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The Tax Agency seizes 4.5 tonnes of hashish in an air-naval operation in the Alboran Sea

The fight against drug trafficking

  • An air-naval Customs Surveillance device managed to frustrate the strategy of the drug traffickers, who had grouped up to ten vessels to prepare a large stash scattered along the Spanish coast
  • The hasty escape of the 'narco-boats' caused several of them to crash, with men falling into the water, and led to the intervention of two boats and the seizure of 149 bales of hashish.

December 22, 2020 .- Customs Surveillance officials of the Tax Agency have seized, in the early hours of last Thursday, a total of 4,500 kilos of hashish within the framework of an air-naval operation carried out south of the island of Alboran, where up to ten 'narco-boats' were located ready for a strategy of stashing them scattered along the Spanish coast.

As part of the control actions of maritime routes carried out by the Tax Agency through Customs Surveillance, a group of vessels, known as 'narco-boats', was detected in the early hours of Thursday, some of which were loaded with bales normally used for trafficking hashish and with people on board.

The necessary air and naval operations were immediately put in place to prevent the introduction of illegal goods into our country, with a patrol boat and a helicopter based in Almería being deployed.

Upon detecting the arrival of the patrol boat, the 'narco-boats' began a hasty escape, causing collisions between them and causing several crew members to fall into the water but were immediately rescued by other boats.

During the operation, two of the semi-rigid boats were boarded, and their members jumped onto faster boats to escape from the Customs Surveillance officers. Both the narcotic substance and the vessels have been transferred to the Customs Surveillance maritime base in Almería to continue with the proceedings.

After the visual inspection, the count revealed the amount of 149 bales of the type normally used for the illicit transport of hashish, with an approximate weight of 4,500 kilos, and an investigation was opened to bring those responsible for the frustrated shipment to court.

All the actions, together with the seized vessels and goods, are at the disposal of the Court of Instruction number 5 of Almería.

Concentration of boats

The pressure exerted in the Strait of Gibraltar area and the control measures introduced by Royal Decree Law 16/2018 against 'narco-boats' have led drug trafficking organisations to avoid seeing large unregistered semi-rigid vessels on Spanish territory and to modify their drug introduction strategies.

Customs intelligence reports have confirmed this change, detecting concentrations of drug trafficking vessels at sea, which in coordinated operations attempt to introduce drugs simultaneously and massively, in order to try to overwhelm the forces in charge of their control.

To combat the introduction of these illicit goods, Spanish Customs has established a plan for monitoring maritime spaces based on intelligence work, combined with timely and coordinated use of national and international agencies also responsible for drug control.

Customs Supervision: Presentation of charges for smuggling and related offences

Free telephone 900351378.

Email: denunciasvigilanciaaduanera@correo.aeat.es

Filming and photographs of the operation (to download the video, enter the following web address):

https://we.tl/t-HPoE2i1siy