Operation of the Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police

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

 

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

The operation began at 9 a.m. on the 18th, coinciding with the arrival at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife of the Italian-flagged ship 'Grande Francia'. It is a 214-metre long vessel, one of the so-called 'Ro-Ro' vessels, which transport rolling cargo. The merchant ship was coming from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and was following one of the 'hot routes' for drug trafficking, with its next destination being 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 carried out one of the so-called 'anchoring visits', with several changes over more than 15 hours during which all the ship's facilities were inspected.

Material for the 'rescue' of drugs

During the course of the inspection, the detection team noticed a ballast tank on the merchant ship. Once the tank was opened, a large number of burlap packages, the kind commonly used by drug trafficking organizations to transport drugs, were found inside. A total of 69 bales were detected inside the tank, with a total gross weight of 2,055 kilos of cocaine.

Along with the drug bales, various materials were found (life jackets, geolocation devices, ropes, food supplies, fuel canisters, etc.) that were presumably used at the time by members of the criminal organization 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 Italian, one Romanian, and three from the Philippines – and a Filipino citizen who was staying on the island at the 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 was carried out within the framework of the usual exchange of information with other national and international organisations.