Operation of the Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police

• The eight crew members of the boat, which was sailing without a flag or visible identifying signs, bound for Europe, have been arrested
• The boarding, carried out by the Special Operations Vessel 'Petrel' of Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, was preceded by a complex search for the target in a wide area of the Atlantic

June 7, 2022.- Officials of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, within the framework of a joint operation with the National Police and Civil Guard, intercepted in the early hours of June 3 in waters south of the Canary Islands a fishing vessel without a flag or visible identifying marks that was transporting 560 kilos of cocaine bound for Europe. In the same operation, the eight crew members of the vessel, of Brazilian nationality, were arrested.

The operation, called 'Blanco Brasil', led to the boarding of the ship, a 19-metre long fishing boat converted for the illicit transport of narcotics, some 270 nautical miles south of the Canary Islands for its subsequent transfer and arrival at the port of Las Palmas this morning.

The actions, directed and coordinated by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National Court, begin, within the framework of international cooperation, with the exchange of information between the investigative agencies, the MAOC-N (Atlantic Analysis and Operations Center) and the CITCO (Intelligence Center Against Terrorism and Organized Crime), which determined the existence of a vessel suspected of illicit drug trafficking from South America.

The search for the goal

From that moment on, the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, in coordination with the Central Narcotics Brigade of the National Police and the UTPJ of the Civil Guard, establishes the appropriate deployment for the location, identification and, where appropriate, the boarding of the target, which is finally carried out by the Special Operations Vessel 'Petrel' of the Tax Agency.

The task of searching for the target was highly complex in nautical terms, given the limited information available on the ship's geolocation. At the same time, navigation conditions up to the time of the intervention had been complicated by adverse weather conditions when passing through the Madeira archipelago due to the Azores storm.

Finally, once the fishing vessel was detected thanks to the professionalism of the crew of the 'Petrel', a quick and clear boarding action was carried out in technical safety conditions despite the state of the sea.

During the course of the intervention, a significant number of bales normally used for cocaine trafficking were found. At that time, the eight crew members of the fishing boat were arrested without identification, as well as the vessel was seized.

Once the detainees had boarded the 'Petrel', the fishing boat was towed and transferred to the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The detainees, the boat, the drugs and the police investigation will be placed at the disposal of the Central Court of Instruction acting as the National Court's Guard.

This operation is one of many carried out in the fight against drug trafficking on the so-called 'Atlantic Route' of cocaine, known for being used by fishing vessels from South America that transport narcotic substances in the middle of the Atlantic for their subsequent introduction into the European continent.