Joint operation by the Tax Agency and the National Police

• Four of the six detainees were caught transporting large quantities of hashish between the Moroccan town of El Yadida and the Cadiz municipality of La Línea de la Concepción
• In their attempt to escape, they threw the entire cargo into the sea, from where a total of 14 bales with 467 kilos of hashish were recovered.

July 22, 2022.- Customs Surveillance officials of the Tax Agency, in a joint operation with agents of the National Police, have dismantled a criminal organization by arresting six people allegedly engaged in drug trafficking by sea. To do this, they used boats with double bottoms previously provided to hide the drug shipments.

The investigations began last October, when the Port Authority reported the presence of a vessel in the Cadiz town of La Línea de la Concepción that had previously been linked to another operation against drug trafficking, when 2,800 kilos of hashish were seized. The notice stated that there were four people on board, all of them with criminal records for drug trafficking.

The surveillance and monitoring carried out revealed that they were repairing the boat in order to travel to Morocco to obtain a shipment of hashish that would later be transported to the Spanish coast, from where it would later be distributed to other European countries.

The criminal organization was headed by a man who, in collusion with his partner, contributed to the repair of the boats using his own company, located in the municipality of San Roque. In addition, he was in charge of financing the aborted operation and giving instructions to the crew, exercising an executive and command role over them.

They collected the drugs after a first failed attempt

Once the repairs were completed, and following the instructions given by the leader, four suspects headed in the boat towards the Moroccan coast of El Jadida to load hashish. New mechanical problems forced them to interrupt the operation and return to La Línea de la Concepción, where the leader of the organization took over the repairs. A month later, the four crew members set off again for El Jadida, where they were able to successfully load numerous bales of hashish.

When the vessel was about 50 miles off the Spanish coast, it was surprised by a Customs Surveillance patrol boat. At that moment they tried to escape by throwing all the cargo overboard. Finally, the four crew members were arrested, and a total of 14 bales containing 467 kilos of hashish were recovered at sea.

The agents then carried out a search at the home of the head of the organisation and another at his boat repair shop, seizing several mobile phones related to the investigation, bank cards and numerous documents. The four arrests were added to that of this man and his partner.