Operation of the Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police

• The detection of the narcotic required an exhaustive inspection of the merchant vessel for more than 15 hours due to the dimensions of the vessel and the difficulty of searching.
• The drug was hidden in a ballast tank of the merchant ship, which had been manipulated for this purpose.
• Six people of foreign nationality arrested, of which five were crew members of the ship

 

December 28, 2023.- The Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police, within the framework of joint action, have seized 2,000 kilos of cocaine in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife It was hidden in the ballast tank of a merchant ship. The characteristics of the vessel and the method of concealment have made it necessary to carry out an exhaustive inspection of the vessel for more than 15 hours to detect the drugs. The action, carried out on December 18, resulted in the seizure of drugs and the arrest of six people, of which five were crew members of the ship.

The operation began at 9 in the morning on the 18th, coinciding with the arrival at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife of the ship 'Grande Francia', flying the Italian flag. It is a 214 meter long vessel, one of the so-called 'Ro-Ro' vessels, which transports rolled cargo. The merchant ship came from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and was traveling on one of the 'hot routes' for drug trafficking, with its next destination in the French port of Marseille.

Upon the ship's arrival in Tenerife, a joint team made up of officials from the Tax Agency and agents from the National Police and Civil Guard proceeded to carry out one of the so-called 'anchoring visits', with several relays over more than 15 hours in that all the ship's facilities were inspected.

Material for drug 'rescue'

During the inspection, a ballast tank from the merchant caught the attention of the detection team. Once the tank was opened, a large number of burlap packages of those usually used by drug trafficking organizations to transport drugs were found inside. Inside the tank, a total of 69 bales were detected, yielding a total gross weight of 2,055 kilos of cocaine.

Along with the drug bales, various material was found (life jackets, geolocation devices, ropes, food, fuel bottles, etc.) that, presumably, the members of the criminal organization would use at the time to remove the merchandise from the ship. .

In addition to the seizure of the narcotic substance, six people were arrested: five crew members of the ship – one of Italian nationality, another Romanian, and three from the Philippines – and a Filipino citizen who was staying on the island at that time. The detainees, along with the drugs, have been placed at the disposal of the Investigative Court number 3 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The operation has been carried out within the framework of the usual exchange of information with other national and international organizations.