobacco that the Agency seizes in a year throughout Spain.

For the intervention, the Tax Agency has had the support of the British authorities and the participation of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the Borders of the Member States of the Union (Frontex).
Operation Shield began on June 24, when, in international waters, 50 miles north of Tunisia, three vessels were sighted carrying out tobacco transshipment operations.

The investigators were then able to verify that the tobacco was being transferred to a cargo ship, the 'Falkvac', which due to its characteristics could not make a sea crossing on its own, and that, in fact, it was being directed by a tugboat, the 'Eisvogel'. '.

This transshipment mechanism, completely inappropriate for a normal and lawful tobacco transshipment activity, immediately aroused the suspicions of investigators from the Customs Department of the Tax Agency, who urged the seizure and analysis of the cargo and transport documentation. After this analysis, it was found that the international criminal organization, dedicated to cigarette smuggling, has a significant number of vessels, of different capacities, dedicated to this illicit trafficking.

After stealthily following the tugboat and the freighter, on July 5, at 1:15 a.m., a Customs Surveillance patrol boat from the Tax Agency proceeded to intercept the two vessels in waters near the bay of Cádiz, when they were supposedly heading , to a shipyard on the coast of Huelva.

A cargo ship without a crew or the ability to navigate

Once the Customs Surveillance agents of the Tax Agency boarded both vessels, they verified that the Falkvag ship was carrying six containers, but it was traveling without a crew and lacked basic conditions for navigation. At the same time, they were also able to verify that the tug 'Eisvogel' violated nautical legislation. Six people were traveling on the tugboat, all of them detained, of which three were Italian nationals, two were Croatians and one was a Romanian national.

One of the peculiarities of the 'modus operandi' used by this international criminal organization consists of the use of a boat, lacking machinery and navigation capacity, used solely as floating equipment to transport contraband tobacco. This vessel is driven by a tugboat, under the false cover of a towing contract, with which the organization attempts to avoid responsibilities and penalties for the crimes committed.

Once the convoy was transferred to the port, Customs Surveillance officials recognized the merchandise that was in the containers, more than 6,000 boxes of tobacco that added up to a total of more than 3,200,000 packs of contraband tobacco and could reach a value of market of around 12 million euros.

All the actions, along with the boats, the seized merchandise and the detainees, have been made available to the Investigating Court, acting as Guard, of Cádiz.

Note: Includes photographic annex