A sailboat with a significant amount of cocaine destined for the Galician coast was intercepted to the south of the Azores
Operation of the Tax Agency, National Police and Civil Guard
- In parallel to the seizure of the sailboat and the drugs, a large police deployment has been carried out in the Pontevedra area, with seven arrests and seven searches.
- The five crew members of the sailboat, which left the coast of Pontevedra in June to load cocaine west of Cape Verde Island, have been arrested
July 30, 2020 .- Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police in Galicia, within the framework of the joint operation 'Bateas', have carried out today a large police deployment in the Pontevedra area with the realization of seven searches and the arrest of seven people that investigators link with the apprehension, yesterday morning Wednesday, July 29, of the Spanish-flagged sailboat 'Nergha', loaded with a significant quantity of cocaine, a thousand miles west of the Canary Islands and south of the Azores.
The sailboat, intercepted by officers from the three bodies on board the Navy patrol boat 'Bam Rayo', along with the five crew members arrested, is travelling under escort to the Canary Islands, where it is expected to arrive next week for inspection and confirmation of the weighing of the drugs, which according to investigations are expected to be destined for the Galician coast.
The boarding of the sailboat is the result of a joint investigation carried out by the Customs Surveillance Operational Unit of the Tax Agency in Coruña, Greco and UDYCO Galicia of the National Police, and ECO Galicia and EDOA Pontevedra of the Civil Guard. The investigation is currently underway in Central Investigation Court No. 4 of the National Court.
Previous research
Since December 2019, various units from the three bodies have been jointly carrying out an investigation into the illegal activities carried out by a criminal organisation based in the Salnés region (Pontevedra).
The development of the process allowed investigators not only to discover the criminal intentions of the members of the organisation, but also to identify the means of transport they intended to use to transport a large batch of cocaine to Spain.
Throughout the second quarter of the year, police work focused on controlling both the means of transport (undergoing repair and transformation in different ports in the province of Pontevedra) and the people who were to form part of the crew, as well as those who, situated at a higher level of the pyramid in which the investigated organisation is formed, directed the strategy with the suppliers to load the narcotic.
Arrests on land and sea
The seized sailboat, registered in Vigo, left the port of Cobres (Pontevedra) on June 16, 2020, and after stops in Cascais (Portugal) and Cádiz, headed southwest, until reaching a position about 600 miles west of Cape Verde, coordinates where it received the drug shipment, which had departed from some point yet to be determined on the coast of South America. From that position, navigation began towards the north, until the point where it was finally captured.
On board the sailboat, the four crew members who left the province of Pontevedra in June (two Spaniards, one Portuguese and one Brazilian) have been arrested, as well as a fifth crew member, also Spanish, whose means of transport to the sailboat is unknown.
In parallel, and as a result of the investigation carried out on land, a major operation was deployed today in the province of Pontevedra, with seven arrests and seven raids, in which, among other things, various documents linked to the narcotic that the organisation wanted to bring to Spain were seized.
The sailboat is due to arrive in Las Palmas
The sailing ship, accompanied by the Navy's 'Bam Rayo', is heading to the port of Las Palmas, where it is expected to enter next week to search the vessel and weigh the drugs.
The seized sailboat caught the attention of investigators in Galicia when, last December 2019, after an erratic navigation near the Galician coast, it had to request support from Maritime Rescue to reach port. The reactivation of the maritime route is confirmed as one of those used for the attempted introduction of cocaine into Europe, as has been revealed by several police operations in recent months.