Joint operation of the Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police

• The patrol boat 'Alcaraván I' of the Customs Surveillance Service, based in Santander, has carried out the boarding within the framework of an international operation coordinated by MAOC-N and CITCO
• The operation ended with the arrest of the four crew members, of different nationalities.
• A capture of this nature is totally exceptional in the Cantabrian coast area.

August 2, 2023.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, in a joint operation with the Civil Guard and the National Police, has intercepted a 13-meter-long 'sloop' type sailboat, named 'Night Falls', flying the United Kingdom flag, 30 nautical miles from Santander, when it was transporting approximately 2,000 kilos of cocaine valued at around 70 million euros.

The operation was launched as a result of international collaboration through the exchange of information between the MAOC-N (Atlantic Analysis and Operations Centre) and the CITCO (Intelligence Centre against Terrorism and Organised Crime), which has been the subject of investigation by the three police forces (Customs Surveillance Service, National Police and Civil Guard). The National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom collaborated in the operation.

As a result of this exchange of information, the possible involvement of a vessel suspected of trafficking drugs from South America that had just crossed the Atlantic to arrive on the Spanish coast was determined.

As a result, the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency established the appropriate air-naval device in order to locate this target, which involved various resources from Galicia, Cantabria and the Basque Country. The search for the vessel lasted for more than 48 hours and, finally, as a result of this, the patrol boat 'Alcaraván I', based in Santander, located and boarded the sailboat at midnight on August 1-2.

Sailboat awaiting possible transfer

The vessel was not sailing in a specific direction, but was stopped at a point 30 miles north of the coast. This fact was very striking, not only because of the weather conditions in the area, but because it coincides with the usual practice in this type of operation, in which vessels transporting cocaine from South America or the Caribbean transfer to another vessel in order to reach the end-use in order to make it more difficult for the authorities to detect it. It is therefore presumed that the sailboat 'Night Falls' was at those coordinates waiting to carry out a transfer of the drugs.

From the first moment of boarding, it was observed that on board this vessel there was a significant quantity of bales of the type normally used for cocaine trafficking, distributed throughout practically the entire vessel.

At that time, the four crew members were arrested, one of them of Spanish nationality, another of Colombian nationality and two more of Venezuelan nationality. The vessel was also seized and transferred to the port of Santander for the appropriate procedures to be carried out.

The operation was directed and coordinated by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National Court. The detainees, the boat and the narcotic substance will be placed at the disposal of the corresponding Central Court of Instruction.

This operation, which is totally unique in the Cantabrian coast, 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 sailboats from South America that transport narcotic substances in the middle of the Atlantic for their subsequent introduction into the European continent.